#The poc solidarity is a lie

[dicapiito]

Not going to lie; it’s going to be so fun watching people FAFO.

All because y’all just wouldn’t address the racism and antiblackness in y’all’s communities

PoC solidarity did happen though. It was a United effort to help fuck over Black People instead of voting for progress for all. And all so they can be accepted by white people who won’t accept them.

Nice going 😬

Now let me go enjoy some video games in my Blue State. Hope y’all have the funds to withstand what Vance Trump is about to do in 2025.

[dolleminas]

I think the last few days really taught me (but what I secretly already knew) is that middle-class women have very little solidarity, let alone empathy for working-class women. It's not only women, it's men too, but it's just glaringly obvious when we supposedly should fight for women, up until it's middle-class women fighting for poor women. There's solidarity, up until a certain point.

Let me paint you a picture. It's summer, I've just started getting back into the workforce after years of crippling illness. I'm meeting with my job coach. A lovely woman, and we get talking about why I want to go back to work.

"Part of it is that I'm bored at home, but I'd be lying if finance isn't a motivator too."

She scoffs good-naturedly. She says, money is not important! The important thing is that you have fulfilment in your work!

I look around myself. We're sitting in her garden. The garden of her two-story house. It's bigger than my entire home. I say I would like to be able to eat, to pay rent. She brushes me off. She doesn't get it. I don't think she's ever had to go hungry.

Let me paint you another picture. I grew up in a neighbourhood full of people like me. The homes were built from the rubble of WWII. When I laid in bed, I would brush my hands over the walls and feel the grit and the dust stain my fingertips. Sometimes it would even stain the bed. My bedroom is hardly bigger than a broom closet, but it's all I know. Most of my neighbours are immigrant families and poc. That's where the government puts them. Crime is rampant. But it could be worse. My mother buys hand-me-downs from the neighbours for me. Other kids bully me for my clothes. During the christmas holidays, the school has to board up the windows because of vandalism. We sit with our coats on in class because heating costs too much.

Still, I know people who have it worse. My mother has a part-time job as a receptionist and my grandparents help. When I wear holes into my underwear my grandmother silently buys us some more. I have never known underwear without holes in them. When we go on vacation, I feel rich. I know many kids who don't. My mother only has to take care of me.

This all makes it that much more of a slap in the face to see women claim to be supporters of women, so-called feminists but have absolutely no empathy for poor women. And most of the time they don't even know it. They have an idealised world-view. A, 'just do x' or 'just do y' and my personal favourite 'well I'd never do that!' or even 'you have options.'

No. No, don't. Be quiet, be silent, listen. If you have solidarity with women, then listen about the lives you have not lived, the struggles you have not struggled with. Do not come from a place of 'I would never' because you cannot, with any resemblance of accuracy, say that until you have lived it. Poor women aren't stupid or lazy, stop thinking of us as such! Stop blaming us for the life we were born into, the life we often are unable to escape.

Sit down, listen... and don't expect poor women to have solidarity with you if you do not have it with us. You, the privileged one. The idealistic one. The one who never knew how it was like to go hungry as a little girl and have to watch your mother lie to you about why.

[dalekofchaos]

Fuck Neve Campbell, Melissa Barrera deserved better

All the Neve Campbell interviews are about her glowing about the fact that Scream is finally about her again and recently said it's "Going back to it's roots"

Yeah, okay Scab. I'm so glad this was worth stabbing Melissa in the back.

She was never this happy about Scream 4, oh you know WES CRAVEN'S FINAL FUCKING MOVIE! She was never this happy about Scream 5, to the point where she phoned her scenes in Scream 5. You could clearly tell she wasn't happy to be sharing the lead or "passing the torch" But she's happy after they fired their 4 POC leads and one who was supporting Palestine and got fired for it.

At this point, seeing Neve Campbell pop up and lie about it all like she can act her way out of being a complete loser sellout is tiring. Someone I respected so much turns out to be a greedy sellout. Never meet your heroes.

And fucking shame on Courtney Cox for even agreeing to this shit as well. This is the kind of thing that she would have fought a war over if this happened on Friends. The only reason she’s as successful as she is is because of worker solidarity being what got her and the rest of the Friends cast to band together and demand equal pay and screen time.

Imagine being this desperate and pathetic She was fucked over by Spyglass. She left The Lincoln Lawyer for her own show Avalon. Avalon got cancelled so she immediately did Twisted Metal which she was desperate for. Once Spyglass fucked Melissa & Jenna over, Neve ran back into open arms without hesitation and without a finished script. She ran back with just a “concept” Neve showed us who she really is, the scab who crossed the picket line.

Since Melissa was fired, Neve has never showed support for her, but she would always only talk about how she’s getting paid for Scream 7. while Melissa was always showing support for her during Scream 6. Neve’s also agreed to work for a company who supports genocide

I have absolutely zero respect for Neve, Kevin or even Courtney. They saw that Melissa was fucked over by the studio and chose greed than to fight for Melissa's right to protest and finishing Sam Carpenter's story.

Melissa was fired for advocating for something important, and Neve “advocated” for something & quickly forgot as soon as their new lead didn’t fold for them. Definition of white feminism

Neve Campbell’s return to Scream 7 is the perfect example as to why a lot of these franchises fall off. They can never EVOLVE. They successfully passed the torch in Scream (2022), fleshed out the newer characters in Scream VI, and now they’re back to focusing on Sidney for 7.

Anyways. fuck Neve the Scab, fuck Spyglass, fuck Kevin Williamson, fuck Courtney Cox, and Melissa, Jenna, Jasmin and Mason deserved better, Scream 7 needs to flop, Free Palestine!

[jehovahhthickness]

I know that POC solidarity is a lie but I really do appreciate when people from other cultures enjoy and respect my culture because I have the same amount of respect and enjoyment for their culture.

[heystephen]

i won’t lie- i spent a long time crying this morning over all of this. i don’t think people understand how deeply this malaria hemorrhoid shit hurts. it’s broken trust, it’s doubt. and her music is literally a calming method for me when i have panic attacks/anxiety attacks. i’m white-presenting, so i’m not as directly impacted, and it’s still so emotionally devastating- did miss americana mean nothing? is she so obsessively focused on “the media lies” that she can’t see the truth there? i don’t know. i’m left with so many doubts and questions and just… hurt. my show isn’t until july and now i have this sick feeling in my stomach as all of this keeps unfolding. i can’t even enjoy my damn birthday because people have been so awful about all of this- i’m more stressed for my mutuals, my friends that are getting hate over speaking up and speaking out about this, than i am anything else.

i’m just…. tired. i’m sad. and this should be a time of solidarity and comfort amongst the fandom and what’s coming out of it almost hurts worse. big bloggers ignoring it or justifying it and speaking over poc voices…. i hate this so much.

(so sorry for the vent but i know you get it scout 💜)

no need to apologize for venting, you’re frustrated and it’s been a rough few days!! i love u :( i wish i could do more to help but i am here if you need to vent more or talk ❤️‍🩹

[aronarchy]

No amount of logical reasoning towards nationalists, culture essentialists, child abusers, and queerphobes in nonwhite/ethnic minority communities who believe “gentle parenting”/“wokeness” is “a white thing”/“a Western thing” is going to convince them. No amount of bashing white culture, pointing out the rampant, disproportionate child abuse and queerphobia in white communities, of detailing traumatic stories of how white adultists/queerphobes have done violence to you, of reassuring them that you’re (even more) Anti-White than they are is going to convince them that you’re not secretly out to get them / “betraying your community.” This makes a lot more sense once you realize that they are on the same side as the white supremacists—not truly against, whatever lies they may tell you/themselves. They’re not operating off consistent standards in the first place.

Conservatives in the community pinpoint the liberal/academic/middle-class “activists” as The Problem and examples for Why Antiracism Is Racist Actually—but ignoring 1) wealthy educated conservatives, 2) poor progressives, 3) actual activists who critique liberalism/academia from the left, and 4) the material links between incentive to go left and lower socioeconomic standing/being more oppressed, and vice versa. In all their “defending our people,” they don’t seem to be calling for less policing, less carceralism, more support for them against white supremacists and white supremacist violence. If you directly ask them “are we oppressed,” their answer usually goes “no we’re not actually oppressed, racism(-as-in-oppression) is a liberal myth.” “Look at all that privileged bourgeois decadence,” but still being very capitalist themselves and bashing the commies.

The idea that POC are non-rebellious, okay with their own oppression, essentially incapable of resistance, and essentially culturally abusive aligns pretty well with what white colonizers think, funnily enough. But you still get some clueless people in the communities unironically agreeing with that myth, and employing their relative privileges to silence people who prove that narrative wrong.

This is where you get people like tankies (“nonwestern countries can’t be wrong ever because anti-US = good”), and abusers who tell you that non-abusiveness is “a woke thing”/“a modernist thing”/“a white thing” or that if you run, the only place you get to go is white communities, and also that if you run, you’re “asking for” whatever abuse you get from racists (but also, if you stay, white people say you’re “asking for” whatever queerphobic/adultist abuse you’re getting), and other misogynists, transphobes, adultists, etc. whose entire politics seem to be “any solidarity with victims of oppression within our nation is just western imperialism/propaganda,” and incredible violence goes into maintaining all of the above images, always at the expense of the most marginalized.

And it’s incredibly traumatizing to grow up like that, where you’re not allowed to complain about any harms within your own community because if you do you’re “disrupting unity” / “betraying” / “working for oppressors’ interests”—that is a fucking lie. In reality, patriarchs and other abusers always make the best informants. In reality, people who cannot even let go of their own abuse of others are the least equipped to fight against abuse from the outside. In reality, people who refuse to challenge some bigotry cannot effectively challenge other bigotries. In reality, the people with the most power are the most abusive as a whole—abuse arises within material circumstances, not just from disconnected ideals—and it is in their interest to maintain abusive relations between the people they are oppressing. “All colonized are equally oppressed/viewed the same/treated the same” is not true to reality. And no progressive action is effective without first interrogating your smaller-scale relationships first. Liberation starts in the home. So tired of child abusers acting like they have anything at all useful to say about racism and cultural oppression/erasure, please just shut the fuck up already and also stop abusing people.

[cangrellesteponme]

"if you cried after alice in borderland's worst episode, you'll definitely cry watching squid game too"

nah fam. i'm vibrating with rage rn. no room for sadness here, i just want to strangle some fictional characters through my computer screen.

[deputy-ajay-ghale]

@dykerory Tej/Suki/Ramsey throuple WHEN???

[venomousvelvet]

So much for POC solidarity!

“A torture for the eyes”: Chinese moviegoers think Black Panther is just too black.

Marvel’s first black superhero film Black Panther made a strong debut in China, taking in more than $63 million this weekend and helping it cross the billion-dollar mark globally. And while the film filled seats in China, it didn’t exactly bring in rave reviews from Chinese audiences—in fact, online reviews hint at subtle racism and discomfort with the all-black cast.

Set in Wakanda, a fictional country in East Africa that’s hidden from the outside world, the movie portrayed a romanticized version of Africa that had never been touched by the white man. Led by a cast of black actors and actresses, the film presented how the king of the country, T’Challa, used his intelligence, ancestral knowledge, and access to advance technologies to become the superhero Black Panther.

But the movie—which comes as a timely portrayal and celebration of blackness half a century after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination—is hardly resonating with Chinese audiences. On Douban, China’s IMDb-esque platform, the film holds a 6.8 rating out of 10 (link in Chinese)—almost half of science-fiction and action movies rated by Douban users have a better score. Outside of China, Black Panther is on track to become the highest-rated superhero movie, according to Rotten Tomatoes; 97% of reviews from critics have been positive.

Some moviegoers disliked Black Panther because they felt Marvel was trying too hard to be politically correct (link in Chinese). While many reviewers on Douban stopped short of leaving overtly racist comments about the film, many discussed their discomfort of being surrounded by so much blackness.

“Maybe the Chinese are still not used to a film full of black people,” wrote one reviewer on Douban (link in Chinese). The commenter said he had to pinch himself more than 10 times to stay awake during the movie because “Black Panther is black, all the major characters are black, a lot of scenes are black, the car-chasing scene is black—the blackness has really made me drowsy.”

Another reviewer who came into the theater late made a similar observation: “When I entered the theater, a bunch of black people was fighting in the night… I’ve never been in a theater so dark that I couldn’t find my seat.”

Someone else said the experience was worse in 3D (link in Chinese): “The film is filled with black actors and actresses. Also, because the film’s colors are a bit dark, it’s nearly a torture for the eyes to watch the film’s 3D version in the theater.”

It’s yet another reminder of China’s limited exposure to race. Last month, in the annual Lunar New Year TV gala by China’s state broadcaster CCTV, producers had a Chinese actress in blackface and cast a black actor to play a monkey. In October, a Chinese museum hosted an exhibition titled “This is Africa” that juxtaposed images of black people to animals, including monkeys and cheetahs.

Still, Black Panther could be a start for Chinese people to learn about the black culture, argues writer Niesha Davis on Shanghai-based digital publication Sixth Tone. “Exposure to pop culture that encompasses diverse representations of black people can exert a powerful influence on how individuals conceive of them,” Davis wrote.

https://qz.com/1226449/a-torture-for-the-eyes-chinese-moviegoers-think-black-panther-is-too-black/

[unapologeticallydark]

I'm finding the "you're being racist towards Asians" rhetoric especially weird. Where was all this energy when people were twisting Anthony Mackie's words that were quoted out of context by a reporter that continuously does this to black celebs? Black people had to defend their own and no,w once again, when calling antiblackness for what it is black people have to stand on their own for that too.

That’s why I say poc solidarity is a lie. Non Black Poc couldn’t give two shits about black people when it comes down to it and it’s shown time and time again. And white people have the unmitigated GAUL to slide in my dms defending that man and awkwafinas behavior.

And there are so many people who don’t understand that black people aren’t the avengers.

You want your own movies to do well? then hype them up! Without being anti black.

You want your actors to be successful ? Then hold them accountable when necessary. And stop upholding the awful things they do and call them in. Let them know it’s not cool.

Stop expecting black people to carry your burdens when you wouldn’t spit on us if we were on fire. You can’t be both victim and oppressor that’s not how this works.

[ladyzayisapoet]

No Kinkfolk

A/N: I wrote this a couple months ago when I was very mad and disappointed in myself as I let too many people in the past year that I literally bent myself out of shape until I snapped. Sorry if there’s too many flow changes. Learn by my words that you don’t need too many people claiming you as a friend and always protect your peace. Until next time ✌🏾

I don’t feel like myself. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I remember when I took myself out to eat cuz I was craving ihop. Now I wanna I stop.

Stop the lies, cut the ties, and all the bullshit that occurs in my life.

My fake ass friends at this fake ass school. I can’t believe there was ever a time I thought we was cool.

All I got is a club that hates me, a boy that dates me, and grades that make me. Am I ready for the real world?

Qualified and under qualified at the same time and yet I still refuse to lie.

I watch my lying peers fly by me in their journey find it hard not to blast journey “Don’t Stop Believing” they say but I’m finding it difficult to start.

Bitches rather fire me than teach me what I gotta do I’m sorry to inform I can’t learn everything on YouTube.

Climbing up a ladder just to be pushed down by the latter. POC taking jobs from me ain’t that some shit? What happened to solidarity? Oh right some dick

Girlie got some dick and think she black. Girlie took my last job and now it’s whack. All up in my face with a knife in my back out here saying nigga when you know you not black.

Bitches treating me like I settled for less when they see my man. At least I don’t gotta pretend to be someone else to satisfy him.

Acting like I can’t pull- girl please, stay comfortable in your identity crisis. Find your way back before you continue to let the world divide us.

Got me feeling like a mixed kid with a toxic white mom the way people been treating me lately. They got that high school mentality when they see me

Cliques with no dicks looking bitch, don’t know shit but they stay on my clit. I wish I was kidding but they sitting in my presence, clogging up my essence, stay testing my patience

And yet here I am still taking it all with no vaseline, the things I do to keep my reputation squeaky clean. I can’t handle another angry black woman accusation in this climate.

In the land full of pick me’s and alpha wannabe’s I’m not sure why my desire to be continues to grow. I just know that I don’t wanna feel like this anymore.

These rules and bi-laws of who I’m supposed to be I don’t owe you any piece of me.

You don’t deserve it. You can’t stomach the things I’ve been through nonetheless chew it but in your eyes I’m perfect. Too perfect. Derogatively perfect.

You see the gifts I get and think I can afford them. See the life I live and think I’m privileged cuz we in Florida.

I’m not from these parts full of uncultured New Yorkers trying to start over reeking of gentrification, a plan that was only supposed to be a vacation.

My heart is aching, my town is withering away in my very eyes, every tear I shed is a goodbye to a place I once called home

And yet here you are calling me privileged when the term you’re looking for is gifted. Unfortunately gifts come at a cost. Nothing in life is free.

Life is a daily fight and we’re all competing. I’m competing against liars, thieves, backstabbers, and nice nasty people with ghostwriters.

They ride life on a surfboard as I drown in a tidal wave of their venomous spit takes.

Privileged? Give me a fucking break. Karma gotten so creative lately in fucking me over I started failing in the easiest parts of my life.

I need a drink but I can’t get drunk. I’m stuck being sober, stuck feeling every emotion in my body like a piece of wet gum in my hair.

No choice but to feel it cause it’s the only way to move on but moving on not always guaranteed it’s just a suggestion. I’m congested.

I’m scared of myself. I’m scared of what I might do to them if we’re left by ourselves. I’m scared I might say something, break something, or maybe both.

I crave violence, I hate silence, I hate silent people more. They always got the worst intentions.

Got the most to say when they not in your face. Claim anxiety cuz they not in your place and in life they losing the race. I’m losing my pace.

I want to talk but I’m losing my base in my voice to my fingers as they curl in a ball ready to be thrown at their face. Say the word I’ve been waiting to see the hood you claim.

I know I’m the ex-thug you love to hate you recognize that I’m real and you’re fake. Since when was changing for the better not okay?

It really be your own people disturbing your fate. No kinkfolk to this day.

[zukkaoru]

Zuko. He's the first character that came to mind.

hello kit!! ty for the ask <3

How I feel about this character MY BELOVED!! he is my son my uncle my significant other my father my nephew my beloved my everything the only man i would give it all for,,,,, okay no but literally i love zuko so much. as someone who watched atla and saw his character arc as a metaphor for being queer, and who also has unsupportive parents, his story hits really close to home and i just. hhhnghhgghgnh it's about realizing that nothing you do will ever be enough to make your parents proud so you might as well just do what makes you happy and what you feel is right rather than fruitlessly trying to impress them,, and it's about coming into healing and redemption even after most would consider you too far gone to save and it's about finally finding the courage to stand up to the people who have done you wrong and it's about realizing everything you were taught growing up was a lie and working to unlearn it and it's about, despite everything, finding happiness and friends and family after being told those were things you would never get and didn't deserve to have

All the people I ship romantically with this character sokka. zukka is my one and only and my everything. (but also like i put for jet: the two of them absolutely had a thing going on during the ferry ride to ba sing se and you can't convince me otherwise)

My non-romantic OTP for this character mai👏and👏zuko👏 they are gay/lesbian solidarity!! they are besties!! they are everything and more!! let them realize they don't work as a couple bc they were meant to be friends!! they were meant to help each other grow and heal but in the context of a friendship rather than a romantic relationship

My unpopular opinion about this character idk how unpopular this is but. i did not like his voice actor in tlok. he sounds too white. especially bc they didn't have a white voice actor for zuko in the original series, it sounded bad with a white actor voicing him in tlok also we need more poc and less white people voicing animated characters of color in general but that's not exactly relevant to this post

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. we deserved to see long haired zuko in the comics. it's been less than a week since i saw that concept art for it but now that i know that we were robbed i will not get over it

character ask game

[choicesenthusiast]

Important- Please Read

You know what? I’m glad that PB pulled OH from release for now. It really exposed how toxic and disgusting the people who play this game are.

I’ve said this time and time again, but PB claims to stand in solidarity while definitely not showing shit in the things they literally have control over- things they literally create. I despise how they’re pulling the chapter because of “current events”, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was already written. That was the plan, before people started calling them out on their bullshit.

I’m not mad if Kyra dies because of her cancer, because it’s a plausible, reasonable reason for death. What I am pissed about is that her death is most likely going to be a way to get Ethan more screen time. I am pissed about PB sidelining Bryce, Jackie, Sienna, Elijah, and especially writing Rafael out of the story. Especially since they are all fantastic characters of colour. All in favour of Ethan, a white man.

I’m absolutely pissed that PB is blocking people on Twitter for calling them out and asking for better black representation, then, when called out for that, decided to lie and say they’ve never done anything of the sort. When the receipts are right there.

I’m absolutely pissed that their excuse for pulling the chapter is because it discusses “mature themes” and difficult issues, when their 2 of their newest is solely based on sex. One of them even has MC witness a murder, but apparently it isn’t “mature” enough to stop release? They turned a book with great potential about PTSD and mental health into an erotica. They’ve written books in the past about murderous supernatural creatures and cults, about assassins, about gangs, but this is when it’s too “mature”? Bullshit. It’s only because they’re killing off a POC during a very important moment in history and they’re afraid to get backlash.

What constitutes as “mature”? Only things that are inconvenient for them.

I’m disgusted that some people in this fandom think it’s unfair that people are complaining about this. We have every right to complain about the mistreatment of people of colour, even if they’re just pixelated characters. There is no such thing as “less racism”. These books are the writers’ creations, and real life ideologies influence what people create. Posting a basic, corporate statement isn’t a shield to hide behind, and neither is defending this company because they love Ethan more than everyone else. Withholding a chapter because of “mature themes” is not an excuse.

This very much reminds me of a post I made back in August of 2019. 100% of the points I made are still somehow relevant nearly a year later, which speaks volumes. I still agree with what I wrote nearly a year ago, though now I’m not as lenient when it comes to the mistreatment of their minority characters. Here is the link to the post.

I hate that this is the company behind the app I enjoy playing. I hate that this is the fanbase behind the company behind the app I enjoy playing. If you don’t support Black Lives Matter feel free to unfollow me. In fact, do.

@playchoices, we’ve been asking you to do better for years. It’s time to follow up.

[firelord-frowny]

!!!!!! re: that last reblog, i needed to make a Dedicated Post to fully bitch about this topic. 

Any time there’s, say, an asian person, or a latin american person, who does or says some racist-ass anti-black shit, 

there’s aaaAAAALLLLWAYS some rando black person who pops their head up like a fukin prairie dog to complain, ~MISS ME with that poc solidarty bullshit~ or ~poc solidarity MY ASS~ blah blah blah BLAH BLAH BLAH 

and it makes me so ?????????????????? because like...

Across the board, people These Days have been more vocal and open than ever about their understanding and support of black communities. OBVIOUSLY nobody is ever perfect in how they go about doing this, and OBVIOUSLY most people don’t know how to do more than just stick “blm” somewhere on their social media profiles, but my point is that it is SO EASY to look around and see who’s at least trying to support the cause. 

And then when some pathetic jackass who happens to be brown-skinned says some anti-black shit, people wanna come out of the woodwork and cry about poc solidarity being a ~lie~. 

and you know DAAAAMN WELL that there are plenty of annoying-ass black folks who always have something rude to say about other poc. like, im chillin with my black college pals and have to verbally bitch slap them for referring to an asian girl they thought was promiscuous as ~dirty rice.~ my 11th grade chemistry teacher was an indian lady and she came to school one day wearing a GORGEOUS sari and then was subject to nonstop harassment from students making every culturally insensitive ~joke~ they could possibly think of. a black woman telling her friends about how she laughed in an asian man’s face when he asked her out and then she told him she’d never go out with someone who has a tiny dick. 

Black people succumb to the EXACT SAME racist propaganda against other races that other races succumb to against us and if poc solidarity is indeed a complete lie, then it’s a lie that black people are complicit in perpetuating.

~poc solidarity~ isn’t some sort of static state that can only be Entirely Real or Entirely Fake. It’s a combination of actions and beliefs across time, and across space, and there can be places and times where the solidarity is strong and profound, an there can be places and times where there’s no significant solidarity to speak of, and even when communities of different colors are committed to coming together and working on each other’s behalf, there’s STILL gonna be jackasses in each community who insist on being assholes to the other. 

I have seen way too many poc of all backgrounds supporting each other to be okay with anyone saying anything that dismisses or invalidates those people’s efforts. We all deserve better from ourselves AND each other than to waste so much energy on that kind of shit. 

also, you all know GOOD AND WELL that you know more than one wack ass uncle-tom who’ll denigrate their own people to try to get in good with racist whites. so like. while you’re on your way to go yell at an anti-black mexican, consider dropping by your cooning-ass uncle’s house, too. 

poc solidarity is a real thing when it’s a real thing. and when it’s not, it’s not. it’s really not that complicated. 

[black-is-beautiful18]

Every day as a Black person I'm reminded that poc solidarity is a lie.

It's sad too, and of course not everyone is like that, but as a whole it's definitely a myth.

[conservativetradlife]

I saw your less white post about coca cola and thought, wouldn't being 'less white' be cultural appropriation or something bad like that? Like wtf are they thinking? Smh.

I’ve decided to go in depth with my thoughts on this, but its a bit of a book. If you want to read the details you’ll find them under the cut, but I thought I’d give my two cents at the chance that someone might agree or see where the problems lie with this situation as a whole. That being said, I presume I’ll end up having people attack me about this post, so know I’m just a random person on the internet with opinions which might vary from your own. Please be respectful.

If the logic here is ‘if you’re not as white, you’re something else’ then I can agree with that to some degree, but I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘cultural appropriation.’ 

Cultural Appropriation is defined by Wikipedia (so take this with a grain of salt) as adopting elements or identities of a culture which is not your own. (As cited from the page) This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from disadvantaged minority cultures. In the case of what Coca Cola is requesting, this would be “White People”, taking on manners or elements of an identity which is not their own by shedding their identity (as ‘white) and adjusting it to whatever is requested of them (acting not white) 

The problem therein lies when what is asked of someone is not the way they act naturally (or as expected) simply due to their racial identity. This would be similar to lumping together a majority of people, over the actions or behaviors of a minority of that particular race (to generalize this is stereotyping.)

To say ‘Every white person is racist and thusly they need to stop being racist by doing ‘A B & C’’ (in this case, Coca Cola hosted an online training program for their employees, which included slides that say “Understand what it means to be white” along with a list of personal traits to adopt which explain how to be less white.) This in itself is stereotyping a particular race of people by actions which can’t be justifiably lumped together as a guarantee of the thoughts and opinions of all people who fall under the term ‘Caucasian’/’White’. To do so with other races would result in a backlash being labelled as racist to that particular race. 

This list that was provided in the slide (unless my link is removed because said tweet is deleted in the interim) include things like ‘be less oppressive’ ‘be less arrogant’ ‘be less ignorant’ ‘break with apathy’ ‘break with white solidarity’. 

What I have found that most Caucasian people I have met feel as though they cannot defend themselves or their values without being labelled as racist or objective to change in themselves. The idea that ‘White People’ are racist has become what a majority of people (including other Caucasian folks) believe. To object to changing oneself to match what people believe to be coincided with White Behavior, is to offer allowance to racism and bigotry toward POC.

The behavior changes which were cited in the slide are generalizing to what they (being those who created the slideshow in the first place) believe all Caucasian people to be. The Coca Cola company is saying, that White People are oppressive, we are arrogant, we are defensive, we are ignorant. These are things they (the Coca Cola company) believe should be changed about their White employees and say these are things that all their White Employees have in common and thusly they should be made to acknowledge and change.

If the shoe was on the other foot (if for example, they used Native American folks or other People of Color) and there were demands in place that their generalized behaviour was offensive enough to warrant a slideshow to expect change to act ‘Less ___’ any whistleblowers who chose to react to said behavior would demand that the company be ‘cancelled’ and all product cease purchase in solidarity to those who were wronged by said offensive/abusive content.

People have just begun to accept that White Guilt is an acceptable way to live. That those who have been wronged in the past, those who have been discriminated in the past have the right to repeat the behavior now to all of those who share similar traits to their historical oppressors. I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist. I am saying that most people I know aren’t racist. 

As a conservative I can say all of the people I have met have been uniquely opinionated and racism in general isn’t tolerated amongst a great deal of us. This includes racism towards white people as well. I personally believe that most people are guilty until proven innocent. I never assume that someone is racist before meeting them, but allow their actions to speak for them. This might sound preachy, but I generally expect similar treatment in return. When someone calls me racist as a call to win an argument (example, having a conversation with a customer while I was working in which an item could not be returned and was referred to as racist when I told the customer I could not help them with a return as I wasn’t in the returns area of the store, but rather, front end.)

I am defensive because I am not a racist person, and calling someone something doesn’t make it true. I’m not racist for denying the customers return. It wasn’t an issue about race, it was an issue about my checkout counter not allowing me to make returns in the Front End. When everything becomes a race issue, the world proves its general intolerance to one another.

I don’t need to change myself as I don’t view myself as a racist nor do I feel prejudice towards people who have different skin tones, ethnicities or cultures than my own. I am not threatened by other races. I am not hateful towards people of different races, cultures or ethnicities to myself because that isn’t the kind of person I am. Coca-Cola chose to generalize people and attempt to rob them of their own right to their autonomy simply because of a generalized coloring of their skin. There is no other race which would tolerate such a display of blatant racism, nor be as well received by apologists than White people. 

We can’t be anything but who we are. Until someone shows their inner thoughts about race issues, which can be honestly deemed as racist (general intolerance, name calling, denial of rights and freedoms or belief that ones race determines ones superiority over another) then one should be presumed to be not racist. 

That’s just my two cents on the matter.