#this goes for other axes of oppression btw misogyny transphobia etc

[fleshengine]

A problem I’ve found with dealing with people who are doing something racist is that a lot of racism is unintentional learned behavior, but the concept of racism is so thoroughly ingrained in the american psyche as evil and repugnant. So you have people who think they’re not racist going around doing racist things and if you point it out they FREAK OUT because you’re accusing them of something they view as a heinous crime. They think it’s some sort of social murder to be accused of racism so they come up with every reason under the sun that what they did isn’t racism. By sticking to their guns and insisting they didn’t do anything wrong they come off as more racist than they would if they just accepted that they did something bad, apologized and changed their ways. Because that’s the goal. The goal isn’t to crucify everyone for minor infractions, that doesn’t help anyone. The goal is to get people to stop being racist right?

I’d rather be friends with ten people who were racist and learned to be better than one witch hunter who would have them incarcerated on the grounds of bigotry.