tabularasae:

Sorry, but what does this mean? Maybe I’m missing some context here, but this is nothing short of thinly-veiled racism. Saying to an entire race of people that the processes by which they’ve been excluded and ostracized from our nation’s culture and identity is attributable to their attitude and not centuries of systematic oppression and marginalization is not only an absurdly naive and uninformed response, but an insult to those of us who day after day have to suffer by the ignorance of the dominant culture.

How many times in my life have I heard privileged whites say to me—actually, I had one say this to me about a week ago—”Have you ever considered—and I say “considered” seriously, since this is an unproven theory—that part of the reason that your role at Oakwood as social paladin, [you] vs. the world, is defined in part by your attitude?” How many times have I heard a privileged person come up to me asking, “don’t you think your behaviors are adding to the feeling of segregation and ostracism you feel? Maybe if you were a little more appreciative—a little less critical—and a little more easy-going about these things you wouldn’t be so upset.”

Those aren’t  questions exclusively asked by the privileged, dominant culture, are they? Those aren’t inquiries posed by those of whom who haven’t a clue what it means to feel truly isolated and different. I realize that Steven Biko was a prominent anti-Apartheid activist in South Africa, but his words, honestly, don’t register as anything more to me than a form of internalized oppression—a sign that his understanding of race issues—while sometimes well intentioned—don’t truly reflect the scope and complexities of racial prejudice and discrimination. This comment reflects one of the most destructive aspects of internalized oppression: does he actually feel that if blacks simply changed their attitudes they’d be better off—that they wouldn’t be oppressed because of their race? Does he actually not recognize how being “black” is as much about a common experience of marginalization and oppression as it is a “mental attitude (which is something I don’t and don’t think I’ll ever truly understand).” 

Comments like these—stripped of their context, standing for themselves, and reflective of an internalized degradation—give fuel to the mindsets shared by many privileged and oppressed that racial issues are a manifestation of a bad attitude rather than a complex series of hierarchies and subordination. Do all the people who’ve reblogged this truly not recognize the ramifications of posting a quote like this without any kind of clarification or explanation? Do the people who post this in avid support not realize that they’re giving credence to the privileged mindset that our differences stem merely from our attitudes and not our actions and their reciprocal effects and ramifications? 

Honestly….

(via garland)