An individual cannot declare Indepencence from Whiteness (not being racialized), they can only stop identifying with the systems of racism, stop protecting the systems of racism, and start the heavy work required to dismantle the systems of racism. (Be anti-racist)
If a racialized person mentions a truth (that some individual doesn't have to deal with the real life-altering impacts of racialization), and that individual tries an individual move to innocence such as telling one of those off-topic stories listed in this article, t won't make them sound "liberated" at all.
Systems must be dismantled -- individuals rejecting, or performing personal moves to innocence, are meaningless at best (if we are being kind). There is WORK to do (not personal declarations) to make fundamental changes to the Constitutions of fundamentally racist governance institutions such as United States and Canada built upon racist concepts such as the Doctrine of Discovery/etc.
Under fundamentally racist systems such as Canada and the USA there is no such thing as "Not Racist" or sticking your head in the sand and pretending it doesn't exist. There is only "Racist" and "Anti-Racist".
Oh this aligns with a ranting essay I wrote - about being labelled. Why??
https://imarkanx.substack.com/p/im-not-a-label-but-ive-been-gifted
So much Ick while reading this one.
An individual cannot declare Indepencence from Whiteness (not being racialized), they can only stop identifying with the systems of racism, stop protecting the systems of racism, and start the heavy work required to dismantle the systems of racism. (Be anti-racist)
If a racialized person mentions a truth (that some individual doesn't have to deal with the real life-altering impacts of racialization), and that individual tries an individual move to innocence such as telling one of those off-topic stories listed in this article, t won't make them sound "liberated" at all.
Systems must be dismantled -- individuals rejecting, or performing personal moves to innocence, are meaningless at best (if we are being kind). There is WORK to do (not personal declarations) to make fundamental changes to the Constitutions of fundamentally racist governance institutions such as United States and Canada built upon racist concepts such as the Doctrine of Discovery/etc.
Under fundamentally racist systems such as Canada and the USA there is no such thing as "Not Racist" or sticking your head in the sand and pretending it doesn't exist. There is only "Racist" and "Anti-Racist".
https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist
Confederate flag in US Capitol, and other "not racist" myths we tell ourselves.
https://r.flora.ca/p/confederate-flag-capitol