Where to start...?

[sabotabby]

It's International Blog Against Racism Week.

According to coffeeandink, the instructions are:

1. Announce the week in your blog.

Check. A day late, but I didn't know.

2. Switch your default icon to either an official IBAR icon, or one which you feel is appropriate. To get an official IBAR icon, you may modify one of yours yourself or ask someone to do so, or ask oyceter to do so as she has agreed to be the Official Iconmaker of the Revolution, or hop over to her LJ and pick up one of the general-use ones she's put up.

I'm at my icon limit, but I'm going to take any excuse to use this icon.

3. Post about race and/or racism: in media, in life, in the news, personal experiences, writing characters of a race that isn't yours, portrayals of race in fiction, review a book on the subject, etc.

More to come on that, but in the meantime, let's go back to Zidane for a second. Bitch Ph.D. argues:

...I think that the headbutt becomes, not a mark of flouting the rules and a professional failing, but instead an act of individual pride and a statement that one's humanity and pride are more important than one's job. It's not shameful; on the contrary, swallowing whatever it was Materazzi said in order to score for the French team--given that his dedication to the game, and to France, at this point in his career, is beyond the shadow of a doubt--would have been disgraceful.

And then, joy of joys, links to this post that brings Spike Lee and Fanon into it.

Go forth and read. And I'll aim for some original content soon.

Comments

[pretzelsalt.livejournal.com]

Cool - but is this something white bloggers are doing mostly?

It kind of sounds like a white people write up with some weird white defaults in the set up.

Or I am white and interpreting it that way.

"writing characters of a race that isn't yours"

Characters?

Can privileged people insert themselves like that? It feels like that is part of the problem that winds up getting so ugly. Folk thinking they relate by inserting their own reality into the realities of others and then making fiction out of reactions. I would like to see white people written by folk of color first and foremost - what an exciting story that would be!

I am not trying to gripe at the OP who is trying something out that sounds interesting - I'm just always digging at this stuff because it's so weird.

Whitey is weird.

And there is my comment on race.

[seaya.livejournal.com]

Actually, I know for a fact that many of the people involved are of color, particularly on the fan end. Also, there was a great blog post from a scifi writer of color about white people writing characters of color.

See:
http://www.speculations.com/?t=189622

Blog against racism week is not in any way just a white thing.

[sabotabby]

Oooh, thanks for that link.

(On a writing note, the chocolate/coffee thing had never occurred to me. I mean, I don't think I've ever described someone as such, since it's cliché, but I do see it everywhere.)

[profane-stencil.livejournal.com]

The Tony Karon piece is brilliant. Failed to understand him, failed to appreciate the stresses he was under, believed the fantasies they projected onto him about his ability and desire to make it all better pretty well sums up the negative responses to his post, as well. Someone actually mentions OJ...

[sabotabby]

What an odd comment, anyway. He all but admits that bringing up OJ is irrelevant. So why mention it?

[profane-stencil.livejournal.com]

Cos that's one of the field marks of a racist.

[lopukhov.livejournal.com]

All y'all nonwhite people look the same to me.