call it what it is.

[trochee]

okay, it's starting to piss me off.

many have noted the difference in captioning between pictures of white people taking food from grocery stores in New Orleans [finding] and pictures of black people doing the same thing [looting].

In every dialog I've read, somebody jumps in to point out that the captions were written by different people, and some of them were from AP, and some were from AFP, or derail the conversation ("how brave the TV crews are"," "I contest the race of the participants", "It's all the media's fault", "perhaps it was an honest mistake").
The most offensive responses from defensive white folks run along the lines of "OMG how dare you [point out racism/write a letter]; it's talking about race that keeps racism alive", "unless Black folk explain why they [didn't leave town/stole beer] we can't call it racism" -- note that POC have to explain the actions of all POC in this one.

But none of these "explanations" [note scare quotes] hold water. [fuck off, I'm too irritated to find a better metaphor.]

Why the hell is there so much resistance from snotty whitefolk to the possibility that there is racism here? Lord knows, we don't have a race problem in this country and I don't know what people are thinking, casting aspersions like this. [/sarcasm] As these show, it doesn't matter who wrote them, it's still part of the institution. And it's not even accurate to attribute it to AP vs. AFP.

To repeat myself from a locked discussion: It can be institutionalized racism, without anybody ever having the thought "I dislike/don't trust/hate black people." That only the snarky bloggers noticed it, and it goes unnoticed and/or excused by white folks, is what makes it racism.

If the captions were reversed, us white folks would have noticed. AFP vs AP is a difference, but why do we need to stretch so far? This stuff is part of a culture-wide institutional assumption of guilt for POC [er, people-of-color] and assumption of innocence for white folks. Let's acknowledge it and stop fucking trying to explain it away.

I think I'm going to resubscribe to debunkingwhite.

Comments

[marlo.livejournal.com]

::applauds::

Just... WORD.

[sixty4k.livejournal.com]

amen.

[isolt.livejournal.com]

Reading the posts I am utterly, utterly nauseated at the captioning, but still more nauseated that people would actually be charged for looting at a time like this..

No words. None at all.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

seriously, no fooling around.

I would bet my bottom sawbuck that the looting laws are enforced in proportion to melanin density too.

[isolt.livejournal.com]

Yep, and that's the sickest thing of all.

When I am queen, such people will be punished with the utmost severity. This punishment will involve forced readings of and pop quizes on Les Miserables.

[lapartera.livejournal.com]

No doubt that is true.

[lapartera.livejournal.com]

A great post, dear heart. You make me proud. It is indeed sickening and enraging! I can't understand why people feel they have to excuse this obvious racism -- or deny it! YUCK!

[several-bees.livejournal.com]

Hm, why isn't it fair enough to think that it doesn't have to be the result of racism? I saw it and was suitably appalled, and looked for more pictures, and the first two I found were of a white person "looting" and some black people "looking"; it's hardly conclusive counterevidence, but it's certainly clear that it would have been possible to select examples that indicated racism in the opposite direction, without too much effort, despite that presumably (and I imagine uncontentiously) not being the case.

I assume the results of my further search were atypical, and that if someone were to compile statistics about the captioning in general then it'd be fairly likely to come out supporting the institutionalised-racism position, but I certainly don't know that, and coughing at a couple of pictures being presented as obviously a manifestation of racism doesn't seem objectionable. Am I missing something?

[boobirdsfly.livejournal.com]

Well said Troke.
And.... .I have relearned this weekend that I do not want to be a cynical sarcastic person.
So that is all I will say.

I hear you.
And... all we can do is do our best. Every day. One day at a time.
This of course is coming from where I am right now. : a pretty peaceful place despite everything. I know it changes. But that's where I am right now.
I love you.
Good for you for expressing that you are pissed off.
:)

[congogirl.livejournal.com]

Ignorance. Privilege. Status quo.

These are always the elements involved in white people insisting that racism doesn't exist, because the way racism works, it is in our favor.

Re: "How brave the TV crews are," one word -- *bleaghhhhafahhhghdhfhf*, oh sorry, I vomited instead. Go look at fengi's entry where he quoted the White House spokesman as saying the damage was devastating, and probably doubly so on the ground. Right.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

yah.

I'm not saying I'm surprised by this. Just noting how obvious it is in this little case-study.

Who needs talking points? So many of us white folks seem to run through the same list of excuses for acting like asshats without any vast conspiracy.

[exterra.livejournal.com]

was this one of the numerous links you included in your post? didn't see it, but an article on "looting" vs. "finding" (black vs. white)

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/01/photo_controversy/index_np.html

[trochee.livejournal.com]

nope, I think they wrote that after I did. thanks for the link.