Longform Links – Bobby J, Racism & Fear, Single Cause Activism
Sepia Mutiny – Evolution Vs. Bobby Jindal
For as long as this blog has been around, Bobby Jindal has been a source of controversy in the comment threads. Should South Asian Americans support him because he is an undisputedly intelligent politician and desi like us, or is it okay to turn our backs on him because we fundamentally disagree with his policies and the type of America that he represents? Both answers are of course correct, depending upon what matters most to you as an individual voter.
I don’t understand the purpose of coming to community events if you are not actually interacting with the community. And when I say “interacting,” I don’t mean that you eat their food or watch them in their strange cultural rituals. I mean that you might actually attempt to develop relationships with those people. And maybe you might not treat them like your servants as you dip your toe into your cultural experience.
Lately I’ve been a little too aware of being one of them when among you all. And I see your children watching, too.
I have tried for a long time to be understanding of white people’s fears when it comes to interacting with people of color. But frankly, since they usually manifest as privilege and patronage, I’m having a hard time. During a seminar on racism, a white woman voiced her anxieties about entering communities of color. I commented that was one of the ways that racism had harmed us all. But then she was quick to deny that fear was a product of racism.
Oh, okay.
Because it occurs to me that worrying that other people might find you racist is a product of racism. Being anxious that people will not accept you when you’ve always been accepted previously is privilege and perhaps projected racism as well.
And here you are losing the ability to be real and genuine, and to have true and genuine relationships. Because if you cannot acknowledge the damage that racism has done, it is going to be very hard for me to accept you as a friend or ally.
Model Minority – The Removal of White Feminists
Hirshman’s piece resonates because of a conversation I was having as I walked to brunch with Fillthy yesterday. I mentioned to him that I just learned about a non profit that is against the jail that is scheduled to be re-opened in downtown Brooklyn. I had the idea that the prison reform folks and the and anti jail folks may be able to form like Voltron.
Soon the wind would be let out of my sails when he mentioned that he had already spoken to anti-jailers, as he had the same idea. He concluded they were not anti-prison, they were just against the opening of the prison in their neighborhood because of the impact on their property values.
The anti jail folks were the classic Single Cause Activists (SGA’s).
As Americans, I think we have a knee jerk aversion to understanding and admitting how things are connected.
We would be better off as a humans if we acknowledged and approached life from the perspective that everything is connected or damn near so.
For example, Corn prices go up, beef goes up. Over-fish the Salmon, salmon become extinct. Spend Trillions on a war, less money for State infrastructure. Fewer jobs in post industrial cities for teenage Black men, more teenage black men sell crack. The analogies are crude, but you get the picture.
In thinking about the SCAs, I wondered how the notion of SCAs related to Linda Hirshman’s resentment of the in “intersectionality” that she sees in some of today’s feminism.
Is Hirshman advocating for Single Cause’s Activism within feminism?
In response to the single cause activism in feminism, bell hooks is clear that if feminism is a lifestyle choice, then it will not mean shit to the masses of women and will consequently be irrelevant to them as well.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Chris wrote:
I think the whole point of being anti-racist is to form your opinions of and support (or not support) someone regardless of their race.
That said, if you disagree with Bobby Jindal’s stance on politics, you shouldn’t back him solely because you share the same ethnic background.
That’d be like me stating I support Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because just because she’s the president of the Philippines, despite all the egregious human rights violations that have happened on her watch.
Posted 26 Jun 2008 at 9:04 am ¶
goc wrote:
As a desi, I only speak for myself when I say that Bobby Jindal could come to my front door and break out in bhangra and I would’nt give him the time of day. His support of racist, xeno-phobic, homophobic, sexist and classist policies is a big reason. But its more than that. People assume that race alone can garner support from a politicians ethnic communities. I disagree because I believe that it is the intersectionality of race, class, gender, immigration, religion etc that does that. Jindal represents almost every aspect of the stero-typical “model” desi inthe US. He is north indian, more specifically Punjabi. His parents are part of the early 60’s professional brain-drain immigrants int he US south. He used to work with the Mittal’s, you know the dudes that are buying out European steel mills. And while I understand that there are plenty of desi’s that identify with all of that I propose that there are just as many that don’t.
Posted 26 Jun 2008 at 10:22 am ¶
Rob Schmidt wrote:
Re Jindal: Anyone who believes in creationism and performs exorcisms isn’t “undisputedly intelligent .”
Posted 26 Jun 2008 at 11:32 am ¶
msday wrote:
Goc,
I want to be in the know. What is the meaning of the word Desi?
Posted 26 Jun 2008 at 12:04 pm ¶
msday wrote:
“a white woman voiced her anxieties about entering communities of color”
That is because she probably knows how people sometimes react to minorities when they walk into a room. My final days in America as a person of color made me feel like Damien from the omen. I could almost the choral chant, as people sometimes froze or stopped talking. Better yet, some would abruptly end their lunch and scurry away. I was sometimes a little more fortunate in that respect as long as another person of color didn’t show up and join me. Then they all would leave. Believe it or not, it actually hurt sometimes although I refuse to show it.
What I really resented were the “eyes”. I am a former soldier, so it is in my nature to always be aware of the environment. Most of the time, when I walked into a room. I could count on people glancing at each other and shifting their eyes in communication. To make it so bad, they act as if you won’t notice. Yes, the “EYES”
Posted 26 Jun 2008 at 12:13 pm ¶
Goc wrote:
msday,
Desi literally translates into “from the motherland.” It is a commonly used to refer to people from South Asia or of South Asian origin. Depending on the inflection, it is also used as an insult between South Asians, the equivalent of calling someone a FOB (fresh of the boat) or never got on the boat. But most commonly it is a short way of saying south-asian.
Posted 26 Jun 2008 at 5:11 pm ¶
Adrianna wrote:
Single Cause’s Activism doesn’t work, but then you don’t want to be to broad in your activism. Because we are all connected we have to form alliances that benefit us both. Six degree of separation is no joke. What one person in power does can change the course of history for the world. look at what the price of oil is doing worldwide. If that doesn’t show interconnections worldwide I don’t know what does. That why the world is following the American Election closely. If MCcain gets the presidency. The world is going to be shit out of luck.
Posted 26 Jun 2008 at 10:47 pm ¶