$5,000 anti-racist dinner parties

[sundin13]

Flilix said:

sundin13 said:

Is it really so far-fetched that White Supremacy would be at the root of Black-on-Asian violence?

Let's break things down real quick. When we hear "white supremacy" we largely think of individuals who hold the belief that whites are inherently better and that they should have the power in society, but that isn't what we are talking about here. In this context, White Supremacy refers to the system of values in our society which places traits commonly associated with whiteness above traits associated with non-white groups. This can be something as simply as valuing light skin tones over darker skin tones, or something more cultural such as valuing a nuclear family set-up over other types of family structures. It also speaks to the series of beliefs and ideas which have largely been created and perpetuated by white individuals in power (more on this below).

(...)

Because these values and beliefs emerge from power, it is often a pretty safe assumption that these broad, culture-wide sentiments can be attributed to White supremacy to at least some degree.

Now, what about Anti-Asian racism in the era of covid? I feel like you would pose little objection to the belief that this largely emerged from whites in power, be they White Republicans in politics, or white talking heads on Fox News, but I'll provide a source anyways: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2020.1839114

So, when a black person commits anti-Asian violence because of the beliefs they hold about the victim's role in the coronavirus, what stands at the root of this? Largely, racist sentiments perpetuated by whites in power and internalized by other communities. And the history of Black-Asian tensions have been going on for much longer than Covid. It is largely through white racism that a sense of competition between minority groups emerged (similar to the tension with Mexican immigrants described above). This article breaks down some of the history of Black-Asian tensions pretty well, but you can also look into the "model minority myth" if you want to do further reading: https://www.vox.com/22321234/black-asian-american-tensions-solidarity-history

Now, does this mean that you are to blame, or that any of this is a criticism of you personally? Of course not. This type of defensive attitude is something I see all too often and it is altogether misplaced. I work in the sciences. One of the most important things that we learn is about cognitive biases. It doesn't make me evil or bad or stupid for these biases to exist within my head. It is simply a part of human nature. However, it is through learning and understanding in which I am able to ensure that I don't act upon these biases. The same thing applies for racial biases. It doesn't make you a bad person to have biases in your head. Everyone does. That is the power of white supremacy. However, learning and understanding can help immensely in not just ensuring you aren't perpetuating White supremacy, but in dismantling it. 

I don't really get the connection you're making between everything you're saying and your omnipresent 'white supremacy'.

You're making a perfect link between racial supremacy and xenophobia, which I find very questionable. If a virus originates in one country and then causes other countries to go through a disastrous year, isn't it logical then that quite a few people will develop a hatred against that one country, even if they do not believe in racial superiority at all? For instance, there was a lot of anti-German sentiment in Europe after World War II, but no one believed that they were racially superior to the Germans.

Couldn't the anti-Asian sentiment of the 'whites in power' simply be mostly a result of this logical xenophobia, rather than a major cause? Just like the anti-Asian sentiment of a lot of black Americans is. Or just like the anti-Asian sentiment of a lot of African people is, despite not watching Fox News or being directly part of 'a system of white supremacy'.

The fact that anti-Asian sentiments are more common among white people can simply be explained by the fact that black people are generally more used to discrimination, and thus tend to be more considerate when judging people by their ethnicity.

Edit: just to be clear - when I say that xenophobia is 'logical', I do of course not mean that it's also reasonable or justified.

I often see a lot of people making distinctions between "xenophobia" and "racism". I've never quite understood why it matters. Both are means of discrimination against groups who have been othered. The only difference is whether you want to other people based on the somewhat arbitrary social boundaries of race, or the somewhat arbitrary social boundaries of borders. Further, I feel I've already made clear that when speaking about "white supremacy", I am not talking about people outwardly believing that whites are better than other races. See the first paragraph in the post you quoted. It is about societal values, which we may often see as entirely distinct from "racism" (or xenophobia), yet are not.

I also find the comparison between a virus originating country and the Nazis somewhat bizarre. I will simply say that, no, it is not particularly logical to hate Asians because a virus originated in China, but further I feel it is indisputable that some degree of anti-Asian sentiment has come from powerful white people. This was demonstrated through the source that I posted, which indicates where a large amount of this anti-Asian sentiment is coming from. Would there be some anti-Asian sentiment without white supremacy? Possibly to some degree, but it would almost certainly be a lesser degree (and in the absence of white supremacy, we would also subtract some of the other causes of historical tension which I previously discussed). 

Additionally, I don't believe the assertion that African Americans are not a part of the system of white supremacy is accurate. Of course they are part of the system. You can't live in this country without being part of the system (except for maybe the Amish? I don't fully understand how that works). As previously stated, a black person isn't immune from the idea that a Mexican immigrant is stealing their job just because they are black, or don't watch Fox news.