[permaculture] racism 101 for white american permies

LINDARAY at att.net LINDARAY at att.net
Tue Feb 26 17:43:13 EST 2008


Wow. Sounds like a prejudiced writer there.
I also think it has nothing whatsoever to do with permaculture.

-------------- Original message from "rafter at liberationecology.org" <rafter at liberationecology.org>: -------------- 


> Thanks to Ben for calling that one. 
> 
> Briefly: 
> 
> Y'all know how there is a cutting edge, a sort of global best- 
> practices conversation, about ecological design? And we are all 
> pretty excited about it, and how it's called permaculture? And how 
> it's not homogenous at all, but how even with all the differences of 
> opinion that run though it, it's still identifiable and coherent and 
> more-or-less the best thing going in terms of ecological design? 
> 
> Well, that sort of conversation exists for issues besides ecological 
> design. There is also, for example, a conversation just like that, 
> but about racial and ethnic relationships. This one is called anti- 
> racism (though you might hear it called critical race theory, in 
> certain circles, or some other variant.) 
> 
> In this conversation, racism is defined as "power plus prejudice." So 
> it's not just about your attitudes, conscious or not, or even your 
> actions - it's also defined by social context of those attitudes and 
> actions. 
> 
> If this seems like an exciting, or confusing, or infuriating, idea, a 
> great entry point to understand it better is the short, 
> conversational, funny book by Tim Wise called "White Like Me." 
> 
> So, just a few short principles that come out of the anti-racism 
> conversation: 
> 
> * No one is "colorblind," even if that were an appropriate response 
> to a racially divided caste society - which it ain't. 
> * Unconscious prejudice affects our experience of the world, all of 
> us - and it is measurable: 
> see for yourself at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ 
> * Explaining one's racially charged remarks as reason, logic, or 
> common sense doesn't make you not racist. 
> * Having non-white genes in your heritage doesn't make you not racist 
> - particularly if you are "read" as white in your public life. 
> * Having non-white friends *definitely* doesn't make you not racist. 
> * If you think you are racist, you're almost certainly right. 
> * If you are white, and think you aren't racist, you are almost 
> certainly wrong. 
> * None of these things make white people not racist, or disprove the 
> existence of white supremacy: 
> * Listening to music by non-white artists 
> * Getting pulled over by a non-white cop 
> * Making white-people jokes 
> * Seeking out spiritual guidance from non-white people 
> * Claiming "logical self-interest" or variations on that theme 
> * Being progressive, bohemian, radical, green, anti-authoritarian, etc. 
> * Being poor, being a woman, being LGBTQ, being disabled, etc. 
> 
> Permaculture, as a movement, as a community that is trying hard to 
> help save this big complex world we live in, will grow more effective 
> and more powerful as we learn to learn from this other best-practices 
> community. 
> 
> rafter t. sass 
> The Liberation Ecology Project 
> liberationecology.org 
> 518-567-7407 
> skype: raughter 
> 
> 
> 
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