Masquerading as a White Bearded hipster guy (despite being a Black Woman)

[ismnotwasm]

I thought this interesting especially given all the um, discussions or comments I've been seeing trying to equate a Black experience with a White one. Or a male experience with a female one.

The first time I was trolled was back in 2010. After watching Andrew Breitbart destroy Shirley Sherrod's career, I fired off an angry tweet and he retweeted it, inviting thousands of his followers to defend his honor.

And defend they did. I was a number of “dumb black bitches” and “stupid ni**er bitches,” with a few “dumb c**ts” thrown in for good measure. My mentions were a crime scene for hours.

Last week, I decided to tweet Raffi Williams, he of the manufactured Ebony Magazine scandal. I fully admit to camping out in his mentions like Tisha Campbell did Eddie Murphy in "Boomerang." But this time, the trolling I received was markedly different. Save for a few homophobic tweets, the worst insult I received was “libtard.” But this time, they thought they were engaging a white hipster.

Being a white dude on Twitter has its advantages.

To be clear, this whole thing started as a joke. Or a bet, really. Last fall, one of my Twitter followers dared me to change my avatar and assume the personality of a DudeBro for a week. It seemed easy enough. I'd spent my formative years studying white culture, and considered myself an expert on all of The Things White People Like™, like yoga, collie shepherds, and Stephen Colbert. So I hit Google, searched for a random picture of a random white guy, and threw it up on my profile. I left my name and bio unchanged.

Sure enough, people (most of them, white dudes) engaged me differently. The number of snarky, condescending tweets dropped off considerably, and discussions on race and gender were less volatile. I had suddenly become reasonable and level-headed. My racial identity no longer clouded my ability to speak thoughtfully, and in good faith. It was like I was a new person.

http://www.xojane.com/issues/why-im-masquerading-as-a-bearded-white-hipster-guy-on-twitter

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. No Culture of Privilege to see here. No, sir. Move Along, folks. Keep moving.

K&R

[ismnotwasm]

2. LOL

Nope. Doesn't exist. Couldn't possibly--- it would upset the dominant paradigm, and a few folks would have to feel (gasp) uncomfortable with their privilege-- or continue to deny it. Kind of like a Creationist confronted with actual science, really.

[WhiteTara]

3. But we all know that White Male Privilege doesn't exist!

...okay this is just more proof of it.

[Demeter]

4. Well, yes

But losing credibility with my sisters would hurt...

[Leith]

5. Nobody Should Have to Go Through Harrassment Based on Race or Gender

I'm very sorry that it happened to Jamie - and every other woman and/or person of color - at any time. The viciousness of people really gets me down sometimes.

Often people assume that I'm male. Sadly, I don't usually correct them.

[AgingAmerican]

6. Not so sure 'Breitbart' and his followers

...are very representative of white people in general. The are more representative of right wing ideological fuck heads.

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. But there is a good measure of ...

similar treatment of People of Color and Women, right here on DU ... which I have been told, time and again, is representative of the wider world of white folks.

Look through any of the Privilege Threads or the Misogyny Threads ... there is an almost palpable anger/dismissiveness coursing through the responses to PoCs and Women, that is largely absent (or at least less evident) in the responses to identifiably non-PoCs and males.

[AgingAmerican]

17. Link to some of it please

I have never heard anything like, “dumb black bitches” and “stupid ni**er bitches,” with a few “dumb c**ts” thrown in for good measure' here on DU. Please show me where that was said about blacks or minorities here.

[1StrongBlackMan]

18. I am, more, referring this ...

The number of snarky, condescending tweets dropped off considerably, and discussions on race and gender were less volatile. I had suddenly become reasonable and level-headed. My racial identity no longer clouded my ability to speak thoughtfully, and in good faith. It was like I was a new person.

And I suspect you know this.

And, BTW, thanks for proving my:

there is an almost palpable anger/dismissiveness coursing through the responses to PoCs and Women, that is largely absent (or at least less evident) in the responses to identifiably non-PoCs and males.

point.

[AgingAmerican]

19. Why do you

...always say, "I suspect you already know this" to me when it comes to racist shit? Are you accusing me of being a racist? Do you think that I engage in that shit? Your insinuations get old, dude. You don't fricking know me.

Let me guess, now you will claim that you have 'touched a nerve?'

Do you think that charges of racism could be, in certain circumstances, racist?

[1StrongBlackMan]

20. Because I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt ...

No, I'm not accusing you of being a racist ... If I thought that, I would flat out, and with no uncertainty, say it.

Do you think that charges of racism could be, in certain circumstances, racist?

What does that even mean ... calling someone on their racist comments is, now, racist? Where have I heard that before? ... Oh, yeah ... "Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the REAL racists with all their race-baiting."

[AgingAmerican]

21. I mean

Could subtle insinuations of racism against someone of a different skin color, in certain circumstances, be a form of racism? Do you think that is possible?

[1StrongBlackMan]

24. No ...

insinuations of racism against someone of a different skin color, in NO circumstance, is/can be a form of racism.

[AgingAmerican]

30. So it isn't remotely possible?

OK, gotcha.

[1StrongBlackMan]

31. No, it isn't remotely possible. eom

[ismnotwasm]

22. Lord lord.

Look. This should help

Racism: Definitions Explained

Definitions Explained Better Than I Ever Could.

This is an exert from the article Why There’s No Such Thing as Reverse Racism. It is a fantastic article and I encourage you to read it in it’s entirety. For now, I want to highlight the explanation/definition of three specific words.

Prejudice is an irrational feeling of dislike for a person or group of persons, usually based on stereotype. Virtually everyone feels some sort of prejudice, whether it’s for an ethnic group, or for a religious group, or for a type of person like blondes or fat people or tall people. The important thing is they just don’t like them — in short, prejudice is a feeling, a belief. You can be prejudiced, but still be a fair person if you’re careful not to act on your irrational dislike.

Discrimination takes place the moment a person acts on prejudice. This describes those moments when one individual decides not to give another individual a job because of, say, their race or their religious orientation. Or even because of their looks (there’s a lot of hiring discrimination against “unattractive” women, for example). You can discriminate, individually, against any person or group, if you’re in a position of power over the person you want to discriminate against. White people can discriminate against black people, and black people can discriminate against white people if, for example, one is the interviewer and the other is the person being interviewed.

Racism, however, describes patterns of discrimination that are institutionalized as “normal” throughout an entire culture. It’s based on an ideological belief that one “race” is somehow better than another “race”. It’s not one person discriminating at this point, but a whole population operating in a social structure that actually makes it difficult for a person not to discriminate


http://racismschool.tumblr.com/Racism efinitions

We look to history, recent to old, to laws, to patterns, To systems, to institutions.

As whites To privilege. To what we allow our friends or family to say unchallenged. Yes it feels personal because whites, myself included, participate in the standard of whiteness. Whiteness is the standard against all else is measured. And it's an invisible standard. But it is always there.

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. I apologize for causing the thread to be semi-hijacked. eom.

[ismnotwasm]

26. ...

It's not really you know. It's why I have my user name-- too many destructive 'isms' haven't become 'wasms' yet.

[1StrongBlackMan]

27. I caught that in your user-name ...

and thought, "I love it. We need to make 'Isms', 'Wasms', i.e., things of the past."

[M0rpheus]

28. Just can't help themselves!

[1StrongBlackMan]

29. In the words of BabyGirl 1SBM ...

I know! Huh!

I would have thought anyone with the least bit of self-reflection would have recognized themselves in the OP, and refrained from making themselves a case in point.

But Noooooo! Gotta show my a$$.

[KitSileya]

16. You're referring to incidents prior to the picture change.

If you read the article, you will see that after she changed her picture, which was years after the Breitbart incident, "I had suddenly become reasonable and level-headed. My racial identity no longer clouded my ability to speak thoughtfully, and in good faith. It was like I was a new person. Once I went back to Black, it was back to business as usual."

As we can see here on DU often, members of minority groups aren't trusted when they speak of their experiences - only if their experiences are retold by members of the majority group (white, male, straight, cis) are the experiences accepted as real. Rape survivors are told they are lying and playing the victim game. Women talking about harassment are asked what kind of sick world they live in that they let that happen to them, if it indeed happens at all. Black people are told that the racism they experience isn't real - it's just individual bigots.

It's a classic silencing technique.... as is claiming that the people who harass/rape/are racists/misogynists are simply aberrations, outliers, 'so sorry you encountered one of those, but the majority are good people,' all the while ignoring that the racism/misogyny/bigotry is woven into the very fabric of our culture, as a feature, not a bug.

[1StrongBlackMan]

23. Thank you ...

and to extend the point through a current example ...

I posted in response to Aging (at 3:08p.m.):

But there is a good measure of similar treatment of People of Color and Women, right here on DU ... which I have been told, time and again, is representative of the wider world of white folks.

Look through any of the Privilege Threads or the Misogyny Threads ... there is an almost palpable anger/dismissiveness coursing through the responses to PoCs and Women, that is largely absent (or at least less evident) in the responses to identifiably non-PoCs and males.

and it was responded to by AgingAmerican at 3:37p.m.:

Link to some of it please ... I have never heard anything like, “dumb black bitches” and “stupid ni**er bitches,” with a few “dumb c**ts” thrown in for good measure' here on DU. Please show me where that was said about blacks or minorities here.

But in the meantime (at 3:15), you (presumably, a white female) responded to AgingAmerican with essentially the same thing as I had ... yet, while he felt compelled to challenge my post, he DID NOT feel compelled to challenge your's.

Now, it's possible that he did not see you response, or it is merely a personal thing that he has with me, on its face ... AgingAmerican is an exemplar of the OP's point.

[KitSileya]

35. Oh, yes, I encounter that often.

Especially when I was younger, I'd be in a meeting with my boss and I'd state something as being against the rules or suggest a solution that would be equitable to both employer and employees and would be within the rules...and they would not give me any reaction to what I said, just continuing the discussion, until my older, male colleague would pick up what I said and restate it, when it would suddenly become the most brilliant suggestion ever. I very quickly learned to claim ownership of the idea, and look them in the eyes as I did so, daring them to deny me what I deserved.

I am a white female, and my username is feminine, because I naively thought that on a liberal message board that wouldn't be a problem....Hah!

[seabeyond]

36. i still get it. i have three educated adults, looking at

reality, telling me illusion. now, i have to go out and get documentation, at my cost, to say... see this man. while the three have been looking at the facts, saying wha? wha?

sigh.

was just thinking in life, as i am drafting an email in my mind, how often my voice has been dismssed and i was right. because it is construction, architecture, or another "male" field, if a man had said the smae thing i was saying, he would be listened to. not have to go to the extreme. waste all the time. causing greater damage

lol

[seabeyond]

32. dontcha love that babgygirl? i do. nt

[NBachers]

7. Good, well-written article

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. Do you mind if I X-post this to the AA Group? ...

It has great relevance to the discussions there, as well.

[ismnotwasm]

9. Of course I don't mind

You're welcome to anything I post that catches your eye or you find relevant

[1StrongBlackMan]

11. Thanks ...

This article speaks to exactly what Members of the AA Group have been saying to those non-Black visitors, in every single thread regarding race/privilege, that insist on telling us that this does not happen.

I loved these lines:

The number of snarky, condescending tweets dropped off considerably, and discussions on race and gender were less volatile. I had suddenly become reasonable and level-headed. My racial identity no longer clouded my ability to speak thoughtfully, and in good faith.

And:

White Cloak of Invisibility.

[ismnotwasm]

12. I read the threads here and there

All over the place, and I'm stunned, like what decade is this? Then I think, you KNOW it's like that-- you just don't have to experience it. And I realize even my emotional reaction to the racist dumbassery around here is a part of privilege.

[DeSwiss]

10. I know EXACTLY what you mean.

- K&R

[noiretextatique]

13. this reminds me of being ignored in classes

i would make a comment, and no one in the room seemed to grasp what i said until white male regurgitated my words. i called them on it too, and a white male professor backed me up. i never let anything slide anymore because silence is a part of the process.

[1StrongBlackMan]

15. I can't count the number of times ...

I have watched this/experienced this in the corporate world ... the PoC/woman makes a comment that is ignored or dismissed out of hand ... until that same comment is offered by a white male, then everyone recognizes the comment as sheer brilliance.

[seabeyond]

34. yup. and if anyone wants a bit of honesty in life, they will see also. it is in the face obvious.

i have seen it often enough, i think a person has to almost purposely ignore this.

[seabeyond]

33. yes. it is always a "stop me in my tracts" when i see it on du, in a thread. blaringly obvious.

women discussing a womans issue then when some man comes on and says the same, the men immediately tone down and address the comment in respect. maybe not in agreement, but often now agreeing.

it has me calling it out repeatedly. yet, we do not seem to see the significance of it.

i do