Actually a drama queen

cat-hoarder

Great idea until you have 7th graders in Florida picking your president…. I’m not sure that the people that actually agree to this idea understand that kids would just vote how their parents would because no seventh grader has more than two brain cells. I was in seventh grade when the 2016 election happened, and holy fuck you do not want those kids picking your President, let alone having rights in general

odinsblog

So then maybe, as was the point of this post, maybe the court system shouldn’t be executing 7th graders (most of whom are disproportionately black and brown people)? Because if you don’t think they’re mature enough to vote and pick a president, then I’m guessing that they aren’t mature enough to be tried as adults and then executed???

scottandhiskind

anarchist-luke

Since I'm still shadowbanned here's a reminder that the way race works in the US is not always how it works in Europe. And I get that might sound scary at first but for all you people complaining that US schools never taught you anything (ours didn't either) listen up.

The way I've seen people in the US, even US poc, talk about marginalisation in Europe is astoundingly ignorant. It honestly sounds like some of you are in this bubble where you can just apply the US model to anything and call it quits. Even outright lying about stuff that could be easily disproved with a Google search.

This post is mainly about three communities in Europe, but when you look at a cultural map of Europe you'll see a lot of diversity. Firstly though, we've gotta put behind the terms black and white for now. Because while that is relevant for discussing race, it is a little different in Europe and very crucially so.

So, in Europe there are groups of people know as GRT (G*psy, Romani, Travellers). They varyingly claim and do not claim the g slur. It's honestly best to ask them what they want to be called. GRT peoples originated in India a long long time ago and migrated around Europe. They belong to an Indo-European culture (their languages are also Indo-European because of this). This means that many GRT people may appear white, and many of them will appear a lot darker skinned. European history is actually more racist if anything, as it has a lot of *must be this skin tone to be considered white* going on. Which means people that Americans would call white *in America* may actually be disqualified with racism in Europe. This is important to note, as the context is different. A GRT person the US may enjoy being perceived as white, but that doesn't undo any systematic racism against GRT people going on. Like my post on the UK losing the right to protest said, this law is targeted at GRT people, criminalising their camps.

Also in Europe is a country called Bosnia, which has large ethnic groups of Bosnians in it. (Note I say ethnic groups, because as you'll see genocides displace people a lot). My heart goes out to the Bosnians. On the surface they might look like generally white Eastern European/ Balkans people. But that *you must be this white to enter* racism comes up again and many Bosnians aren't considered white by some Europeans. It's especially worsened by the dominant religion of Bosnians being Islam. The Bosnians faced a genocide from Serbia. Thousands of mainly men and boys were lied to, killed and driven out of their homes. If you want more in depth information, look it up.

And a third group in Europe is the Sami peoples of Finland. The Sami are, in US terms, indigenous tribal groups living in Northern Finland. They were displaced by the Finnic peoples who moved in and then the Russians. The Sami, living so high in Northern Europe are quite pale skinned. Would undoubtedly pass as white in the US. But they have been subjected to racism and anti indigenous laws, culture eradication by the Finns and Russians. They were considered a separate race that needed getting rid of. And the dominant forces in Europe were all too eager to do that.

Honorable mentions include:

-The Irish as treated by the British (always be wary of 'the Irish are black claims) but the truth of it is the UK would treat the Irish as a separate race and did horrific damage to their population and culture (see: no dogs, no blacks, no Irish signs).

-Antisemitism sometimes having a racial edge towards all Jewish people in Europe, no matter their skin colour.

- Variously, and depending on what nation is the antagonist, a lot of Mediterranean countries have been considered 'not white enough' as justification for war and prejudice.

yharnamsnewslug

Don't forget, also, that there are A LOT of Muslims in the Mediterranean countries! And that it's not the whole Mediterranean countries, but usually the south of them that are considered "not white", like Andalucía or Sicily. It's because our culture has mixed so much with Arab culture that, in the end, there's a wide variety of poc who are Christian and a variety of white people who are Muslim. And I say poc and white in American terms, because my friend Guillermo doesn't have white privilege despite being white, because people know his surname and then just KNOW he's from a Muslim family.

It's intricate and I wish people realized just how diverse it is.

anarchist-luke

Absolutely, its early for me rn but I honestly want to write about this in more detail when I can. I'm just tired of people from the US thinking their way is the best way, when it isn't and only applies to the US. Don't get me wrong BLM in the UK is doing some good stuff, but because it is based on US models of race, it is actively silencing and glossing over other marginalised races or people who are racialised.

the-defiant-fluffball

Me in the UK: called 'one of the good ones', benefitted enormously from adopting the local accent, everyone treated me like a fool or a werido whenever it became obvious that I was a specific type of foreign, none of my documents and certificates bore my actual name because apparently utf-8 is still not the standard in the 21st century, no one could pronounce my obviously foreign name even though it's a) not long, b) not very difficult to spell and b) only consists of sounds that are common in English, and all of this happened in a very liberal and diverse city where I managed to pass as British 99% of the time which I know saved me from a ton of prejudice

people in the US: BuT yOu ArE wHiTe and therefore imagining it

thelostarchangel

Small correction to the original post: The Sami territories are not solely Finnish/Russian, but also include significant parts of Sweden and Norway. This map here does a good job at depicting it.

And all involved national governments have a history of oppressing and abusing these indigenous Sami peoples. For example, there have been various attempts at violently stamping out their indigenous faith and culture over the centuries, which has only quite recently started to truly change.

That all aside: Excellent post. Another thing I should add, though: Racist attitudes in western Europe towards eastern Europe. Here in the Netherlands, Poland and Polish immigrants in particular are a common target of it. Another common one is, obviously, Islamophobia, and ethnic racism towards individuals from predominantly Muslim countries (here in the Netherlands, mainly Turkey and Morocco)

slumber-pumps

I’d like to add that as an African person who grew up in the UK and then moved to the US in their teens: racism even towards racialized Black people is different in Europe and the US. OP is 100% right when they say that trying to apply US models of race to the entire rest of the world is ignorant at best and legitimately dangerous at worst.

US friends, you are not the center of the universe and the world looks VERY different outside of your borders. Your cultural experiences are not universal. Please stop assuming that everyone who speaks English on the internet is just another American.

kipplekipple

Also like... Anti-GRT sentiment in the UK specifically is *incredibly* violent and ubiquitous. A lot of people who would claim they aren't racist, and may even be actively anti-racist in some ways, consider GRT folks to be fair game. It gets incredibly disturbing and vile very, very quickly.

Actually a drama queen

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

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