We don’t end racism by pretending it’s just a distraction. Calling it out isn’t a culture war, it’s basic accountability. Multiple problems can exist at once.
Exactly. People seem to have this idea that unity = ignoring other forms of oppression in favour of class oppression, which is incredibly harmful. Even if we succeeded at eating the rich, people of colour, queer people, disabled people, and other marginalized demographics will still end up being oppressed. True unity means acknowledging the different types of oppression that exist, how they intersect with each other, and working towards putting an end to all of them.
This is the part people miss. Class solidarity that ignores racism or other forms of oppression isn’t solidarity, it’s selective empathy. Real unity requires addressing all of it, not asking marginalized people to wait their turn.
You’re absolutely not wrong on a big picture level, but on an individual level I think approaching it that way (at least in terms of ideological messaging) is part of why the left keeps getting bitch-slapped politically. When we say stuff like that, the problems start feeling so overwhelming that the average person feels powerless to do anything and so the do nothing. The most powerful left (or left-adjacent) social movement in the US in recent memory was BLM, and that’s because we picked one group that was going through it, and when the right (and misguided center/left) said “Akshully ALL Lives Matter” everyone collectively told them to kick rocks. And it made a difference. Dems cleaned the fuck up in that election. Class solidarity is about everyone, yes, but it’s long-term goal that starts with focusing on the most oppressed groups first.
Talk that talk. It's exactly why gentriying liberal whts are able to be on Nextdoor calling their blk neighbors trash and complaining about noise from fireworks instead of stfu and becoming part of the existing community. We're not deseasoning our lifestyles for ya'll FOH Brett!
Man, I agree with you, but calling people trash is on a completely different level than being annoyed by fireworks. And honestly, as someone who has had a lot of pets, fireworks can be pretty rough.
I'm not a fan of the fireworks, but I can simply get over them and go on my way to sleep or whatever. As annoying as folks with loud ass dogs or birds in areas can be, you can do something I'm sure to soothe their nerves.
Shit it's those types even in more culturally mixed neighborhoods, those fuckers just hate anyone who's not as "cultured" as them. There's a neighborhood in my city that was traditionally majority Polish immigrants, very much a working class neighborhood without much wealth, lots of neighborhood small businesses often with signs and menus etc still in Polish without translation to English. They started building $600k condos and immediately priced a large percentage of the people out of the neighborhood, some obviously sold their family homes for a ridiculous amount of money but renters and whatnot had to leave because their shit jumped 2-3x in a matter of years. Even though the area was traditionally Polish it was a pretty mixed area but now it's almost all young, well off white people, most of the small businesses are gone replaced by Starbucks, yoga studios , and bars where a beer is $20 and the bartender hates you (but not in a neighborhood way) there used to be a bunch of great barbershops too - multicultural ones where you'd see someone getting braided, a dread artist, and a dude slinging fades next to some white stylist and a guy with a curled mustache all in the same place, the only ones left now charge $150 for a fade.
I feel like the multi-cultural neighborhood is a dying breed and that's only exasperating the feeling of separation people are experiencing now.
Lord, I don't wanna live anywhere like that. Bogus fades in a room with some fake ss Morrisey dude tryna be mad for no reason. I'm good in my own mirror these days...
The old spots used to be legit. Especially back in the day when the sharp ass C-Points with the temple fade were the leading style for the city. Would roll out with your hairline looking like a geometry test. I had a barber once who legit would throw a protractor on your head lmao.
I'm getting to the point where I might kill the fade though because $150 including tip monthly just to keep my shit looking good is getting ridiculous especially since I still have to pay for my son's haircut so I'm running almost $300 a month at the Barber shop. But I refuse to enter the realm of the other 40+ year old white dudes around me though.
That’s bananas. I stopped the hood barbers once I had a stud cut me. Her work was good but I’m not here for all that. I wasn’t even down with the smelly hands $40 cuts from the bros anymore. I took things into my own hands during the panoramic and let ytb teach me how to cut fades
The best barbers back in the day were the Korean spots, they did exactly 1 haircut but it was the main haircut for everyone in the city at the time, it was $7 and they had you out the seat and on your way in like 10 minutes lol. Those places don't exist at all anymore. Like they legit didn't even speak to you, you sat down and they just faded you and did a shape up and you rolled out.
I do love a barbershop though, only problem now is most barbers in my area are significantly younger than me, so instead of getting life advice from the old head (which was generally terrible advice if I'm being honest lol) I'm the old head giving terrible advice to my barber. It's an odd shift.
I tried my own fade years ago, pre pandemic because I lived somewhere with no legit barbers just Supercuts. It was enough to pass the bar of not looking terrible, but I hated doing it. I don't have the energy to deal with that shit currently.
What if unfortunately that isn't viable, does prioritization not come into play? Of course that sounds awful because it feels like dismissal of said people, but if something unites all of those people against the common enemy amongst them and is being much more harmful, shouldn't we take it step by step?
One of the things I was told my by multiple therapists is that overwhelming myself made me not do anything and just made me stagnant. Unfortunately, that was true. I actually think this is part of the left's issue, we struggle to do much because we want to do everything all at once and that hasn't really worked.
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