Tatum mentions several aspects of racism that is developed within the prejudice system that has been built for generations. Something I want to focus on is white peoples attitude towards racism and how the system was built for them. Privilege is a hard concept to grasp for white people because they may argue that they go through challenges within their society as well. Which isn't wrong, everyone goes through their own economic, mental, educational struggles but white people do not go through systemically racial struggles. Tatum writes about how getting called racist is the worst insult to a white person. Why? Is this because white people subconsciously understand that they are consistently benefitting from the racially prejudice system our world has built?
This denial of white privilege exists everywhere, even within media, where a lot of white people are not understanding to what they are benefitting from based on systemic racism. Reported within a very popular TV show "Dance Moms" season 7 episode 7 where there is a dance called "Good Help is Hard to Find" symbolizing the relationship between the domestic help and the socialist during the civil rights movement. There are three POC dancers are playing the domestic help to the three white dancers. One of the moms of the black dancers starts vocalizing to the predominantly white dance group that something seems off about the dance, and proceeds to talk with the other moms about how they might not realize that it is racist. A white mom responds, "I really don't think I'm racist I feel like because you're white people assume that you're racist," while another white mom backs her up and says, "I think that most white people aren't racist." To get them to understand that she was just pointing out the prejudice that the white moms and dancers may not realize Holly opens up about her own experiences and says to the moms, "Lets put it like this you'll probably never go to a store and think that you're stealing something but because that is my life and my experience I have to raise my kids to know that that is going to be their life and their experience" Again, reinforcing the idea that many white people do not understand the amount of privilege that they hold within our society.
https://youtu.be/6OLCRt3Ltq8?si=1S9FPbluuCbpGyKK
I like your connection to Dance Moms. It really helps put the article and the issues presented into an even clearer IRL perspective. The denial of white privilege is an issue too often overlooked.
ReplyDeleteJulia, I liked your use of common media to help understand the readings we have in class. I didn't read Tatum, my exposure to the reading came from the presentation in class. However, including the episode of Dance Moms helped me understand the themes that it shared with Tatum.
ReplyDeleteI loved your Dance Mom's connection and the manner in which you described it. Your response made me read Tatum and I think you conveyed what Tatum was trying to explain really thoughtfully!
ReplyDeleteHi Julia, I liked the connection you made between this text and Dance Moms. The media often tries to normalize things that are not normal and the worst of all is that they try to camouflage it to make it seem okay.
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