Well-meaning mixed people can also perpetuate the ideology of White supremacy.

Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2017-11-15 02:01Z by Steven

Well-meaning mixed people can also perpetuate the ideology of White supremacy. In 2007, I co-created a podcast exploring mixed identity. Each week, we discussed our and our guests’ responses to the ‘what are you’ question, and other common experiences of mixedness. We had a decent following and published episodes weekly. Then, a dear friend told me that a loyal fan had stopped listening. When I asked why, my friend’s response floored me: “You don’t address Whiteness.” My immediate reaction was defensive: What do you mean!? I acknowledge my mother is White and I’m half White all the time!

Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, “Love, Alone, Will Not Dismantle Racism,” Girl Mob, November 13, 2017. http://thegirlmob.com/culture/dismantleracism.

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Love, Alone, Will Not Dismantle Racism

Posted in Articles, History, Law, Media Archive, Social Justice, United States on 2017-11-14 21:48Z by Steven

Love, Alone, Will Not Dismantle Racism

Girl Mob
2017-11-13

Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni, Actor/Producer/Educator


Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni

For the last four years I have traveled across the globe presenting my one-woman show, One Drop of Love. The first two words of the play’s title refer to the one-drop rule. The one-drop rule was created to determine the amount of Sub-Saharan African blood necessary (‘one drop’) to justify enslaving and otherwise stripping away the rights of a person. These words in my title symbolize the historical and systemic racism inherent in the United States. I end the title and the play with the word love – for the hope I carry that we, collectively, will commit ourselves to dismantling this system. However, after the show, some audience members cling to the last word—love—while seemingly ignoring the first two.

While love may be helpful in change-making, there is necessary work to do before expecting people disenfranchised by racism to love their way to change—we must insist on truth and justice first…

Read the entire article here.

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