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   StillIRise1963 (stillirise1963@mastodon.world)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 02:00:00 JST StillIRise1963

   Decades ago, my husband went to therapy for the first time. He wrote a letter to a friend that discussed their casual anti-semitism and how it was intolerable. He MAILED it. The person stopped speaking to ME. It wasn’t MY letter, but I was the only Black person in the equation.

   Edited to clarify it was anti-semitism.

   • Embed this notice
     StillIRise1963 (stillirise1963@mastodon.world)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:50 JST StillIRise1963

     in reply to

     • Matthew Loxton
     • SnowshadowII :maple:

     @mloxton I used to think that the reason bathroom lights wouldn’t come on for me was that I was really short. Nope. My skin color even affects my ability to turn on lights in public places. I used to jump up and down like an idiot trying to get them to turn on.🙄 @SnowshadowII

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     Matthew Loxton (mloxton@med-mastodon.com)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:51 JST Matthew Loxton

     in reply to

     • SnowshadowII :maple:

     @SnowshadowII
     I grew up in Apartheid ZA, so it was all kinda on the surface, but the first time I really saw institutional racism was Band Aids. The color of Band Aids was designed for ME, for MY skin tone. It made me pause and think what it was like for a lived experience to be when myriad things are NOT made for one. It was a wow moment for me that things could be so natural for me because they were designed for me and how frictionless that experience was

     @StillIRise1963

     Rocketman repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     SnowshadowII :maple: (snowshadowii@beige.party)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:52 JST SnowshadowII :maple:

     in reply to

     • Matthew Loxton

     @StillIRise1963
     Yes, this!!⬆️
     That requires introspection and awareness....constant monitoring. But once we begin to "see it" , as you once said, we can't "unsee it".

     @mloxton

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     StillIRise1963 (stillirise1963@mastodon.world)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:54 JST StillIRise1963

     in reply to

     • Matthew Loxton

     @mloxton It is sneaky, but you’re starting where a person starts. You admit to yourself that it would be impossible for you not to be, since you grew up in this world and you work on it. Every time you go outside or watch media and reflexively think/assume something racist, you check yourself and deconstruct it. That’s it.

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     Matthew Loxton (mloxton@med-mastodon.com)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:55 JST Matthew Loxton

     in reply to

     @StillIRise1963
     I'm sure you have a limitless supply of examples :)

     For my part, I KNOW I am a racist, and even know how much. It's as easy as taking an IAT and getting a measurement. I found it really easy to admit. What happens next is action to reduce it, and that gets hard sometimes, because, y'know, the beast lurks within, and it's sneaky

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     StillIRise1963 (stillirise1963@mastodon.world)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:56 JST StillIRise1963

     in reply to

     • Matthew Loxton

     @mloxton I can’t even tell you the nonsense I’ve encountered here from folks of all stripes. Smartest to the dumbest.

   • Embed this notice
     Matthew Loxton (mloxton@med-mastodon.com)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:57 JST Matthew Loxton

     in reply to

     @StillIRise1963
     It is also not a thing I have encountered much in other countries. In other countries I have lived or worked, people would be reluctant to own their racism, but not to the same order of magnitude of Americans - who will fight to the death rather than admit that something they did was racist.

     "I am not a bad person, I can't be racist"

     Like, my dude, what do you call what you just did?
     Then they ger furious and throw over the metaphorical table and run away

   • Embed this notice
     StillIRise1963 (stillirise1963@mastodon.world)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:58 JST StillIRise1963

     in reply to

     • Matthew Loxton

     @mloxton Yep. This is true. I’ve experienced it all my life. You’d think I’d shot somebody when I’m pointing out the obvious about their own words.

   • Embed this notice
     Matthew Loxton (mloxton@med-mastodon.com)'s status on Tuesday, 10-Dec-2024 01:59:59 JST Matthew Loxton

     in reply to

     @StillIRise1963
     I am pretty sure it is a stable character type, but there are people who feel to their core that being called out on their racism is a far worse thing than the racism itself or its effects on the victims.