While I agree with the fundamental sentiment, statements like Dismantling X is Non-X's work, because we're the only ones who can do it" are a problem because it unintentionally suggests that Non-Xs have the solution when, almost always, they don't.
Take "Dismantling sexism is men's work, because they're the only ones that can do it." There are some very good examples in the tech industry about how it took a lot of input from women to transform an engineering team from very few women to 50% women. Men did not have the answers. What men needed to do was take a step back, listen, and work toward a common goal.
Things get far more complex with "Dismantling homophobia is straight people's work" because there is a lot of bigotry and queer-v-queer hatred INSIDE the LGBTQ community. Straight people can help dismantle anti-queer bigotry, but anti-queer bigotry is a much larger can of worms than homophobia.
I'm not even sure where to begin with "Dismantling white supremacy is white people's work" because white supremacists have a very specific definition of whiteness, because even thought the american problem is rooted in definitions of blackness vs whiteness the problem and the racial.ethnic history is far more complex, and there are a lot of non-white communities that need to a hell of a lot of work rooting out their own anti-blackness, much less the reasons why they have been rewarded for their racism. I mean ... this is a big fucking issue with centuries of good writing and decades of excellent writing and ...
Which gets back to my original statement: I agree with the fundamental sentiment if the sentiment is "straight white christian-heritage america needs to wake up and realize they need to take part in shoveling the shit out of the stables." But where I profoundly disagree is idea that this wake up call should be result in straight white christian-heritage americans elbowing their way forward to grab all the shovels and shame-shovel as fast as possible until all the shit is gone. Because it doesn't work like that.
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Take "Dismantling sexism is men's work, because they're the only ones that can do it." There are some very good examples in the tech industry about how it took a lot of input from women to transform an engineering team from very few women to 50% women. Men did not have the answers. What men needed to do was take a step back, listen, and work toward a common goal.
Things get far more complex with "Dismantling homophobia is straight people's work" because there is a lot of bigotry and queer-v-queer hatred INSIDE the LGBTQ community. Straight people can help dismantle anti-queer bigotry, but anti-queer bigotry is a much larger can of worms than homophobia.
I'm not even sure where to begin with "Dismantling white supremacy is white people's work" because white supremacists have a very specific definition of whiteness, because even thought the american problem is rooted in definitions of blackness vs whiteness the problem and the racial.ethnic history is far more complex, and there are a lot of non-white communities that need to a hell of a lot of work rooting out their own anti-blackness, much less the reasons why they have been rewarded for their racism. I mean ... this is a big fucking issue with centuries of good writing and decades of excellent writing and ...
Which gets back to my original statement: I agree with the fundamental sentiment if the sentiment is "straight white christian-heritage america needs to wake up and realize they need to take part in shoveling the shit out of the stables." But where I profoundly disagree is idea that this wake up call should be result in straight white christian-heritage americans elbowing their way forward to grab all the shovels and shame-shovel as fast as possible until all the shit is gone. Because it doesn't work like that.