The elephant in the room: this forum and People of Colour
Reply #17 - November 08, 2017, 08:05 PM
These are responses to private posts. I'm not going to post anything personal to the person I'm responding to, or give any info as to who I was communicating with, but I'd like to post some things I wrote that are relevant to this thread and don't violate site privacy norms.
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How would that be of benefit to CEMB though? CEMB isn't supposed to be primarily for pocs, it's supposed to be for ex-muslims. Wouldn't it be better to set up a poc fourm outside of CEMB than set up a place within CEMB that excludes non poc ex-muslims?
Also, how would you manage it? White tends to be different based on upbringing. Iranians in the UK are classed as none white but in the US, classed as white. A lot of hispanics are also considered white. while others aren't. Same with arabs. Would you also exclude people if they were born in America who would fall under the overall fold of white, but in their own countries are discriminated against because they're the wrong "type" (people take one look at them and see they aren't native)? What about white members with poc children or siblings or step parents, or even children when you get those "born a different race" babies? Or people who are considered white in your country but aren't in another? For instance, Bahar Mustafa. Here in the UK she's technically a poc, whereas in the US she'd be white.
I took one look at George Zimmerman when he was on the news a few years ago and immediately thought of him as poc. I was honestly surprised when US press kept calling him white. He's obviously not, His dad, who is Mexican, came out and said he's not white, he's a poc. So who's right? The press or his poc dad? This seems one of those country things where one country (America) views someone as one race, and another country doesn't. So would he be welcome if he were born in another country, but not if he were born in the US?
This may come across as trivial, but it won't be to a lot of people who fall into these categories. Hell, I'm basically considered non-white and have suffered real discrimination for obviously not being native as soon as people look at me. Would I be considered poc by you? I have a mate who's half Korean, but anyone who looks at her thinks white. She's not, she's mixed race, but you wouldn't know it to look at her. Would she be welcome? Her skin is paler that 99% of white people I've seen. Almost ginger skinned. I've written this hastily as I have to go soon, so sorry if it seems flippant, but I'm genuinely interested in your response.
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Almost the same with me, only difference is I've just had people look at my ethnic features instead of my skin colour, as, what with being a redhead, I'm vampire pale. Obviously not Anglo-Saxon though. I suppose my experiences of being beaten unconscious because I'm an ethnic minority, bones broken because I'm an ethnic minority, questions on where either I or my family is from because I'm an ethnic minority, rhetoric about immigrants even though I'm the child of immigrants, and obviously an ethnic minority, don't count. Cos, you know, if I were born in yankie land I'd just be classed as white, so my experience doesn't matter.
I'm not competing for a spot in the impression Olympics, but it is fucking arrogant, condescending, degrading, frustrating and ultimately untrue that the only minorities this effects, or who are effected, are pocs.
Though that said, like I said before, CEMB isn't set up for pocs, it's set up for ex-muslims, so whatever. If this place started practising racial segregation, I'd probably quit on principle. And fuck you if you say I can't comment on it, not because I'm an ethnic minority, not because I have black family, not because I have/have had poc friends and lovers, but because I'm a member of this forum in, I hope, good standing, and as a member in good standing who has experienced racism,, my opinion should not just be dismissed because of my skin colour.
Racial segregation is never a good thing. I can't believe I have to fucking type this. And if it happens, even if you chant separate but equal., I'll call bollocks.
I seriously thought CEMB members, especially older/longer posters, were smarter than this. If you don't want white people posting have the balls to say it.
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One of the CEMB members who came to visit me and spend a few nights (I also spent a night at her place) was a half arab lass, half English half Syrian. Just looked like a white girl, pale skin, green eyes, mousy brown/dirty blonde hair. That documentary that came out a while ago that Hassan said he'd love to be part of as an agnostic muslim, the arab lad was white. Look at the Jordan royal family for an example of white arabs. And yes, light skinned arabs and Iranians and some Mexicans and some Puerto Ricans are considered white. Hell, the bloke that played the puerto rican detective in Dexter went on to play an Italian mobster in Gotham. I suppose through some eyes he'd be classed as a poc or a non poc depending on which role he played as, as far as I know, Puerto Ricans are considered pocs in the US but Italians aren't. The man convincingly played both fucking roles...
`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'
Topic: The elephant in the room: this forum and People of Colour