What do you think your philosphy of race is and what do y'all think about the Theory of Racelessness? What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? What do you think needs more work to make such a thing possible? CC's will be up for this and my last video by the end of the week! Raul has been VERY busy with exams and just life!
I think I am personally a constructionist and an eliminativist. I would say that I am a skeptic, but there seems to be a bit of a contradiction in it? Like there is the part that denies that race exists (I agree), but I can't really get rid of the idea that it is like an actual thing that has real effects, regardless of the importance of skin color... I hope that makes sense. However, I do agree that the ultimate goal of "solving" racism and that kind of stuff is to start to dismantle systems that promote it, or as you and Dr. Mason put it, leveling out the statistical distributions. I also really liked what you said towards the end where you were kinda saying that there are these perceived differences, but in the end it's superficial, and ideally we should be looking past them. That has been my view for a long time on most social issues, mainly that the differences that some people focus on do not actually matter in the grand scheme of things, and ultimately should be ignored when you are discussing someone or whatever. But at the same time, you kind of have to reckon with the fact that these perceived issues are real things that have tangible effects on our world and we should address these real problems. Bit of a dilemma.
I think I'm between constructivist and skeptical after watching this video. like race isn't real but racism has very tangible effects. im still working through my thoughts but this was very interesting. im really not sure how racelessness could be achieved realistically due to white supremacy, though.
I really tried to get a different perspective, but the skeptic and eliminativist is giving BIG "I don't see race" energy which is extremely harmful and invalidating towards those most affected by it. I get that's not the intention, but it still overlaps with many of those points
I think that it's a dangerous president to set for as long as corporations are considered people. Because even legally they are the supreme people by virtue of their limited laws for regulation paired with the lack of accountability. You can't put a whole corporation into a penitentiary for homicide, in fact it's actually legal for a corporation to commit homicide because of the lack of laws. Imagine when humans get stripped completely of our residual rights because everyone is overlooking the 14th amendment and proceeding laws stripping human rights ....... It could absolutely get worse if you overlook the specifics in the laws and what needs to be amended first. It's like how the n azi s got away with using "socialism" and bait n switching to totalitarianism. There's nuance that is needed and a s ses (humans) to cover you know?
Honestly hadn't thought about race as much while I was in the Caribbean cause I was in a predominantly Black country however when I got came to the states - I became HYPER self-aware of the fact that I'm a Big Black man and some ppl might only see me as that.
My dad was from Jamaica. He went to Los Angeles in 1952 for a holiday for 2 weeks. He told me that he didn't know he was "black" till he was in LA.. He said people kept telling him and his friends like it was a negative. It's not. He stayed 3 days he and his friends hated LA. (Due to the fact that they where afraid. They had never felt like that before. And wanted to go home) I recently saw an interview with Supermodel Iman she said the same thing.. That she didn't know she was black till she came to the USA.
@@VeeLondon1449 Let’s just take a likkle moment to appreciate di GRAVITY of the fact that a Black person can grasp racism in as little as 2 WEEKS yet we still av yamheads claiming that it don’t exist 😮💨
this is interesting, i grew up in puerto rico n its very common to see what in the us ppl call mixed people and black people (i never thought of ppl in these distinctions, only as puerto rican) so even though im white passing i also experienced this hyper awareness of race n realizing that ppl in the states see n interact w race wayy differently
Khadija's comment section is what my professors aspire their blackboard discussion posts to be. Everyone is genuinely sharing how they feel about the topic and having open-ended non-judgmental conversations. Love to see it!
One thing I had hoped to hear answered is if you think all people are racist or hardwired towards having racist thought patterns? Racist being the wrong term of course, out grouping mentality or tribalism? Are there fundamentally flawed aspects of how humans do culture and identity that leads to otherizing that we need to be vigilant in understanding ourselves?
It’s like saying unhoused vs homeless or enslaved vs former slave, it highlights the societal and/or structural systems that allow things to continue in the way they have or the inherent lack of choice involved in the status
I also like it’s inherent fluidity. “Racialization” adjusts depending on era, location, appearance, and context. It shifts and its boundaries are fuzzy and somewhat subjective. It feels more like the verb it is rather than a concretely fundamental “inherent” characteristic.
I’ve been thinking about it a lot, lol, came back to share, I realized we should be saying ethnicity or something else if we are actually referring to it in conversation, it’s more accurate, much easier too than being like “I’m black but(insert this part of the diáspora and assoc history”) I even think Khadijah did it in the video
Thank you so much for inviting me to share my theory of racelessness. I had fun and learned along the way. If anyone takes anything generative away from this video, I’ll be glad. 💛💛💛
Thanks to you both so much for collaborating I do think people to this day fear retaliation when it comes to building the true rainbow coalition. You both are an inspiration to be authentic and have the courage to challenge things that are harmful but still around due to their usefulness in keeping things unchanged. People fear change and they also fear being the one to inspire change. Your courage is on full display and I love it! ❤️
Khadija may not realize it, but they are forming and teaching a whole generation of adolescents, and they are doing it correctly. Amazing! 👏👏👏 *Edit* Thanks to everyone for letting me know about their correct pronouns! I also completely agree with the fact that Khadija is teaching us all, young and adult, we're never too grown to learn more and grow as people!
*has previously discussed not entirely identifying as a woman Agreed, their videos are very eye opening, I appreciate how they can make informative dialogue engaging, this especially enables access for neurodiverse people :)
You should read the Isis papers by doctor frances cress welsing because we FBA/DOAS aren't intrested in surrendering to white supremacy like you guys are...no wonder your home countries are in shambles because you refuse to build it up you want whitey to do all the work and what's even more disturbing is how you people just ran away instead of stay and make your countries better
I see the appeal of the eliminationist point of view. In a way, removing racism may also remove the concept of race. At the same time I am having a hard time agreeing with the skeptic point of view: so many people make their own race a key part of their own identity, so many people believe in race, and that's what kinda makes it real as a social construct, right? At the same time, I see how race can just be racism in disguise, and how one would not exist without the other: but still I see them both real as a social constructs (thightly associated, not fully distinct from each other). Maybe a good strategy would be to have eliminationism as a long term goal, without simply dismissing it as utopian, while basing smaller "day to day" battles on reconstructionist policies? OMG I love this video my brain is expanding!
I think there are other things that could be a key part of people's identity long term: like ethnicity. I think even for latinos & asians in America there's a bit more of ethnicity going on: people talk about being Columbian-American or Japanese-American, and while I see that in the black American community I also see people grieving their ethnicities in that way, I've seen black Americans online talk about how they don't know where they're from. Maybe an alternative for racial pride in the long term could be pride about ethnicity. I think community is so important in any society and I think race does provide a sense of that for some people. Just my two cents. My brains in the same place that yours is, thinking about what long term things to strive for and how can we start taking those steps! Please reply back if you disagree with me or have anything to add.
@@hannaheve868 I see what you mean. In a way the perceived race is what is left even after ethnic and cultural differences are lost. A fifth, sixth generation Asian American may have lost all ties to their ancestors culture (no language, no rituals or traditions, no cuisine) but still be perceived (and perceive themselves) as a different race. Is this racism? Probably, to some extent
You and I had the same journey and destination. Thinking I need to give the whole CRT series a rewatch to fully digest it though. Between that and FD Signifier’s video on White Existential Dread, this has been a real growth year for me.
My mentor Jacoby Carter at Howard University is a social constructionist eliminativist! One needn't be a skeptic to be an eliminativist. I do think skepticism is more effective toward the goal of "eliminating" racism, though, since most constructionists still fall into the trap of naturalism, which is deeply rooted with racism. Still, one can be a constructionist and call for the whole thing to be destroyed...without also partaking in unintentionally upholding the hierarchy. I think I mention some strategies that can help, like including the word "racialized" before a "race" concept. At least, if one is a constructionist, one can point to the construction...consistently and significantly. :) I was a constructionist...up until I realized I was a skeptic. LOLOL That was a very recent happening.
And like. I don't enough ti have an opinion. Especially on race related things. However. People making it an "either or." Revolution OR incrimental change. Inside AND outside the system. I want to win. "If you believe you can change the system from the inside, you're not doing enough." "You want to burn everything down? You're a filthy radical." I want to fucking WIN. Unarmed Black folks not being murdered by police? A win. Indigenious folks getting water? That's a win. Trans people, poor people, and others being seen as human? A win Reducing C02 emissions? A win. People being protected from this virus, vaccination world wide? Preping our systems to better handle the next one? And climate disaster? a WIN. I want the goals to get done. In the system, outside of the system. Both. Neither. I just want to get it done. I just want to win. Period.
Indeed. It is! I encourage folks to consider how reconstruction alone isn’t enough…but eliminativism requires the process of reconstruction to achieve its end.
OMG YOU HAVE GIVEN THIS A NAME! I called it ‘conscious colourblindness”, acknowledging the outcomes the racism and race, but creating a world where race doesn’t matter anymore
Ma'am you're giving us entire academic courses in race. But worded in a way that is really easy to understand. I am eternally grateful. Genuinely. You are an incredible teacher.
“Black Card Revoked” is a game specifically about Black American Culture. I’ve always been considered an “Oreo” or “whitewashed” and I never felt “Black enough” until I played that game, especially with people who weren’t racialized Black folks. So if you’re looking for what parts of Black culture you identify with, that’s a fun place to start
Chille YES! When I was coming up it was ghetto pass being revoked. Um excuse you but I grew up in the east side of Detroit! I just happened to have parents that worked their asses off to get me educated. It hurts to navigate a racist world while simultaneously being rejected by your own.
My experience was the opposite. I played that game with black people, and they made me feel bad because I wasn't getting the "obvious" stuff right. I'm black as well btw. I think it's for black people who were teens in the 90s
@Lauri London I apologize that was never the intent. The people who used that phrase against me was saying I was soft, weak and would not last in "their" neighborhood. I can see how my original comment could be viewed that way but, I think we have a generational miscommunication tho. It's a phrase that was used in old school rap like Public Enemy old. I hope that I didn't come across as ageist but more to put some context on the comment. And it wasn't aggressive, it was hurt, wounded feelings, most of the time it's okay but then a cousin will say something and it brings it back. My speaking voice tends to be higher pitched with diction like Khadija's. The diction and grammar was due to going to private school while growing up and finally college. However, I value intelligence or education because I have encountered plenty of overeducated boobs and plenty of undereducated geniuses. It's classism and I don't mess with it
The whole homogeneity of whiteness is a really interesting phenomenon. Because historically speaking its a recent invention. Throughout history there were seen physical and immutable differences between those we now consider white people. To suggest there were similarities between the British and the Polish was tantamount to blasphemy. There was a firm difference between being Irish, being English, being Polish, being German. All those differences were thought to be biologically set in stone. I really believe it took until the 20th century at least here in America where they started to wane in their beliefs. Maybe even specifically it wasn't til after World War 2 where things such as an all incompasing like whiteness became a thing. America has had a very big emphasis on assimilating which spurred this idea along.
Nice point! In some parts of the world differences between different "kind of whites" are still a big deal, like in the Balkans. I feel like this is especially true in places where there is little to no non-white people. Some European countries had internal " white vs white" conflicts, but now all the whites are united in discriminating the recent immigrants from Africa. But it's just my impression, I don't have data to support that '^_^
This is such a good point.| I think England's colonization of Ireland is kind of like a case study in how, even long after Britain accepted race and racism as justification for their imperialism, they still held onto the perceived difference between being English and Irish, justifying their continued colonization and cultural genocide of the Irish.
@@malinblitz And that difference was always overdrawn, more so than I want to accept as an Irish-Canadian. Our languages, faiths and customs were different, but genetically there’s almost no difference, with mostly the same invasions affecting both islands up until the British state colonized Ireland. I’m of the view that political identities tend to *result from* political institutions more than they produce those institutions. That’s how the idea of the nation emerged, albeit over centuries. Some reckoning with the wiring of the old regime has always been essential in the past, but I’m turning over in my head how change can take place through the racelessness lens. This may take a moment in my glow-in-the-dark white head...
No, its far more complicated than that. evolutionary theory created the idea race groups and as we have seen in history extremist used science to oppress peoples. Also, we have to understand that race is also very political . as a 90's kid I remember when ALL Hispanics were considered white . I learned in my highschool predominantly black in GA that Asian , Jews, middle Easterners and Hispanics were under law considered white therefore benefited from white privilege Also, Europe had a long history of Latin speaking privilege, they were considered the superior human whereas those who didn't speak Latin based where basically the slaves to Latin speakers. Race is a social construct like gender. Only ethnicity and sex exist .
I feel like afro Caribbean’s and Africans get along the best but aa and most other black ppl in the world don’t mix well for some reason maybe just because most taboo things in african and carribean countries is seen as normal in the aa community
@@Prettypaid16 I also think it's because some black people in the Caribbean and some black people throughout Africa have similar culture. There's also the shared experience of being immigrants in the US that could make them feel more united. After all, they sometimes experience xenophobia from AA
This is interesting because It never occurred to me just how much of identity is tied in race and how a lot of that might not even be race but culture and systems in place.
@@ytaccountz3433 Don’t feel guilty. I’ve personally made peace that I won’t ever be seen as “black enough” because at the end of the day I know what I am, and how I relate and participate in black culture doesn’t change just because one or two people don’t see me as “black enough”.
I feel like children of immigrants struggle with this duality A LOT. I often think of my race, my language, culture, and my identity and how they are distinct but connected to my parents’ race, language, culture and identity. I may be racialized mestiza like them, but my identity is distinct because of the fact that we were raised in different countries surrounded by different cultures.
As an African that grew up outside of America, I always had a problem with these racial labels like ‘black’. It just seemed kind of odd to me that me and my neighbor would be labelled the same, even when we don’t have the same culture/traditions, same values/outlook on life, heck, we don’t even speak the same language! To me it seemed like racial labels stripped us away from our ethnic identities. This is why these racial labels don’t hold the same power outside of the continent of America. Our ethnic cultures have existed for CENTURIES, while race didn’t even exist until a few hundred years ago. What makes race so flawed is also the fact that it’s based on your phenotype. You have Africans that would be considered ‘white’ in the US, but have virtually nothing in common with people of European descent other than their phenotype. And so on.
Loved this video, I think it'll stay in the back of my mind for a while. It's quite common to hear online Europeans say "you're making it about race"/"you Americans are so obsessed with race". I am European myself so I can kind of understand where that sentiment comes from, but I've come to recognize that this sentence is often a way to dismiss any argument against inequality. So I've learned to agree that colourblindness is a bad mindset, yet part of me always felt there was more to it, and I think this video gave me the answer. After the second war, a lot of Europeans were terrified of the idea of race because of its potential consequences. In fact, I don't know how to put it but the word "race" in french sounds more racist than the word "race" in English, simply because in France the subject is not talked about in these terms. The mantra was basically "there is only one race, the human race, repeat it until you perish". I learned about segregation, apartheid, slavery etc in school, but modern-day discrimination wasn't brought up and this rigid attitude towards the concept of race doesn't really allow for the vocabulary to talk about race. Critical race theory solves that problem, as it lays the framework behind racism. But at the same time, learning about race in that way gives more meaning and heaviness to it. I distinctly remember hearing and seeing as a child singers like Rihanna, Beyonce and Whitney Houston, and my mind never registered any of them as black. I didn't know much about these women (and I couldn't understand english), but if you'd asked me then to list the differences between Rihanna and a white pop star, I would've probably said their style of music or something. Then I was out of the loop for mainstream music so it took a few years for me to hear someone use the word "black" when talking about Rihanna, and it actualized my perception of her. It wasn't a revelation or anything: even as a child I could tell she had darker skin and certain features, but my mind never joined the dots and put her in that category. Understanding english, getting accustomed to american culture and learning about race gave me a better understanding of racism, but I can still feel the appeal of that worldview where race doesn't really matter and is seen more as an old concept. Racelessness as you explain it seems to be ideal, as it throws away race from its pedestal without discarding racism.
Same here (Scandinavia). I remember just last year some politician proudly announcing that racism doesn’t exist in this country because “we have laws against that”. Just yesterday a survey showed that dark skinned people are much more likely to be unlawfully stopped by police, but the police themselves made a statement rejecting the color of skin as the reason. Local BLM protests were widely regarded as silly and completely unnecessary. Even colonization of the West Indies and result slavery, when people actually started talking about it as problematic a couple of years ago, was regarded as “just a part of history and nothing to be sorry for”. It’s stupid crazy to me how afraid people in Europe are of talking about these things. And maybe because it’s all been on a relatively small scale compared to the US, it’s easier to lie and omit facts, but it also compounds the problem the further we go because nobody - except the people experiencing it - can imagine racism being a thing and certainly not something they could inadvertently be guilty of.
I think you are confused about the concept of colorblindness.Colorblindness its the philosophy that people should be seen as people regardless of the race and that principle should be applied to law.
I think one of the interesting things that someone who might believe that race is still a social construct is that they might still believe that racism is immutable. They might hold on to idea that this will exist forever so we can only change how we relate to it but it's not going anywhere. For me this is how one who believe it's a social construction can become a naturalist.
I think the stance of racism being immutable is only being represented in the present context. I dont think most social constructionist believe in absolution in general. Racism, language around race, like all social constructs changes over time.
@@Lamonst3r I was just gonna say this. Also given the state of the climate, a lot of people are fatalistic so they may not see it as natural or immutable but as essentially here to stay as long as the earth withstands 🥴
There are many people out there., of all kinds who do think racism is immutable to the white race and therefore always apart of this. You see this a bit in the hardcore Black Nationalists who are essentially naturalists and some of the more wonky anti racism stuff. Ie. All white people are racist forever but doesn’t truly make the distinction between biology or conditioning.
It’s complicated!!! I felt emotionally exhausted after watching this video. I think you did a great job attempting to explain this subject that you’re not an expert in. I really appreciate the expert consultant. Keep up the good work.
CRT is necessary. But we have sooooo much to fix in the education system, infrastructure, prison, policing, healthcare, food regulation, social life, immigration etc. we got a lot to do.
@@annechief4165 It’s really not. The fact it preaches that everything is racist or only certain groups can be racist when really everyone is capable of racism is a red flag and is not needed because it creates further division. Instead we should focus on fixing the eduction system and understanding that race and how it’s viewed can be complex with a lot of gray area. For example contrary to popular belief white people were not the only ones to have slaves or oppress back people in the US. Rich black people had slaves and even Native Americans had slaves that not only worked their plantations, but were used to procreate with in an attempt to make up for a tribes small numbers, but in doing this they were still just seen as slaves and didn’t have rights in the tribe. It truly is a disservice how history isn’t looked at full circle in the US.
@@tiahnarodriguez3809 OMG, thank you. I always say history should be taught and people tell me, that is what crt is, which is the opposite. People that want it are the ones that really don’t know what it is about.
This ain't just food for thought, Issa whole buffet. Thank you for your rigorous knowledge sharing❤️ what's standing out to me in particular is the race-ethnicity-culture distinction and how we navigate that under the theory of racelessness.
I guess that makes me a constructionist eliminativist. The way I see it, race isn't real, but people believe it is and that effects peoples lives in very tangible ways, in other words a social construct, however, it is first and foremost a hollow institution that has done little more than create needless suffering, ergot, along with a host of other such things, it must ultimately be disposed of. There was a time before it, there can be a time after it. People are treated poorly because they are categorized one way and that manifests in a number of ways such as mass incarceration, over policing, and a whole host of other issues. It is a fiction, but a dangerous one. It's a lot like money. Money only has the value it does because people are invested in the notion that it has this inherent concrete value and money sure as hell has caused more pain than it's worth.
Tbh I don't agree over all that money has caused more suffering than it is worth because we have enabled every single opportunity in the world because of the invention of money. I agree there has been a lot of pain, but not more than the love and happiness it has generated.
This actually reminds me of this theory I heard about disability : disabled people aren't really disabled, but rather society makes them so because of the barriers it puts towards them. If society was more accessible, would they still be perceived as disabled ?
This definitely opened up mind tbh i think that they would still be SEEN physically disabled but in terms of disabled people having more availability then probably not.
What you are referring too is the social model of disability. It’s the pretty well accepted theory in academia and within disability advocacy. It’s the reason why learning disorders, such as ADHD or dyslexia, are considered disabilities within an educational environment now, but not necessarily in a workplace environment.
The social model of disability only takes us so far. Disability justice and the movement associated with the ideology expands to chronically ill, mentally ill, mentally disabled, and even terminally ill people, who still experience struggles outside of the social model. Improving ramps is not going to make a bedbound person able to leave their bed. Making walkable cities is not going to stop someone from having a fainting attack because of POTS. There are just some obstacles that cannot be overcome--dyspraxia makes your balance wobbly, dyscalculia affets your ability to process language as well as numbers and spatial awareness. This doesn't mean the social model of disability has its uses and benefits, it just doesn't take things as far as the disability justice movement does. The social model of disability doesn't address sanism, for example.
@@gamingwhilebroken2355 Adult ADHD is absolutely a disability; it has an extreme impact on social aspects, but it's still debilitating even without that. Like... It can affect basic life tasks, like eating and grooming and finances and such. It's the single most debilitating outpatient psychiatric disorder, in fact. (Although it's also the one that responds the best to medication)
@@isthiscereallifeI'm not so sure though. A disabled person is turned into a separate class through ableism. If a bed bound person was accommodated without drawn out process and integrated socially still, that would be drastically different. The reason this is the defining attribute of a person, is thier relationship to production, is the capitalist mode of production and individualist brainwashing. Most of us lose mobility, and start with none, then we talk about ageism
I'm glad you made an effort to address the difference between "racelessness" from "color blindness." They way I've always defined "color blindness," and my understanding of why it's so problematic, is that what it's essentially telling people is, "There's something wrong with your blackness, therefore in order for me to accept you as 'normal,' I must ignore the thing that's 'wrong' with you."
As long as racism exists race will always matter. White people (and honestly all groups as a whole but mostly whites) refuse to let go of discrimination and hatred for others differences. Racism will never end but we can find a way to make it have consequences and lessen it’s effects on us by destroying and rebuilding all systems that perpetuate it.
Intellectually I know race doesn't have any merit beyond the history we have created around it. That is the struggle we have to get past in order to free ourselves from the devisive idea of race.
Please do a video about being an 'oreo'! It always baffles me how contradictory that concept is... I'm supposed to defy stereotypes but at the same time only be allowed to act, speak, and be interested in only one brand of human existence. And if I don't then I'm 'white' or a 'weirdo.' The shit is incredibly limiting and dehumanizing.
This is wild because lately I’ve been thinking about the word “black” and how that term is, I feel, in itself is racist. People use it to be colorist and describe dark skinned people. These binaries and language like “black” and “white” are from racism / white supremacy. I want to move toward specifically naming ourselves so that we can encompass our humanity and experience and being etc with language. As opposed to using language made from white people / whiteness, which is limiting and dehumanizing to all. It’s also wild cause past me would’ve thought this point was bs and the whole “human race” rhetoric. But that’s also because those people were coming from a weird angle. Thank you to you both for this! I am grateful. I love language and deconstructing things so it’s cool to see language being put to how I feel.
I agree with you. It is a fact that there are no different races but one race and that is the human race alone. Why should we call each other black and white? That creates division. It's just a skin color. I'm getting tired of this 🙄
I think the heart of all of this is identity. We grow up seeing everyone put in categories. People expect certain personality traits, likes, dislikes, habits, etc from just about anything, not just skin color. For instance, an American eats a lot of junk food, someone who dresses "goth" wouldn't like country music, old ladies have to be sweet and wholesome. We are all individuals. We can be so many things and we shouldn't have to feel pressured to be a certain way. That's why the whole coconut/oreo thing is so ignorant. People are so much more than their color and they're also more than their ethnicity. There may be cultural norms, but everyone deviates from them - that's being an individual.
Khadija is genuinely one of the most diplomatic youtubers i’ve ever come across on the Internet. And they’re so talented too. They talk about such serious and even uncomfortable topics yet also manage to make their videos amusing and lighthearted, while still getting their points across. major respect for Khadija.
I was just thinking I'm going to need to watch this a couple times to grasp it when you got to the part where you said that's OK and it took you awhile. This is one of your more definition heavy, academic heavy videos and I'm excited to re-watch it a couple times.
It took me years…and it was my own mind. LOL However, I didn’t have the benefit of access to someone like me until very recently. I hope you’ll feel inspired to come over to my channel for more thinking aloud! 💛🙏🏽
In my mind I always sound as good as Khadija, but the words never come out right so I end up sounding "racism bad" like idk how people can vocalize so well exactly what they want without messing up!
Honestly would be much better if we were just individuals with varying cultural/ethnic influences full-stop. Sounds a lot better than just turning entire continents into blobs like Avatar the Last Airbender
In defense of ATLA it is a recurring theme in the comics after the war that zuko leaves the colonies and starts a “comunity restoration” with the Avatar, in which they try to separate who is what race and send them back to fire nat to “restore balance”. Which is something that toph, their friend who actually lives in one of those cities and has a metal bending school, oposes as well as the people living those mixed communities. It is seen as a conflict between interests, with main characters in opposing sides, i don’t think the creators just made them separate blobs out of bias but actually played into how they interact between themselves too
@Lauri London What? No I mean as in dividing the world into like 5 different groups like Avatar does (Air, Earth Fire etc.) Avatar is okay though since this is legitimately how the lore works haha
a lot of this is similar to an unofficial theory of genderlessness that i subscribe to and it’s all lovely. it’s not about ignoring reality but it’s about criticizing and questioning it and understanding it in a way that works for you. it’s similar to being politically nonbinary but maybe an extra step?
Colourism is very big In the South Asia(where I live) Basically the whole Asia. And I realize how much it affects every part of my life. Makes me extremely sad.
It’s interesting because in my country (Sweden) we do not talk about “race”, it would kind of feel offensive? Race is something we talk about when we talk about dog races for example. When it’s about humans we talk about ethnicities and there is only one “race”, the “the human race”. But it’s important to keep in mind that Sweden has a very complicated history with “race biology”
That's true for whole Europe becausr of the Nazi and it's actually a huge issue because it makes it really difficult to talk about racism, because Europeans really cling to colourblindness.
@@chicquie5471 not classifying humans as different races has nothing to do with colorblindness. Race theory is the root cause for for genocides (no not only in Nazi Germany), slave trade, colonialism. The problem in Europe is that many people struggle with different cultures and lifestyles which leads to racism. That is the problem we have to tackle. What is the white race? What is the black race? After how many generations do you transition to another race bc you are not visibly white /black anymore? Do we go back into color charts and measuring facial features to cluster people into races? Like Nazis did with Jews and Sinti and Roma? Or what happened with the Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda? Its a social construct and one that has brought a lot of evil and damage to the human world
There are some black americans in Sweden who promote this social cunstructonism and black identity. I think its because their race is their identity, where as other immigrants would just talk about their country or religion. Also they want to be seen as different maybe.
I saw a video of ancient Rome culture. Their view of race was kinda similar to what, I understood, is Eliminativism. They viewed race not from the color, or the phisiological aspects, of the person, they saw their culture and catogorize them based on that. But they were still racist, or so to say, culturist. I don't know if this way of thinking could help, but I'm hopefull that it's a step on the right direction.
You are right on the money. Romans were ethnocentric. That's why you'll usually hear, as long as you were not Roman, you were game to be a slave. Meaning they'd have slaves of every race or color because anyone who was not Roman was beneath them. I was watching a documentary where someone was reading an excerpt from a Roman writer, and it was interesting how the Romans viewed Nordics very poorly and very different from themselves - apparently they had an issue with the whole blonde, pale, blue eye look, and guess this, the fact they wore pants 😂😂 It was very scandalous since Romans felt that it was uncivilized - civilized men wore togas lol
@@birdiewolf3497 that would be fine honestly. I mean it wouldn’t but it would be much more honest than race. Not advocating for hate lol just saying that. I mean, around the work ethnic or regional conflict is still prevalent. It’s just in the west we group everyone as races.
This is an excellent analysis! Thank you for the time and effort you dedicated to this video. I’m an advocate for the abolition of gender, which has been a concept I’ve easily adopted and understood. This is the first time I’m hearing an argument for racelessness, and I think you presented it in a very comprehensive way that draws parallels with the theory of gender abolition. Of course, you do this while perfectly emphasizing a respect for each individual’s freedom to express their identity in whatever way they desire, which is important. Thanks again Auntie ❣️
Yes! The abolition of race coincides with the abolition of gender in meaningful ways. 🙏🏽💛 People have been asking me questions about such correlations more and more recently.
This is a fantastic video and I’m definitely going to look more into this line of thought on race. I’m definitely a skeptical eliminationist but never had terms for it. I’m “mixed race” and the whole concept has always been weird to me. It’s especially weird once you venture out of the black-white binary. I’m not done with the video yet, but I’m fully on board with this.
I'm only halfway through the budget but one thing I like a lot about the ravelessness theory is the emphasis on pointing out the conflation of race and culture. that's so important and I wish more people understood it. I think it's part of why colorblind ideology doesn't always work as well. edit: now that I'm done, I think this concept is very interesting, and does reveal a big issue with the social construct idea, which is that believing the social construct means believing its real in some way. I think??? I was mulling over this the entire video after you went over the philosophies. its just very eye opening to think of this and how it changes the perception of things. also, you're using digress correctly, lol.
For me, a part of thinking of something as a social construct has to do with the certainty that it (something, a concept, and ideology) can be deconstructed. It's like that little hopefull note that says "hey, this was made up by colonizers, you can change it!"
They are really helping understand the scope of my own intellect. I used to feel like having learning disabilities = not being as smart or not being able to learn but they have really helped me figure out that the way I was being taught was wrong not that I was doing anything wrong. Thank you so much for making learning so accessable and digestible!💙💙
This video got me thinking, got me even disagreeing! Which is great! This time I do not find myself just agreeing with all the points like it often happens. One thing that should be discussed more is the difference between ethnicity and race. Or even just : how do you define ethnicity? Language typically is the best way to separate people into ethnicities, but it does not always work (Serbs vs Croats for example), and it is especially hard to apply to multicultural/multiethnic/multiracial situations like USA where English is ultradominant. A definition of ethnicity should be given everytime the word is used!
@@KhadijaMbowe I always thought of the concept of race as pertaining to biological/phenotype (skin color back in the day and I guess dna and skin color today) stuff while ethnicity was concerned with the non-biological/cultural stuff like food/language/religion.
Lol!! OMG it's cool to get a reply. I still havent finished watching the video and I already have so many thoughts fermenting in my brain! I know this one will be on my rewatch list
@@darthchingaso3613 thing is the biological differences in phenotype don't correspond with genetic differences. And biologically speaking race is not a thing. It just is not. I get what you mean. Just saying.
@@xylypotatohead3947 I know biological race is a flawed concept but when the concept of race was created it was supposed to be based entirely in biology while the concept of ethnicity was developed to make sub-categories of those races and as a way to explain differences among the races. That's how I think of them. I know in the real world many phenotypical things are affected by things like environmental conditions just as much as genetic enharitance and that race is a cultural construct, which is how groups like the irish/jews/eastern europeans were able to become white over the course of american history.
Every one of your videos is another step in the right direction. Amazing and eye-opening! I do appreciate your inclusion of Fred Hampton and how those with power really don’t want positive change in a way that shares power. I do truly hope that voices like yours are amplified and spread around the world and shape the future by reaching people and helping us understand the real impact and positive change we all can make. Sometimes it can feel like we are all stuck in our limited tribes and echo chambers and I really hope your voice and the voices of those you highlight like Dr. Sheena Mason get out into the world more and more. Thank you for sharing your thought processes on this “controversial” and super important topic (controversial in quotes because the controversy is manufactured by those who fear losing the status quo). Be well 😘
I’m on board with racelessness, actually I felt this way for years. It started with the race being a social construct. I’m not so sure about critical race theory now, I was anti but I need to investigate a bit more. I really love this video. Gonna be thinking about. Thank you!
This has given me the courage to, as a proud black woman, finally come to terms with something: ion really be seasoning my food like that. Like…. I’m good with just salt and pepper. It don’t even have to be a lot.
When did a big forehead become a bad thing? In my backwoods Canadian childhood, we had a stunning repertoire of insults, but this was never one of them. I’m sure it’s global capitalism, we needed more insecurities etc...
Valérie Levasseur it really is, idk where it comes from nor what they could sell us to “fix” it, but it always begins with 3-head, then 4-head and when that’s not enough it follows with the comparisons, so it’s somehow never small enough and somehow always a problem
I feel like social constructivist eliminationism is possible. Saying "race isnt real, it shouldnt be real, and we should work to make it less legitimized." whilst simultaneously acknowledging that racialized black people are in danger of police brutality, or that indigenous women are being killed and trafficked at an exponential rate.
That is a more powerful and consistent message than " Discriminating against black people is bad, but we should still be seen as different". Pointing out that people act racist works, because you oppose racist ideology in every way.
I agree, but hesitate. Because we do have different histories. Many black communities in America are historic and are the descendents of enslaved peoples. That has radically shaped and affected their trajectories, and that will always be true even when people stop being racialized.
"There's only one race, the Human Race." "what about NASCAR!?!" Joking aside very informative video and really gives a bunch of stuff to think on and explore further
I love this series that you have created and I appreciate your sharing so much! These are absolutely the types of conversations that I haven’t participated in mostly because I think I struggle to find the words to explain these thoughts. I definitely will be sharing this video with those whom I hope for deeper dialogue. THANK YOU!
When I was living in Peru, I was the 1 out of 3 black people in my class, but once I moved to South Africa I learned that there I wasn’t considered black because my parents were black and another race mixed people. It was so hard to explain it that I just started identifying with the term latina or mixed to avoid having to explain how race works in my origin country. (it was also interesting when they used my origin country for a race study in my anthropology class)
eliesundesastre it was a study that I was not conducting, but by someone else in my uni, and their main focus was if the word “black” to refer to someone’s race should be changed in the context of South Africa, because of all the different ethnic groups and foreign African countries’ group that exist in the country and how “black” doesn’t define them all. So for that, Brazil was used as an example of another meaning that people use for what a “black person” looks like and the experiences they might go through. I’ll try to find out if they have published the study and update you if they have!
@@larissa6732 Wow, that must've been a cool academic experience. Studies like that are such a cool opportunity for nuance. And I would love updates when it's done! 🤗
Frida Saavedra ikr, I can count on one hand how many times we touched on race at school and I don’t think I was ever singled out for my race, it was confusing when I got to another country where they didn’t think of me as black and the reason why I would be “black” were based on stereotypes and on the “one drop rule”
Always called an oreo or white girl growing up. Grew up in Harlem NYC and went to Catholic school for 13yrs. Identify as gay, pagan metalhead and otaku. Don't always feel like I fit in with "Black culture" but I love my skin and know what it is perceived as. So no matter how others see me. I have to live with myself and be happy. I am also co-parenting a biracial female child. I want her to be proud of herself and love her skin
This was such a goddamn good video. As a racialized black woman I have always had an issue with how we talk about individual "race". I always thought the word "race" was othering and it placed people of different ethnicities in these categories that I now see are naturalist. The theory of racelessness is certainly something I am interested in because it explains exactly what I have felt for years.
This video is amazing!!! I’ve seen with the hyper fixation on race that thing have really gone to the extreme. I’ve seen other poc advocate for segregation, disapproval of biracial marriages, and so many other backwards ideologies that we fought so long to change. The separation and racialization of ourselves may feel good but it had no benefit for the long run. In fact it caused more resentment and stereotypes and hinders our progress to move forward.
Separation is natural you see this in nature. However America’s separation is unnatural since it focused on insecure people wanting to be at the top. Natural separation is a survival mechanism, you say there is no benefit but do you ever think what would happen if no one conserved their heritage and suddenly no one of direct African heritage exist anymore aka black ppl. Is genetic extinction a good or bad thing. You tell me.
@@prodigious818 Based on the topic of this video there is a difference between the preservation of a race and the preservation of a culture. Your argument basically is in defense of having “pure blooded” people with how you described having people being direct decedents of certain ethnicities. Genetic extinction is neither a good or bad thing. It is completely neutral considering the concept of race is a social construct and not real on a neurological level. People are people and this need to separate ourself from others based on things that cannot be controlled (like skin color or birth origin) will create a never ending cycle of racism and resentment. Pieces of culture will always be lost due to time regardless of the intermingling of people of different cultures and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Personally I think peoples desperate need to cling onto anything and everything from the past is one of the things that keep us from moving forward. Honestly the mixing of cultures is a beautiful thing. Coming from parents with two completely different cultures it was wonderful to experience how they blended together to influence my upbringing. I’ve never understood why the blending of cultures is a bad thing. Culture evolves over time and the intermingling of different cultures is inevitable in the current global society. This is just the next step of cultural evolution. The reason cultures were so separate and distinct before was because they didn’t have as much access to other cultures. Now we have that access but people are terrified of change. I embrace the reality of culture being a living breathing concept that evolves as times change.
@@Ichigo_Hime I love your comment very well put! But you got to understand there exist a whole group of black people who have been taught that they can’t amount to any thing in life or that White or light skin is better greater to the point that they (somehow don’t think for themselves??? ) instead they look for someone else to think for them or be their saviour particularly a person who has lighter skin. So to deconstruct that thought process in some POC or black people we have to acknowledge the foundation or roots of classifications and construct of race (White black) and we have to point out the originator of the creation of race and its construct (white folks). After that then maybe teach people to work together then create a much better world to live without prejudices or discrimination? 🤷🏽♀️ If you are a white individual it is easy for you to maybe “hop/skip over” the issue of race since you haven’t been on the receiving end of the brutality of the construction of race and it’s severe mental congestion.
"Person first" is how I thought everyone should be seen for a long time. My assumptions, internalized and/or unconscious -isms and -ists, and conceptions shouldn't be made a burden to anyone before I see their personhood. We can work through all of those things (together if we're both on board and personally if it's just a me problem) if I see them as a fellow human, we can't if I'm defining them before I even know them. Gets a lot harder to even see a problem if I'm making said problem a core component of my internal monologue regarding them. It'd be about as hard as trying to erase their arms off their body in my mind's eye while watching them use their arms irl, and then THAT kind of thought process becomes a problem in and of itself.
You are such a gift. Thank you for your time, energy, contemplative spirit, and propensity for kindness. Keep on stirring up all those hearts and minds♥️
This reminded me of the current status of queer topics, in which you are saying yes we exist but the future should be getting rid of this social labels and understand that we are all humans with our own likes and dislikes, even the subcategories of nature, social and non existence are part of the debate over there too, great video as always, thanks for your efforts on opening this topics for all of us
I so appreciate the trajectory of development manifested herein. I sent this to my mom -- speaks for itself! Khadija Mbowe; Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
this is really interesting. as a mixed person i’ve always wondered what I really was ? plus with social media i’ve seen people defining blackness in various ways and that didn’t help. but with that video i understand ! so thank you for making this theory less hard to understand
This was a powerful and sometimes uncomfortable video to watch. I think I clocked myself as a constructionist eliminativist. Uncomfortable with the elements of constructionist I see within myself, but also scared as a person racialized as white to express any of the concepts involved in eliminationism to come across as insensitive, or to express myself poorly. Aspirationaly, it's a wonderful idea, and I absolutely agree that the concept of race needs to go away, and should not be confused with the concept of culture. And culture I believe is something that needs to be understood, and celebrated. But I don't want to come across as that racist white lady who doesn't see race. It's so much more complicated than that, and I hope that as we move forward these ideas become mainstreamed so we have a much more widely understood vocabulary to discuss these things. Thank you so much for this entire series.
Most video essays on YT just kinda expand on something I'm familiar with or give personal experience/context/media analysis to help me understand more. That's mainly what I come here for, and it's really rare a video introduces something that just blows my understanding of a situation wide open. Y'all made a wonderful bit of work here
The way I see it, getting rid of race is the ultimate goal bc it is inherently a harmful concept but it has to be done in steps. We can't just ignore race as racism still plays a huge role in society. Social constructionism is most productive in present day and is a necessary step to eradicating race. Similar to how socialism isn't the goal (anarcho communism, getting rid of the state, mutual aid is) but socialism is much better than the current system we have right now. It's all about taking steps toward progress.
I really really really appreciate all the work you and your team put into this trilogy!! Y'all didn't try to half ass it or anything, y'all really went it!! 10/10 gotta rewatch this series!
This video and videos like this are like deprogramming and learning all in one. It can be hard to confront your own subconsious biases and social conditioning but I feel its precisely the way to go when it comes to both learning and growing as a person.
This video was really eye-opening. And like any other good theory, I feel like so many of its core components can be placed onto other intersecting identities to make "genderlessness", "sexuallessness", "nationlessness", etc. as a tool in said forms of abolitionism.
I'm so glad. It might work for some people and definitely not for others. When I first heard about it I was like, "uh-uh I'm Black" lol it's been nice dissecting this and finding a new vantage point to discuss my personal relationship with race
I need to rewatch, take notes, then study the notes- to absorb all of the information provided. I really, really appreciate your channel. You put so much effort and thought into each video. Someone commented you should be a professor or a community leader and I definitely agree.
This thought of "we're one race, the human race" I've noticed comes from a certain group of people. Its the biracial (Black/white) group, the Black folks that say they were teased for mastery of the oppressors language or white people who say they are "colorblind". This is always interesting to me. We have many social constructs that society has deemed are legitimate but "race" is always the one those groups hyper focus on. I find that odd.
I loved this video!!! I was lucky enough to have a class in college that talked a lot about race and our personal views on it, but I had never heard the perspective that Dr Sheena Mason shared. Before this video, when I would think of racelessness I would think of a colorblind ideology that attempts to erase race and it’s effect in our society. I would say I’m a Social Constructionist who is also an Eliminationist. I address race right now as it is because of its effect on society, but I would rather get to a place in our society where is no longer needs to be addressed. Thanks for another wonderful video, Khadija!!!!
💛💛💛 my students say things like that all the time…about how they haven’t been exposed to the existence of alternative philosophies. Actually, I say that all the time. 😅 It is my objective to share such knowledge and the deep history of alternative philosophies as widely as possible.
I came to this conclusion before I knew there was a name for it. I'm glad that we have a name for it now. I just hope the label doesn't become meaningless or misunderstood as so many labels so often do.
Fascinating video. Definitely given me more food for thought. In terms of the philosophies, I find myself really leaning towards being a social constructivist with some of that skeptic mindset and wanting to eliminate race, but I also think that reconstructionism should come first as a middle ground. I am very interested in your future video (if you make one of course, can't recall if you said you were doing it 100%) about "oreos" because as a racialized black person who has grown up experiencing, hearing, and being told I was an oreo for being interested in anything that wasn't "black culture", I would love to hear your thoughts and perspective on it and revisit the words I've been told with my more open mindset compared to elementary and middle school me and even college/early adulthood me. I also saw Shanspere's video on the topic a while back and it was fascinating as well. Great video Khadija!
Excellent. Reconstructionism is the middle ground and has been for centuries. There’s no time like to present to look toward eliminativism. We’ve spent more than enough time reconstructing. 💛🙏🏽
Really interesting. Dr. Mason's model seems like it can truly help people rethink the way they conceptualise race and racism, as well as a way to combat racism. Great video.
This was so great and I am definitely going to explore this topic more in regards to my own cultural identity. For Black Americans it is just so difficult to detach ourselves from race because we have had to rebuild our entire ethnic group for the most part based on our race alone which is something I take a lot of pride in but im definitely interested in seeing how we can do that as a community under the concept of racelessness. To answer your question about Black American cultural identifiers I would say; - jumping the broom of course - hip hop music/ and culture, including street wear - cookouts - games like spades and dominoes - a lot of southern food and traditions (black eyed peas on new years, fried chicken, make and cheese, pie, gumbo, so much stuff honestly) - AAVE, along with a number of different hand gestures and facial expressions - southern baptist church culture and gospel music ( I didnt grow up in church but alot of cultural church practice im very familiar with) I could go on forever Thanks Khadija again for your work!
My god. This made so much sense. Thank you for making this video and for always promoting open-mindedness and the expansion of one’s mind through conversation and critical thinking- luuuuuuvvv ya sooo damn much ♥️♥️
Okay, So I live in France right now. I go to University for Sociology. I have so many questions to run by y'all. For those of you who don't know: France as a country does not collect racial statistics or implement positive discrimination. There are no statistics about representation in Higher education, workplaces, or economic demographics. I don't usually disagree with my Profs about much: but this subject irked me. For one: they refused to address the fact that there is practically no representation in the course material. We talked about W E B Dubois: but as a footnote in the history of American Sociology. While every other major thinker we read at least one of their works: they wouldn't even talk about his theories: stating that he was mainly influential in Actionable Sociology, not Theoretical. I couldn't help but think that this was tainted with Tokenism, and Eurocentrism, but because the subject of race is taboo, they refuse to discuss these ideas. I suppose I'm just wondering how Eliminationism would work in a world that is still tainted by Colonialism, colorism, featurism, and the yet to be addressed economic opportunity issue? I thought that the discussion surrounding race at this point was encouraging individuals and groups to: Question our innate racist tendencies Question others Elevate the voices of people of color increase opportunities and visibility of people of color ..... generally, work towards undoing the effects of past injustice. Then, move towards a raceless society... Isn't there more work to do? Wouldn't eliminationism force a society to not talk about race, and racial issues? I mean, from what I can see in France: last year during the Black Lives Matter protests: the government and news publications legit blamed the influence of American Cultural Values as to why the protests sprang up. I feel like I live in a nation that's gaslighting a portion of its' population for questioning its inherently, and unintentionally racist systems. Thoughts?
On Race: skeptic/eliminate Nationality: social construct/eliminate Ethnicity: social construct/reconstruct Culture: social construct/reconstruct Religion: social construct/reconstruct Language: social construct/conserve Family: social construct/reconstruct Fashion: social construct/conserve Phenotype: natural/reconstruct It's all about how we choose to manage our heuristics. I personally try to limit the number of heuristics I have attached to things people have limited control of.
This was SO enlightening! Never had the words to explain the way I feel about race and how I feel we should treat it…and now I do! Thank you for your awesome content! Always enjoy your videos!
You've given me a lot to think about. I'm realizing that it takes me longer to (quietly and without insulting others) accept new ideas/terminology (like the idea of gender fluid or non-binary people). So, having this theory and philosophy has blown my mind. I like the idea, but I can't wrap my head around it. This might take me sometime. I think I'm a social constructionist, BTW.
Hi Khadija, I've been learning a lot from your videos, thanks for that. I'm a Brazilian WOC and I do need to read more about this theory of racelessness. At a first glance, all I can say is that it triggered all my red flags, precisely because of what happened in Brazil. Brazilians in general are so averse to the idea of race that racism itself ends up being swept under the rug. Brazil (especially now with the nasty far right in power) likes to portray itself as a 'racial democracy' where race doesn't matter coz it ain't even real and therefore racism does not exist. Why am I mentioning this? I don't know exactly, but my feeling is that this theory of racelessness could be easily distorted in order to cement the systems that are already in power. Yes, I get the racialized bit, and in my humble opinion the mere knowledge that race is something that others attribute to me does not make me feel much better. Because end of the day the problem still persists, and these theories might very well be highjacked and turned into something even nastier to people who are not white. It is indeed very complicated stuff and again, my opinion will probably change as I read more about the topic, but at a first glance this is how I feel, and I did feel like sharing here. Thank you, I love your channel!
Wow! This video is so goddamn useful, I can finally articulate my perspective on race from a philosophical perspecitve. I studied anthropology and through that came to a lot of these conclusions but didn't have the terminology or references to back it up. A massive thank you for this video!
I always wrestled with the idea of being "aracial" the same way one could be agender. I thought it would be offensive because I'm relatively pale skinned, I had some privilege and it wouldn't be fair not to identify with the racial group I was assigned. Then I thought no one tells amab agender folks that they have to identify as Male because assigned male privilege invalidated any gender identity. I think that Race can always be taught as a Historical context, but that also means we should do our bests to understand how races and diversity were viewed at the respective time, and not try to implement our modern context of race on to these things.
I love that you brought up “aracial,” as it’s a term that came across my desk within the last week or so. I’m still learning more about the history of the term, the context…but it’s interesting when considered alongside my philosophies of race (skepticism eliminativism). Instead of aracial…at least for now…I tend to prefer human. But I’m very particular about language, its genealogy, and what I apply to myself. 💛
If you can identify as "aracial" would that imply that terms like "transracial" and "cisracial" would exist? I don't think its 100% parallel with gender identity but i do think everyone should have a choice in not wanting to identify with race
I think the only problem I have with racelessness is that when whitewashing occurs in the performing arts, there's an inherent lack of understanding that white people may have when it comes to portraying BIPOC characters. This does help promote the colour blind casting efforts such as Hamilton, but it also validates all white casting which widens the advantage gap between races. What do we do, just step aside and let white people continue to be the majority representation? What about representation itself? How do we think about representation within the theory of racelessness? Representation is so key to empowerment for non white people. I love your video, btw, my 14 year old daughter asked me to watch it and I love it, thank you!
I don't know how I missed this when it came out, but THIS. . . .goosebumps. This is soul soup. This is a warm blanket during an autumnal storm. 🤩 Thank you for putting this out there.
What do you think your philosphy of race is and what do y'all think about the Theory of Racelessness? What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? What do you think needs more work to make such a thing possible?
CC's will be up for this and my last video by the end of the week! Raul has been VERY busy with exams and just life!
Another question: Can a white American ask that question without sounding entitled? (I'm not American.)
I think I am personally a constructionist and an eliminativist. I would say that I am a skeptic, but there seems to be a bit of a contradiction in it? Like there is the part that denies that race exists (I agree), but I can't really get rid of the idea that it is like an actual thing that has real effects, regardless of the importance of skin color... I hope that makes sense. However, I do agree that the ultimate goal of "solving" racism and that kind of stuff is to start to dismantle systems that promote it, or as you and Dr. Mason put it, leveling out the statistical distributions. I also really liked what you said towards the end where you were kinda saying that there are these perceived differences, but in the end it's superficial, and ideally we should be looking past them. That has been my view for a long time on most social issues, mainly that the differences that some people focus on do not actually matter in the grand scheme of things, and ultimately should be ignored when you are discussing someone or whatever. But at the same time, you kind of have to reckon with the fact that these perceived issues are real things that have tangible effects on our world and we should address these real problems. Bit of a dilemma.
I think I'm between constructivist and skeptical after watching this video. like race isn't real but racism has very tangible effects. im still working through my thoughts but this was very interesting. im really not sure how racelessness could be achieved realistically due to white supremacy, though.
I really tried to get a different perspective, but the skeptic and eliminativist is giving BIG "I don't see race" energy which is extremely harmful and invalidating towards those most affected by it. I get that's not the intention, but it still overlaps with many of those points
I think that it's a dangerous president to set for as long as corporations are considered people. Because even legally they are the supreme people by virtue of their limited laws for regulation paired with the lack of accountability. You can't put a whole corporation into a penitentiary for homicide, in fact it's actually legal for a corporation to commit homicide because of the lack of laws. Imagine when humans get stripped completely of our residual rights because everyone is overlooking the 14th amendment and proceeding laws stripping human rights ....... It could absolutely get worse if you overlook the specifics in the laws and what needs to be amended first. It's like how the n azi s got away with using "socialism" and bait n switching to totalitarianism. There's nuance that is needed and a s ses (humans) to cover you know?
Honestly hadn't thought about race as much while I was in the Caribbean cause I was in a predominantly Black country however when I got came to the states - I became HYPER self-aware of the fact that I'm a Big Black man and some ppl might only see me as that.
My dad was from Jamaica. He went to Los Angeles in 1952 for a holiday for 2 weeks. He told me that he didn't know he was "black" till he was in LA.. He said people kept telling him and his friends like it was a negative. It's not. He stayed 3 days he and his friends hated LA. (Due to the fact that they where afraid. They had never felt like that before. And wanted to go home) I recently saw an interview with Supermodel Iman she said the same thing.. That she didn't know she was black till she came to the USA.
@@VeeLondon1449 Let’s just take a likkle moment to appreciate di GRAVITY of the fact that a Black person can grasp racism in as little as 2 WEEKS yet we still av yamheads claiming that it don’t exist 😮💨
mhmmm
@hasslfoot 🥲bless yuh, m’yute. You single-handedly 180’d this comment thread into wholesome territory
this is interesting, i grew up in puerto rico n its very common to see what in the us ppl call mixed people and black people (i never thought of ppl in these distinctions, only as puerto rican) so even though im white passing i also experienced this hyper awareness of race n realizing that ppl in the states see n interact w race wayy differently
Khadija's comment section is what my professors aspire their blackboard discussion posts to be. Everyone is genuinely sharing how they feel about the topic and having open-ended non-judgmental conversations. Love to see it!
Taking notes for future reference.
I would love to know your thoughts on this!
Deez Nutz! Loved your Kanye video. Waiting for part 2!
@@zainmudassir2964 haha! GOTEEM!
Love seeing you here, you and Khadija are some of my favorites
One thing I had hoped to hear answered is if you think all people are racist or hardwired towards having racist thought patterns? Racist being the wrong term of course, out grouping mentality or tribalism? Are there fundamentally flawed aspects of how humans do culture and identity that leads to otherizing that we need to be vigilant in understanding ourselves?
I like the idea of saying ‘racialized’ in front of whatever race you’re talking about. it does help emphasize that race is a social construct
Took me a while to realized this, but this just made it super clear, thanks 🙏
It’s like saying unhoused vs homeless or enslaved vs former slave, it highlights the societal and/or structural systems that allow things to continue in the way they have or the inherent lack of choice involved in the status
I also like it’s inherent fluidity. “Racialization” adjusts depending on era, location, appearance, and context. It shifts and its boundaries are fuzzy and somewhat subjective. It feels more like the verb it is rather than a concretely fundamental “inherent” characteristic.
I’ve been thinking about it a lot, lol, came back to share,
I realized we should be saying ethnicity or something else if we are actually referring to it in conversation, it’s more accurate, much easier too than being like “I’m black but(insert this part of the diáspora and assoc history”)
I even think Khadijah did it in the video
Yes! I first saw it in Akala's book "Natives"! Amazing book, too.
Thank you so much for inviting me to share my theory of racelessness. I had fun and learned along the way. If anyone takes anything generative away from this video, I’ll be glad.
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💕 THANK YOUUUUUU. It was honestly so fun working with you to bring this video to life!
Thanks to you both so much for collaborating I do think people to this day fear retaliation when it comes to building the true rainbow coalition. You both are an inspiration to be authentic and have the courage to challenge things that are harmful but still around due to their usefulness in keeping things unchanged. People fear change and they also fear being the one to inspire change. Your courage is on full display and I love it! ❤️
Thank you, Dr. Mason!
Interesting perspective. Thank you.
Your perspective needs to become mainstream! How can we get you into the big media?
Khadija may not realize it, but they are forming and teaching a whole generation of adolescents, and they are doing it correctly. Amazing! 👏👏👏
*Edit* Thanks to everyone for letting me know about their correct pronouns! I also completely agree with the fact that Khadija is teaching us all, young and adult, we're never too grown to learn more and grow as people!
And us adults 🙋♀️🎒
*has previously discussed not entirely identifying as a woman
Agreed, their videos are very eye opening, I appreciate how they can make informative dialogue engaging, this especially enables access for neurodiverse people :)
And adults too, my friend. I learn a lot on here.
@@hereforthevideoessays6399 that's what I was going to say. You (hopefully) don't stop growing as an adult.
100%, i feel so lucky to have Khadijah’s videos for me to learn from as so much other information is just wrong
Off topic, you got a GOOGLE sponsor?!
Listen, I’m as stunned and “🥰🥴💕” as anyone lol
m.ua-cam.com/video/A5zJCv3XNNw/v-deo.html
You should read the Isis papers by doctor frances cress welsing because we FBA/DOAS aren't intrested in surrendering to white supremacy like you guys are...no wonder your home countries are in shambles because you refuse to build it up you want whitey to do all the work and what's even more disturbing is how you people just ran away instead of stay and make your countries better
@@gripwilsonjr882 ?
@@gripwilsonjr882 what
I see the appeal of the eliminationist point of view. In a way, removing racism may also remove the concept of race. At the same time I am having a hard time agreeing with the skeptic point of view: so many people make their own race a key part of their own identity, so many people believe in race, and that's what kinda makes it real as a social construct, right? At the same time, I see how race can just be racism in disguise, and how one would not exist without the other: but still I see them both real as a social constructs (thightly associated, not fully distinct from each other).
Maybe a good strategy would be to have eliminationism as a long term goal, without simply dismissing it as utopian, while basing smaller "day to day" battles on reconstructionist policies?
OMG I love this video my brain is expanding!
I loved that comment! It was like I was witnessing you coming to your own conclusion about it all in real time!
I think there are other things that could be a key part of people's identity long term: like ethnicity.
I think even for latinos & asians in America there's a bit more of ethnicity going on: people talk about being Columbian-American or Japanese-American, and while I see that in the black American community I also see people grieving their ethnicities in that way, I've seen black Americans online talk about how they don't know where they're from. Maybe an alternative for racial pride in the long term could be pride about ethnicity. I think community is so important in any society and I think race does provide a sense of that for some people.
Just my two cents. My brains in the same place that yours is, thinking about what long term things to strive for and how can we start taking those steps! Please reply back if you disagree with me or have anything to add.
@@hannaheve868 I see what you mean. In a way the perceived race is what is left even after ethnic and cultural differences are lost.
A fifth, sixth generation Asian American may have lost all ties to their ancestors culture (no language, no rituals or traditions, no cuisine) but still be perceived (and perceive themselves) as a different race. Is this racism? Probably, to some extent
You and I had the same journey and destination. Thinking I need to give the whole CRT series a rewatch to fully digest it though. Between that and FD Signifier’s video on White Existential Dread, this has been a real growth year for me.
My mentor Jacoby Carter at Howard University is a social constructionist eliminativist! One needn't be a skeptic to be an eliminativist. I do think skepticism is more effective toward the goal of "eliminating" racism, though, since most constructionists still fall into the trap of naturalism, which is deeply rooted with racism. Still, one can be a constructionist and call for the whole thing to be destroyed...without also partaking in unintentionally upholding the hierarchy. I think I mention some strategies that can help, like including the word "racialized" before a "race" concept. At least, if one is a constructionist, one can point to the construction...consistently and significantly. :) I was a constructionist...up until I realized I was a skeptic. LOLOL That was a very recent happening.
I feel like reconstruction is almost like a stepping stone towards the goal that is elimination.
And like. I don't enough ti have an opinion. Especially on race related things.
However. People making it an "either or." Revolution OR incrimental change. Inside AND outside the system.
I want to win.
"If you believe you can change the system from the inside, you're not doing enough."
"You want to burn everything down? You're a filthy radical."
I want to fucking WIN.
Unarmed Black folks not being murdered by police? A win.
Indigenious folks getting water? That's a win.
Trans people, poor people, and others being seen as human? A win
Reducing C02 emissions? A win.
People being protected from this virus, vaccination world wide? Preping our systems to better handle the next one? And climate disaster? a WIN.
I want the goals to get done. In the system, outside of the system. Both. Neither. I just want to get it done. I just want to win. Period.
Indeed. It is! I encourage folks to consider how reconstruction alone isn’t enough…but eliminativism requires the process of reconstruction to achieve its end.
OMG YOU HAVE GIVEN THIS A NAME! I called it ‘conscious colourblindness”, acknowledging the outcomes the racism and race, but creating a world where race doesn’t matter anymore
💛💛💛 Amen. I’m glad my “theory of racelessness” speaks to and with you!
This cracked my brain open, in such a good way. You're so excellent, I'm in awe x
Ma'am you're giving us entire academic courses in race. But worded in a way that is really easy to understand. I am eternally grateful. Genuinely. You are an incredible teacher.
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“Black Card Revoked” is a game specifically about Black American Culture. I’ve always been considered an “Oreo” or “whitewashed” and I never felt “Black enough” until I played that game, especially with people who weren’t racialized Black folks. So if you’re looking for what parts of Black culture you identify with, that’s a fun place to start
Game?
Chille YES! When I was coming up it was ghetto pass being revoked. Um excuse you but I grew up in the east side of Detroit! I just happened to have parents that worked their asses off to get me educated. It hurts to navigate a racist world while simultaneously being rejected by your own.
My experience was the opposite. I played that game with black people, and they made me feel bad because I wasn't getting the "obvious" stuff right. I'm black as well btw. I think it's for black people who were teens in the 90s
@Lauri London I apologize that was never the intent. The people who used that phrase against me was saying I was soft, weak and would not last in "their" neighborhood. I can see how my original comment could be viewed that way but, I think we have a generational miscommunication tho. It's a phrase that was used in old school rap like Public Enemy old. I hope that I didn't come across as ageist but more to put some context on the comment. And it wasn't aggressive, it was hurt, wounded feelings, most of the time it's okay but then a cousin will say something and it brings it back. My speaking voice tends to be higher pitched with diction like Khadija's. The diction and grammar was due to going to private school while growing up and finally college. However, I value intelligence or education because I have encountered plenty of overeducated boobs and plenty of undereducated geniuses. It's classism and I don't mess with it
Didn't know people made it a game (now as a Ebonian. I'm not surprised) I seen it as a joke primarily
The whole homogeneity of whiteness is a really interesting phenomenon. Because historically speaking its a recent invention. Throughout history there were seen physical and immutable differences between those we now consider white people. To suggest there were similarities between the British and the Polish was tantamount to blasphemy.
There was a firm difference between being Irish, being English, being Polish, being German. All those differences were thought to be biologically set in stone. I really believe it took until the 20th century at least here in America where they started to wane in their beliefs. Maybe even specifically it wasn't til after World War 2 where things such as an all incompasing like whiteness became a thing. America has had a very big emphasis on assimilating which spurred this idea along.
Agreed!
Nice point! In some parts of the world differences between different "kind of whites" are still a big deal, like in the Balkans. I feel like this is especially true in places where there is little to no non-white people. Some European countries had internal " white vs white" conflicts, but now all the whites are united in discriminating the recent immigrants from Africa. But it's just my impression, I don't have data to support that '^_^
This is such a good point.| I think England's colonization of Ireland is kind of like a case study in how, even long after Britain accepted race and racism as justification for their imperialism, they still held onto the perceived difference between being English and Irish, justifying their continued colonization and cultural genocide of the Irish.
@@malinblitz And that difference was always overdrawn, more so than I want to accept as an Irish-Canadian. Our languages, faiths and customs were different, but genetically there’s almost no difference, with mostly the same invasions affecting both islands up until the British state colonized Ireland. I’m of the view that political identities tend to *result from* political institutions more than they produce those institutions. That’s how the idea of the nation emerged, albeit over centuries. Some reckoning with the wiring of the old regime has always been essential in the past, but I’m turning over in my head how change can take place through the racelessness lens. This may take a moment in my glow-in-the-dark white head...
No, its far more complicated than that. evolutionary theory created the idea race groups and as we have seen in history extremist used science to oppress peoples. Also, we have to understand that race is also very political . as a 90's kid I remember when ALL Hispanics were considered white . I learned in my highschool predominantly black in GA that Asian , Jews, middle Easterners and Hispanics were under law considered white therefore benefited from white privilege
Also, Europe had a long history of Latin speaking privilege, they were considered the superior human whereas those who didn't speak Latin based where basically the slaves to Latin speakers.
Race is a social construct like gender. Only ethnicity and sex exist .
khadijah i watch your videos and istg i leave them feeling so smart and enlightened. thank you for healing my dumbassery with each and every upload 💗💚
🥺💕 thank you.
*whispers* what does istg mean?
@@KhadijaMbowe lol “i swear to god”
@@Yharazayd Let me guess: You're from Gambia, right?
I watch your vids too Yhara 💗you and Khadija are both so well spoken and intelligent!
I would love to hear your take on the division of African Americans, Afro Caribbeans, and Africans since you are African living in America.
Yes, that would be interesting!
I feel like afro Caribbean’s and Africans get along the best but aa and most other black ppl in the world don’t mix well for some reason maybe just because most taboo things in african and carribean countries is seen as normal in the aa community
@@Prettypaid16 I also think it's because some black people in the Caribbean and some black people throughout Africa have similar culture. There's also the shared experience of being immigrants in the US that could make them feel more united. After all, they sometimes experience xenophobia from AA
@@Prettypaid16 goes to truly show race is a social construct or all black ppl would be the same
@@Cindy99765 and anti-Blackness from other Africans in the diaspora, directed towards AA.
This is interesting because It never occurred to me just how much of identity is tied in race and how a lot of that might not even be race but culture and systems in place.
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It's definitely interesting to stop and think about
@@ytaccountz3433 Don’t feel guilty. I’ve personally made peace that I won’t ever be seen as “black enough” because at the end of the day I know what I am, and how I relate and participate in black culture doesn’t change just because one or two people don’t see me as “black enough”.
I feel like children of immigrants struggle with this duality A LOT. I often think of my race, my language, culture, and my identity and how they are distinct but connected to my parents’ race, language, culture and identity. I may be racialized mestiza like them, but my identity is distinct because of the fact that we were raised in different countries surrounded by different cultures.
As an African that grew up outside of America, I always had a problem with these racial labels like ‘black’. It just seemed kind of odd to me that me and my neighbor would be labelled the same, even when we don’t have the same culture/traditions, same values/outlook on life, heck, we don’t even speak the same language! To me it seemed like racial labels stripped us away from our ethnic identities. This is why these racial labels don’t hold the same power outside of the continent of America. Our ethnic cultures have existed for CENTURIES, while race didn’t even exist until a few hundred years ago. What makes race so flawed is also the fact that it’s based on your phenotype. You have Africans that would be considered ‘white’ in the US, but have virtually nothing in common with people of European descent other than their phenotype. And so on.
Isn’t “African” perpetuating a race ideal. There is no African gene. That homogenization conflates culture, ethnicity and gene similarity.
Thank you for sharing!🖤🤎❤
"do we need some water?"
Thank you for reminding me to hydrate myself, Khadija! 🥰
Loved this video, I think it'll stay in the back of my mind for a while.
It's quite common to hear online Europeans say "you're making it about race"/"you Americans are so obsessed with race". I am European myself so I can kind of understand where that sentiment comes from, but I've come to recognize that this sentence is often a way to dismiss any argument against inequality. So I've learned to agree that colourblindness is a bad mindset, yet part of me always felt there was more to it, and I think this video gave me the answer.
After the second war, a lot of Europeans were terrified of the idea of race because of its potential consequences. In fact, I don't know how to put it but the word "race" in french sounds more racist than the word "race" in English, simply because in France the subject is not talked about in these terms. The mantra was basically "there is only one race, the human race, repeat it until you perish". I learned about segregation, apartheid, slavery etc in school, but modern-day discrimination wasn't brought up and this rigid attitude towards the concept of race doesn't really allow for the vocabulary to talk about race.
Critical race theory solves that problem, as it lays the framework behind racism. But at the same time, learning about race in that way gives more meaning and heaviness to it. I distinctly remember hearing and seeing as a child singers like Rihanna, Beyonce and Whitney Houston, and my mind never registered any of them as black. I didn't know much about these women (and I couldn't understand english), but if you'd asked me then to list the differences between Rihanna and a white pop star, I would've probably said their style of music or something. Then I was out of the loop for mainstream music so it took a few years for me to hear someone use the word "black" when talking about Rihanna, and it actualized my perception of her. It wasn't a revelation or anything: even as a child I could tell she had darker skin and certain features, but my mind never joined the dots and put her in that category.
Understanding english, getting accustomed to american culture and learning about race gave me a better understanding of racism, but I can still feel the appeal of that worldview where race doesn't really matter and is seen more as an old concept. Racelessness as you explain it seems to be ideal, as it throws away race from its pedestal without discarding racism.
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Same here (Scandinavia). I remember just last year some politician proudly announcing that racism doesn’t exist in this country because “we have laws against that”. Just yesterday a survey showed that dark skinned people are much more likely to be unlawfully stopped by police, but the police themselves made a statement rejecting the color of skin as the reason. Local BLM protests were widely regarded as silly and completely unnecessary. Even colonization of the West Indies and result slavery, when people actually started talking about it as problematic a couple of years ago, was regarded as “just a part of history and nothing to be sorry for”. It’s stupid crazy to me how afraid people in Europe are of talking about these things. And maybe because it’s all been on a relatively small scale compared to the US, it’s easier to lie and omit facts, but it also compounds the problem the further we go because nobody - except the people experiencing it - can imagine racism being a thing and certainly not something they could inadvertently be guilty of.
I think you are confused about the concept of colorblindness.Colorblindness its the philosophy that people should be seen as people regardless of the race and that principle should be applied to law.
I think one of the interesting things that someone who might believe that race is still a social construct is that they might still believe that racism is immutable. They might hold on to idea that this will exist forever so we can only change how we relate to it but it's not going anywhere.
For me this is how one who believe it's a social construction can become a naturalist.
Thank you for your comment and for teaching me a new word. Immutable, never knew what it meant before today
I think the stance of racism being immutable is only being represented in the present context. I dont think most social constructionist believe in absolution in general. Racism, language around race, like all social constructs changes over time.
@@Lamonst3r I was just gonna say this. Also given the state of the climate, a lot of people are fatalistic so they may not see it as natural or immutable but as essentially here to stay as long as the earth withstands 🥴
There are many people out there., of all kinds who do think racism is immutable to the white race and therefore always apart of this. You see this a bit in the hardcore Black Nationalists who are essentially naturalists and some of the more wonky anti racism stuff. Ie. All white people are racist forever but doesn’t truly make the distinction between biology or conditioning.
It’s complicated!!!
I felt emotionally exhausted after watching this video. I think you did a great job attempting to explain this subject that you’re not an expert in.
I really appreciate the expert consultant. Keep up the good work.
Oooh take a break and drink some water!
💛💛💛 I giggle when someone refers to me as an expert in anything. 😅😅😅 “It’s complicated!!!” Facts.
CRT is necessary. But we have sooooo much to fix in the education system, infrastructure, prison, policing, healthcare, food regulation, social life, immigration etc. we got a lot to do.
You ain't lying
CRT is not necessary
I think you immigrants should fall back....yall really are just creating unnecessary obstacles at this point...
@@annechief4165 It’s really not. The fact it preaches that everything is racist or only certain groups can be racist when really everyone is capable of racism is a red flag and is not needed because it creates further division. Instead we should focus on fixing the eduction system and understanding that race and how it’s viewed can be complex with a lot of gray area. For example contrary to popular belief white people were not the only ones to have slaves or oppress back people in the US. Rich black people had slaves and even Native Americans had slaves that not only worked their plantations, but were used to procreate with in an attempt to make up for a tribes small numbers, but in doing this they were still just seen as slaves and didn’t have rights in the tribe. It truly is a disservice how history isn’t looked at full circle in the US.
@@tiahnarodriguez3809 OMG, thank you. I always say history should be taught and people tell me, that is what crt is, which is the opposite. People that want it are the ones that really don’t know what it is about.
This ain't just food for thought, Issa whole buffet. Thank you for your rigorous knowledge sharing❤️ what's standing out to me in particular is the race-ethnicity-culture distinction and how we navigate that under the theory of racelessness.
Yes! 💛💛💛
I guess that makes me a constructionist eliminativist. The way I see it, race isn't real, but people believe it is and that effects peoples lives in very tangible ways, in other words a social construct, however, it is first and foremost a hollow institution that has done little more than create needless suffering, ergot, along with a host of other such things, it must ultimately be disposed of. There was a time before it, there can be a time after it. People are treated poorly because they are categorized one way and that manifests in a number of ways such as mass incarceration, over policing, and a whole host of other issues. It is a fiction, but a dangerous one. It's a lot like money. Money only has the value it does because people are invested in the notion that it has this inherent concrete value and money sure as hell has caused more pain than it's worth.
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Wholeheartedly agree. You said it perfectly
This perfectly explains all my thoughts about these topics 💕🤩❤️
Thank you!
Tbh I don't agree over all that money has caused more suffering than it is worth because we have enabled every single opportunity in the world because of the invention of money. I agree there has been a lot of pain, but not more than the love and happiness it has generated.
This actually reminds me of this theory I heard about disability : disabled people aren't really disabled, but rather society makes them so because of the barriers it puts towards them. If society was more accessible, would they still be perceived as disabled ?
This definitely opened up mind tbh i think that they would still be SEEN physically disabled but in terms of disabled people having more availability then probably not.
What you are referring too is the social model of disability. It’s the pretty well accepted theory in academia and within disability advocacy. It’s the reason why learning disorders, such as ADHD or dyslexia, are considered disabilities within an educational environment now, but not necessarily in a workplace environment.
The social model of disability only takes us so far. Disability justice and the movement associated with the ideology expands to chronically ill, mentally ill, mentally disabled, and even terminally ill people, who still experience struggles outside of the social model.
Improving ramps is not going to make a bedbound person able to leave their bed. Making walkable cities is not going to stop someone from having a fainting attack because of POTS. There are just some obstacles that cannot be overcome--dyspraxia makes your balance wobbly, dyscalculia affets your ability to process language as well as numbers and spatial awareness.
This doesn't mean the social model of disability has its uses and benefits, it just doesn't take things as far as the disability justice movement does. The social model of disability doesn't address sanism, for example.
@@gamingwhilebroken2355 Adult ADHD is absolutely a disability; it has an extreme impact on social aspects, but it's still debilitating even without that.
Like... It can affect basic life tasks, like eating and grooming and finances and such.
It's the single most debilitating outpatient psychiatric disorder, in fact. (Although it's also the one that responds the best to medication)
@@isthiscereallifeI'm not so sure though. A disabled person is turned into a separate class through ableism. If a bed bound person was accommodated without drawn out process and integrated socially still, that would be drastically different. The reason this is the defining attribute of a person, is thier relationship to production, is the capitalist mode of production and individualist brainwashing. Most of us lose mobility, and start with none, then we talk about ageism
I'm glad you made an effort to address the difference between "racelessness" from "color blindness." They way I've always defined "color blindness," and my understanding of why it's so problematic, is that what it's essentially telling people is, "There's something wrong with your blackness, therefore in order for me to accept you as 'normal,' I must ignore the thing that's 'wrong' with you."
As long as racism exists race will always matter. White people (and honestly all groups as a whole but mostly whites) refuse to let go of discrimination and hatred for others differences. Racism will never end but we can find a way to make it have consequences and lessen it’s effects on us by destroying and rebuilding all systems that perpetuate it.
Race can't matter, because it doesn't exist
Intellectually I know race doesn't have any merit beyond the history we have created around it. That is the struggle we have to get past in order to free ourselves from the devisive idea of race.
💛💛💛 Amen!
You have such a pretty name btw.
Please do a video about being an 'oreo'! It always baffles me how contradictory that concept is... I'm supposed to defy stereotypes but at the same time only be allowed to act, speak, and be interested in only one brand of human existence. And if I don't then I'm 'white' or a 'weirdo.' The shit is incredibly limiting and dehumanizing.
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I get you. I know that feeling.
Just live in peace and you’ll be alright.
This is wild because lately I’ve been thinking about the word “black” and how that term is, I feel, in itself is racist. People use it to be colorist and describe dark skinned people. These binaries and language like “black” and “white” are from racism / white supremacy. I want to move toward specifically naming ourselves so that we can encompass our humanity and experience and being etc with language. As opposed to using language made from white people / whiteness, which is limiting and dehumanizing to all.
It’s also wild cause past me would’ve thought this point was bs and the whole “human race” rhetoric. But that’s also because those people were coming from a weird angle.
Thank you to you both for this! I am grateful. I love language and deconstructing things so it’s cool to see language being put to how I feel.
Yes! Just. Yes! 💛
I agree with you. It is a fact that there are no different races but one race and that is the human race alone. Why should we call each other black and white? That creates division. It's just a skin color. I'm getting tired of this 🙄
I think the heart of all of this is identity. We grow up seeing everyone put in categories. People expect certain personality traits, likes, dislikes, habits, etc from just about anything, not just skin color. For instance, an American eats a lot of junk food, someone who dresses "goth" wouldn't like country music, old ladies have to be sweet and wholesome. We are all individuals. We can be so many things and we shouldn't have to feel pressured to be a certain way. That's why the whole coconut/oreo thing is so ignorant. People are so much more than their color and they're also more than their ethnicity. There may be cultural norms, but everyone deviates from them - that's being an individual.
This!!
Khadija is genuinely one of the most diplomatic youtubers i’ve ever come across on the Internet. And they’re so talented too. They talk about such serious and even uncomfortable topics yet also manage to make their videos amusing and lighthearted, while still getting their points across. major respect for Khadija.
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I was just thinking I'm going to need to watch this a couple times to grasp it when you got to the part where you said that's OK and it took you awhile.
This is one of your more definition heavy, academic heavy videos and I'm excited to re-watch it a couple times.
It took me years…and it was my own mind. LOL However, I didn’t have the benefit of access to someone like me until very recently. I hope you’ll feel inspired to come over to my channel for more thinking aloud! 💛🙏🏽
Khadija/PhilosophyTube/ContraPoints would be the crossover of the century. Endgame who?
In my mind I always sound as good as Khadija, but the words never come out right so I end up sounding "racism bad" like idk how people can vocalize so well exactly what they want without messing up!
You didn't see all the outtakes lol I'm constantly like, "does this even make sense???" so you are not alone in that feeling., trust me
Yessica, this this this
Same.
exactly 😭
Honestly would be much better if we were just individuals with varying cultural/ethnic influences full-stop.
Sounds a lot better than just turning entire continents into blobs like Avatar the Last Airbender
In defense of ATLA it is a recurring theme in the comics after the war that zuko leaves the colonies and starts a “comunity restoration” with the Avatar, in which they try to separate who is what race and send them back to fire nat to “restore balance”. Which is something that toph, their friend who actually lives in one of those cities and has a metal bending school, oposes as well as the people living those mixed communities. It is seen as a conflict between interests, with main characters in opposing sides, i don’t think the creators just made them separate blobs out of bias but actually played into how they interact between themselves too
@@helenaap2042 It’s only worth so much since Nick couldn’t be bothered to get this animated.
@Lauri London omg its fine. You seem overly worried
@Lauri London its not even an issue. Its a common thing to happen when doing worldbuilding in a fantasy setting
@Lauri London What? No I mean as in dividing the world into like 5 different groups like Avatar does (Air, Earth Fire etc.)
Avatar is okay though since this is legitimately how the lore works haha
a lot of this is similar to an unofficial theory of genderlessness that i subscribe to and it’s all lovely. it’s not about ignoring reality but it’s about criticizing and questioning it and understanding it in a way that works for you. it’s similar to being politically nonbinary but maybe an extra step?
Colourism is very big In the South Asia(where I live) Basically the whole Asia. And I realize how much it affects every part of my life. Makes me extremely sad.
Me too 😢
Is it linked with social class, as well?
It’s interesting because in my country (Sweden) we do not talk about “race”, it would kind of feel offensive? Race is something we talk about when we talk about dog races for example. When it’s about humans we talk about ethnicities and there is only one “race”, the “the human race”. But it’s important to keep in mind that Sweden has a very complicated history with “race biology”
same in germany. We don't even use the german word for "race" (except when talking about animals) because it reminds us of the Nazis.
@@samtae6217 interesting, had no idea!
That's true for whole Europe becausr of the Nazi and it's actually a huge issue because it makes it really difficult to talk about racism, because Europeans really cling to colourblindness.
@@chicquie5471 not classifying humans as different races has nothing to do with colorblindness. Race theory is the root cause for for genocides (no not only in Nazi Germany), slave trade, colonialism. The problem in Europe is that many people struggle with different cultures and lifestyles which leads to racism. That is the problem we have to tackle. What is the white race? What is the black race? After how many generations do you transition to another race bc you are not visibly white /black anymore? Do we go back into color charts and measuring facial features to cluster people into races? Like Nazis did with Jews and Sinti and Roma? Or what happened with the Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda? Its a social construct and one that has brought a lot of evil and damage to the human world
There are some black americans in Sweden who promote this social cunstructonism and black identity. I think its because their race is their identity, where as other immigrants would just talk about their country or religion. Also they want to be seen as different maybe.
I saw a video of ancient Rome culture. Their view of race was kinda similar to what, I understood, is Eliminativism. They viewed race not from the color, or the phisiological aspects, of the person, they saw their culture and catogorize them based on that. But they were still racist, or so to say, culturist. I don't know if this way of thinking could help, but I'm hopefull that it's a step on the right direction.
You are right on the money. Romans were ethnocentric. That's why you'll usually hear, as long as you were not Roman, you were game to be a slave. Meaning they'd have slaves of every race or color because anyone who was not Roman was beneath them. I was watching a documentary where someone was reading an excerpt from a Roman writer, and it was interesting how the Romans viewed Nordics very poorly and very different from themselves - apparently they had an issue with the whole blonde, pale, blue eye look, and guess this, the fact they wore pants 😂😂 It was very scandalous since Romans felt that it was uncivilized - civilized men wore togas lol
Yeah, I was just like we would just go back to hating each other based on our ethnicities, if race was eliminated.
@@birdiewolf3497 that would be fine honestly. I mean it wouldn’t but it would be much more honest than race. Not advocating for hate lol just saying that. I mean, around the work ethnic or regional conflict is still prevalent. It’s just in the west we group everyone as races.
I learned about this when I took an anthropology class in college. Can't believe this isn't household knowledge by now! Race is a construct!
This is an excellent analysis! Thank you for the time and effort you dedicated to this video.
I’m an advocate for the abolition of gender, which has been a concept I’ve easily adopted and understood. This is the first time I’m hearing an argument for racelessness, and I think you presented it in a very comprehensive way that draws parallels with the theory of gender abolition. Of course, you do this while perfectly emphasizing a respect for each individual’s freedom to express their identity in whatever way they desire, which is important.
Thanks again Auntie ❣️
Yes! The abolition of race coincides with the abolition of gender in meaningful ways. 🙏🏽💛 People have been asking me questions about such correlations more and more recently.
This is a fantastic video and I’m definitely going to look more into this line of thought on race. I’m definitely a skeptical eliminationist but never had terms for it. I’m “mixed race” and the whole concept has always been weird to me. It’s especially weird once you venture out of the black-white binary. I’m not done with the video yet, but I’m fully on board with this.
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I'm only halfway through the budget but one thing I like a lot about the ravelessness theory is the emphasis on pointing out the conflation of race and culture. that's so important and I wish more people understood it. I think it's part of why colorblind ideology doesn't always work as well.
edit: now that I'm done, I think this concept is very interesting, and does reveal a big issue with the social construct idea, which is that believing the social construct means believing its real in some way. I think??? I was mulling over this the entire video after you went over the philosophies. its just very eye opening to think of this and how it changes the perception of things.
also, you're using digress correctly, lol.
For me, a part of thinking of something as a social construct has to do with the certainty that it (something, a concept, and ideology) can be deconstructed. It's like that little hopefull note that says "hey, this was made up by colonizers, you can change it!"
💛💛💛 I hope to see you on my channel to learn more about everything philosophies of race. If you find anything generative, I’ll be glad. 💛💛💛
I come for the perspective and I am never disappointed. I will ruminate. These essays are becoming a necessary part of my diet.
They are really helping understand the scope of my own intellect. I used to feel like having learning disabilities = not being as smart or not being able to learn but they have really helped me figure out that the way I was being taught was wrong not that I was doing anything wrong. Thank you so much for making learning so accessable and digestible!💙💙
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This video got me thinking, got me even disagreeing! Which is great! This time I do not find myself just agreeing with all the points like it often happens. One thing that should be discussed more is the difference between ethnicity and race. Or even just : how do you define ethnicity? Language typically is the best way to separate people into ethnicities, but it does not always work (Serbs vs Croats for example), and it is especially hard to apply to multicultural/multiethnic/multiracial situations like USA where English is ultradominant. A definition of ethnicity should be given everytime the word is used!
I love that it got you thinking and disagreeing! And lord "how do you define ethnicity" I can't even say I have something resembling an answer lol
@@KhadijaMbowe I always thought of the concept of race as pertaining to biological/phenotype (skin color back in the day and I guess dna and skin color today) stuff while ethnicity was concerned with the non-biological/cultural stuff like food/language/religion.
Lol!! OMG it's cool to get a reply. I still havent finished watching the video and I already have so many thoughts fermenting in my brain! I know this one will be on my rewatch list
@@darthchingaso3613 thing is the biological differences in phenotype don't correspond with genetic differences. And biologically speaking race is not a thing. It just is not. I get what you mean. Just saying.
@@xylypotatohead3947 I know biological race is a flawed concept but when the concept of race was created it was supposed to be based entirely in biology while the concept of ethnicity was developed to make sub-categories of those races and as a way to explain differences among the races. That's how I think of them. I know in the real world many phenotypical things are affected by things like environmental conditions just as much as genetic enharitance and that race is a cultural construct, which is how groups like the irish/jews/eastern europeans were able to become white over the course of american history.
Wow watching this after kat blaque's race play video is just mindblowing
Every one of your videos is another step in the right direction. Amazing and eye-opening! I do appreciate your inclusion of Fred Hampton and how those with power really don’t want positive change in a way that shares power. I do truly hope that voices like yours are amplified and spread around the world and shape the future by reaching people and helping us understand the real impact and positive change we all can make. Sometimes it can feel like we are all stuck in our limited tribes and echo chambers and I really hope your voice and the voices of those you highlight like Dr. Sheena Mason get out into the world more and more. Thank you for sharing your thought processes on this “controversial” and super important topic (controversial in quotes because the controversy is manufactured by those who fear losing the status quo). Be well 😘
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I’m on board with racelessness, actually I felt this way for years. It started with the race being a social construct. I’m not so sure about critical race theory now, I was anti but I need to investigate a bit more.
I really love this video. Gonna be thinking about. Thank you!
This has given me the courage to, as a proud black woman, finally come to terms with something: ion really be seasoning my food like that.
Like…. I’m good with just salt and pepper. It don’t even have to be a lot.
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I’m loving this video. It reflects back a lot of my recent thoughts. I’ve taken to personally redefining racism as the belief in distinct races
I don't think your forehead is big and also there is nothing wrong with a big forehead. You look fabulous as always. Love your videos ❤️❤️❤️
I have the ultimate 5- head, lol. Yours is nothin’ 😜
I personally think the forehead is very pretty 🥺
Ikr, idk why we tend to grow up making fun of big foreheads when I don’t think they add anything “negative” to anyone’s appearance
When did a big forehead become a bad thing? In my backwoods Canadian childhood, we had a stunning repertoire of insults, but this was never one of them. I’m sure it’s global capitalism, we needed more insecurities etc...
Valérie Levasseur it really is, idk where it comes from nor what they could sell us to “fix” it, but it always begins with 3-head, then 4-head and when that’s not enough it follows with the comparisons, so it’s somehow never small enough and somehow always a problem
I feel like social constructivist eliminationism is possible. Saying "race isnt real, it shouldnt be real, and we should work to make it less legitimized." whilst simultaneously acknowledging that racialized black people are in danger of police brutality, or that indigenous women are being killed and trafficked at an exponential rate.
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That is a more powerful and consistent message than " Discriminating against black people is bad, but we should still be seen as different". Pointing out that people act racist works, because you oppose racist ideology in every way.
I agree, but hesitate. Because we do have different histories. Many black communities in America are historic and are the descendents of enslaved peoples. That has radically shaped and affected their trajectories, and that will always be true even when people stop being racialized.
@@DreamersOfReality That's an ethnic and cultural thing, however.
"There's only one race, the Human Race." "what about NASCAR!?!"
Joking aside very informative video and really gives a bunch of stuff to think on and explore further
What about bobsledding? 🤣
I love this series that you have created and I appreciate your sharing so much! These are absolutely the types of conversations that I haven’t participated in mostly because I think I struggle to find the words to explain these thoughts. I definitely will be sharing this video with those whom I hope for deeper dialogue. THANK YOU!
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When I was living in Peru, I was the 1 out of 3 black people in my class, but once I moved to South Africa I learned that there I wasn’t considered black because my parents were black and another race mixed people. It was so hard to explain it that I just started identifying with the term latina or mixed to avoid having to explain how race works in my origin country. (it was also interesting when they used my origin country for a race study in my anthropology class)
As a peruvian, I understand that weird relationship with race
Hey! Me encantaría saber a qué conclusiones llegaste en tu estudio (sorry for the spanish, sometimes my bilingual fails me lol)
eliesundesastre it was a study that I was not conducting, but by someone else in my uni, and their main focus was if the word “black” to refer to someone’s race should be changed in the context of South Africa, because of all the different ethnic groups and foreign African countries’ group that exist in the country and how “black” doesn’t define them all. So for that, Brazil was used as an example of another meaning that people use for what a “black person” looks like and the experiences they might go through. I’ll try to find out if they have published the study and update you if they have!
@@larissa6732 Wow, that must've been a cool academic experience. Studies like that are such a cool opportunity for nuance. And I would love updates when it's done! 🤗
Frida Saavedra ikr, I can count on one hand how many times we touched on race at school and I don’t think I was ever singled out for my race, it was confusing when I got to another country where they didn’t think of me as black and the reason why I would be “black” were based on stereotypes and on the “one drop rule”
Always called an oreo or white girl growing up. Grew up in Harlem NYC and went to Catholic school for 13yrs. Identify as gay, pagan metalhead and otaku. Don't always feel like I fit in with "Black culture" but I love my skin and know what it is perceived as. So no matter how others see me. I have to live with myself and be happy. I am also co-parenting a biracial female child. I want her to be proud of herself and love her skin
This was such a goddamn good video. As a racialized black woman I have always had an issue with how we talk about individual "race". I always thought the word "race" was othering and it placed people of different ethnicities in these categories that I now see are naturalist. The theory of racelessness is certainly something I am interested in because it explains exactly what I have felt for years.
This video is amazing!!! I’ve seen with the hyper fixation on race that thing have really gone to the extreme. I’ve seen other poc advocate for segregation, disapproval of biracial marriages, and so many other backwards ideologies that we fought so long to change. The separation and racialization of ourselves may feel good but it had no benefit for the long run. In fact it caused more resentment and stereotypes and hinders our progress to move forward.
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Separation is natural you see this in nature. However America’s separation is unnatural since it focused on insecure people wanting to be at the top. Natural separation is a survival mechanism, you say there is no benefit but do you ever think what would happen if no one conserved their heritage and suddenly no one of direct African heritage exist anymore aka black ppl. Is genetic extinction a good or bad thing. You tell me.
@@prodigious818 Based on the topic of this video there is a difference between the preservation of a race and the preservation of a culture. Your argument basically is in defense of having “pure blooded” people with how you described having people being direct decedents of certain ethnicities. Genetic extinction is neither a good or bad thing. It is completely neutral considering the concept of race is a social construct and not real on a neurological level. People are people and this need to separate ourself from others based on things that cannot be controlled (like skin color or birth origin) will create a never ending cycle of racism and resentment. Pieces of culture will always be lost due to time regardless of the intermingling of people of different cultures and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Personally I think peoples desperate need to cling onto anything and everything from the past is one of the things that keep us from moving forward. Honestly the mixing of cultures is a beautiful thing. Coming from parents with two completely different cultures it was wonderful to experience how they blended together to influence my upbringing. I’ve never understood why the blending of cultures is a bad thing. Culture evolves over time and the intermingling of different cultures is inevitable in the current global society. This is just the next step of cultural evolution. The reason cultures were so separate and distinct before was because they didn’t have as much access to other cultures. Now we have that access but people are terrified of change. I embrace the reality of culture being a living breathing concept that evolves as times change.
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How is race mixing of a few black people going to end the whole black race?😵💫
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I love your comment very well put!
But you got to understand there exist a whole group of black people who have been taught that they can’t amount to any thing in life or that White or light skin is better greater to the point that they (somehow don’t think for themselves??? ) instead they look for someone else to think for them or be their saviour particularly a person who has lighter skin.
So to deconstruct that thought process in some POC or black people we have to acknowledge the foundation or roots of classifications and construct of race (White black) and we have to point out the originator of the creation of race and its construct (white folks). After that then maybe teach people to work together then create a much better world to live without prejudices or discrimination? 🤷🏽♀️
If you are a white individual it is easy for you to maybe “hop/skip over” the issue of race since you haven’t been on the receiving end of the brutality of the construction of race and it’s severe mental congestion.
"Person first" is how I thought everyone should be seen for a long time. My assumptions, internalized and/or unconscious -isms and -ists, and conceptions shouldn't be made a burden to anyone before I see their personhood. We can work through all of those things (together if we're both on board and personally if it's just a me problem) if I see them as a fellow human, we can't if I'm defining them before I even know them. Gets a lot harder to even see a problem if I'm making said problem a core component of my internal monologue regarding them. It'd be about as hard as trying to erase their arms off their body in my mind's eye while watching them use their arms irl, and then THAT kind of thought process becomes a problem in and of itself.
You are such a gift. Thank you for your time, energy, contemplative spirit, and propensity for kindness. Keep on stirring up all those hearts and minds♥️
This reminded me of the current status of queer topics, in which you are saying yes we exist but the future should be getting rid of this social labels and understand that we are all humans with our own likes and dislikes, even the subcategories of nature, social and non existence are part of the debate over there too, great video as always, thanks for your efforts on opening this topics for all of us
I so appreciate the trajectory of development manifested herein. I sent this to my mom -- speaks for itself!
Khadija Mbowe; Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
💛💛💛 I’m obviously not Khadija. 🤣 But I want to express my gratitude to you. Thank you!
this is really interesting. as a mixed person i’ve always wondered what I really was ? plus with social media i’ve seen people defining blackness in various ways and that didn’t help. but with that video i understand ! so thank you for making this theory less hard to understand
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Great video! Thanks for the shout-out!
This was a powerful and sometimes uncomfortable video to watch. I think I clocked myself as a constructionist eliminativist. Uncomfortable with the elements of constructionist I see within myself, but also scared as a person racialized as white to express any of the concepts involved in eliminationism to come across as insensitive, or to express myself poorly. Aspirationaly, it's a wonderful idea, and I absolutely agree that the concept of race needs to go away, and should not be confused with the concept of culture. And culture I believe is something that needs to be understood, and celebrated. But I don't want to come across as that racist white lady who doesn't see race. It's so much more complicated than that, and I hope that as we move forward these ideas become mainstreamed so we have a much more widely understood vocabulary to discuss these things.
Thank you so much for this entire series.
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@@FreeYourMindTR - Thank you for all of your work, Dr. Mason!
Most video essays on YT just kinda expand on something I'm familiar with or give personal experience/context/media analysis to help me understand more. That's mainly what I come here for, and it's really rare a video introduces something that just blows my understanding of a situation wide open. Y'all made a wonderful bit of work here
i can't find the right words to say how awesome this vid is, so i'd just say thank you very, very much!
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The short hair makes your gorgeous features stand out and I’m obsessed. Lol. You’re so stunning, g. Skin stay on glow. 😻
The way I see it, getting rid of race is the ultimate goal bc it is inherently a harmful concept but it has to be done in steps. We can't just ignore race as racism still plays a huge role in society. Social constructionism is most productive in present day and is a necessary step to eradicating race. Similar to how socialism isn't the goal (anarcho communism, getting rid of the state, mutual aid is) but socialism is much better than the current system we have right now. It's all about taking steps toward progress.
I really really really appreciate all the work you and your team put into this trilogy!! Y'all didn't try to half ass it or anything, y'all really went it!! 10/10 gotta rewatch this series!
This video and videos like this are like deprogramming and learning all in one. It can be hard to confront your own subconsious biases and social conditioning but I feel its precisely the way to go when it comes to both learning and growing as a person.
I was literally talking about this last week… our cultural upbringing and values say more about us than our skin color and hair texture.
This video was really eye-opening. And like any other good theory, I feel like so many of its core components can be placed onto other intersecting identities to make "genderlessness", "sexuallessness", "nationlessness", etc. as a tool in said forms of abolitionism.
Khadijah really my baby. 😌♥️
Every time I see her on my feed I smile, and then I click, and *learn* something. Love you girl.
Honestly, this was divine intervention for me lol I find this perspective so helpful. 🙌🏾✨
I'm so glad. It might work for some people and definitely not for others. When I first heard about it I was like, "uh-uh I'm Black" lol it's been nice dissecting this and finding a new vantage point to discuss my personal relationship with race
I need to rewatch, take notes, then study the notes- to absorb all of the information provided. I really, really appreciate your channel. You put so much effort and thought into each video. Someone commented you should be a professor or a community leader and I definitely agree.
This thought of "we're one race, the human race" I've noticed comes from a certain group of people. Its the biracial (Black/white) group, the Black folks that say they were teased for mastery of the oppressors language or white people who say they are "colorblind". This is always interesting to me. We have many social constructs that society has deemed are legitimate but "race" is always the one those groups hyper focus on. I find that odd.
My god this channel is so enriching! Thank you for uploading such educational and stimulating content khadija it is much needed and appreciated.
I loved this video!!! I was lucky enough to have a class in college that talked a lot about race and our personal views on it, but I had never heard the perspective that Dr Sheena Mason shared. Before this video, when I would think of racelessness I would think of a colorblind ideology that attempts to erase race and it’s effect in our society.
I would say I’m a Social Constructionist who is also an Eliminationist. I address race right now as it is because of its effect on society, but I would rather get to a place in our society where is no longer needs to be addressed.
Thanks for another wonderful video, Khadija!!!!
💛💛💛 my students say things like that all the time…about how they haven’t been exposed to the existence of alternative philosophies. Actually, I say that all the time. 😅 It is my objective to share such knowledge and the deep history of alternative philosophies as widely as possible.
I came to this conclusion before I knew there was a name for it. I'm glad that we have a name for it now. I just hope the label doesn't become meaningless or misunderstood as so many labels so often do.
Fascinating video. Definitely given me more food for thought. In terms of the philosophies, I find myself really leaning towards being a social constructivist with some of that skeptic mindset and wanting to eliminate race, but I also think that reconstructionism should come first as a middle ground. I am very interested in your future video (if you make one of course, can't recall if you said you were doing it 100%) about "oreos" because as a racialized black person who has grown up experiencing, hearing, and being told I was an oreo for being interested in anything that wasn't "black culture", I would love to hear your thoughts and perspective on it and revisit the words I've been told with my more open mindset compared to elementary and middle school me and even college/early adulthood me. I also saw Shanspere's video on the topic a while back and it was fascinating as well. Great video Khadija!
Excellent. Reconstructionism is the middle ground and has been for centuries. There’s no time like to present to look toward eliminativism. We’ve spent more than enough time reconstructing. 💛🙏🏽
Really interesting. Dr. Mason's model seems like it can truly help people rethink the way they conceptualise race and racism, as well as a way to combat racism. Great video.
This was so great and I am definitely going to explore this topic more in regards to my own cultural identity.
For Black Americans it is just so difficult to detach ourselves from race because we have had to rebuild our entire ethnic group for the most part based on our race alone which is something I take a lot of pride in but im definitely interested in seeing how we can do that as a community under the concept of racelessness.
To answer your question about Black American cultural identifiers I would say;
- jumping the broom of course
- hip hop music/ and culture, including street wear
- cookouts
- games like spades and dominoes
- a lot of southern food and traditions (black eyed peas on new years, fried chicken, make and cheese, pie, gumbo, so much stuff honestly)
- AAVE, along with a number of different hand gestures and facial expressions
- southern baptist church culture and gospel music ( I didnt grow up in church but alot of cultural church practice im very familiar with)
I could go on forever
Thanks Khadija again for your work!
My god. This made so much sense. Thank you for making this video and for always promoting open-mindedness and the expansion of one’s mind through conversation and critical thinking- luuuuuuvvv ya sooo damn much ♥️♥️
Okay, So I live in France right now. I go to University for Sociology. I have so many questions to run by y'all.
For those of you who don't know: France as a country does not collect racial statistics or implement positive discrimination.
There are no statistics about representation in Higher education, workplaces, or economic demographics.
I don't usually disagree with my Profs about much: but this subject irked me.
For one: they refused to address the fact that there is practically no representation in the course material. We talked about W E B Dubois: but as a footnote in the history of American Sociology. While every other major thinker we read at least one of their works: they wouldn't even talk about his theories: stating that he was mainly influential in Actionable Sociology, not Theoretical.
I couldn't help but think that this was tainted with Tokenism, and Eurocentrism, but because the subject of race is taboo, they refuse to discuss these ideas.
I suppose I'm just wondering how Eliminationism would work in a world that is still tainted by Colonialism, colorism, featurism, and the yet to be addressed economic opportunity issue?
I thought that the discussion surrounding race at this point was encouraging individuals and groups to:
Question our innate racist tendencies
Question others
Elevate the voices of people of color
increase opportunities and visibility of people of color
.....
generally, work towards undoing the effects of past injustice.
Then, move towards a raceless society...
Isn't there more work to do? Wouldn't eliminationism force a society to not talk about race, and racial issues?
I mean, from what I can see in France: last year during the Black Lives Matter protests: the government and news publications legit blamed the influence of American Cultural Values as to why the protests sprang up. I feel like I live in a nation that's gaslighting a portion of its' population for questioning its inherently, and unintentionally racist systems.
Thoughts?
On Race: skeptic/eliminate
Nationality: social construct/eliminate
Ethnicity: social construct/reconstruct
Culture: social construct/reconstruct
Religion: social construct/reconstruct
Language: social construct/conserve
Family: social construct/reconstruct
Fashion: social construct/conserve
Phenotype: natural/reconstruct
It's all about how we choose to manage our heuristics. I personally try to limit the number of heuristics I have attached to things people have limited control of.
I cried a couple of times during this just out of pure clarity
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This was SO enlightening! Never had the words to explain the way I feel about race and how I feel we should treat it…and now I do! Thank you for your awesome content! Always enjoy your videos!
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You've given me a lot to think about. I'm realizing that it takes me longer to (quietly and without insulting others) accept new ideas/terminology (like the idea of gender fluid or non-binary people). So, having this theory and philosophy has blown my mind. I like the idea, but I can't wrap my head around it. This might take me sometime.
I think I'm a social constructionist, BTW.
💛💛💛 It took me a few years. No rush. 😅😅😅
I’ve never had to rewind a video so much but I love it. “Rewind” means I’m really old leave me alone.
Hi Khadija, I've been learning a lot from your videos, thanks for that. I'm a Brazilian WOC and I do need to read more about this theory of racelessness. At a first glance, all I can say is that it triggered all my red flags, precisely because of what happened in Brazil. Brazilians in general are so averse to the idea of race that racism itself ends up being swept under the rug. Brazil (especially now with the nasty far right in power) likes to portray itself as a 'racial democracy' where race doesn't matter coz it ain't even real and therefore racism does not exist. Why am I mentioning this? I don't know exactly, but my feeling is that this theory of racelessness could be easily distorted in order to cement the systems that are already in power.
Yes, I get the racialized bit, and in my humble opinion the mere knowledge that race is something that others attribute to me does not make me feel much better. Because end of the day the problem still persists, and these theories might very well be highjacked and turned into something even nastier to people who are not white. It is indeed very complicated stuff and again, my opinion will probably change as I read more about the topic, but at a first glance this is how I feel, and I did feel like sharing here. Thank you, I love your channel!
Wow! This video is so goddamn useful, I can finally articulate my perspective on race from a philosophical perspecitve. I studied anthropology and through that came to a lot of these conclusions but didn't have the terminology or references to back it up.
A massive thank you for this video!
I always wrestled with the idea of being "aracial" the same way one could be agender. I thought it would be offensive because I'm relatively pale skinned, I had some privilege and it wouldn't be fair not to identify with the racial group I was assigned. Then I thought no one tells amab agender folks that they have to identify as Male because assigned male privilege invalidated any gender identity.
I think that Race can always be taught as a Historical context, but that also means we should do our bests to understand how races and diversity were viewed at the respective time, and not try to implement our modern context of race on to these things.
I love that you brought up “aracial,” as it’s a term that came across my desk within the last week or so. I’m still learning more about the history of the term, the context…but it’s interesting when considered alongside my philosophies of race (skepticism eliminativism). Instead of aracial…at least for now…I tend to prefer human. But I’m very particular about language, its genealogy, and what I apply to myself. 💛
If you can identify as "aracial" would that imply that terms like "transracial" and "cisracial" would exist? I don't think its 100% parallel with gender identity but i do think everyone should have a choice in not wanting to identify with race
This video is a real eye opener. This might be the first time a video essay actually changed the way I perceive the world.
I think the only problem I have with racelessness is that when whitewashing occurs in the performing arts, there's an inherent lack of understanding that white people may have when it comes to portraying BIPOC characters. This does help promote the colour blind casting efforts such as Hamilton, but it also validates all white casting which widens the advantage gap between races. What do we do, just step aside and let white people continue to be the majority representation? What about representation itself? How do we think about representation within the theory of racelessness? Representation is so key to empowerment for non white people. I love your video, btw, my 14 year old daughter asked me to watch it and I love it, thank you!
I don't know how I missed this when it came out, but THIS. . . .goosebumps.
This is soul soup. This is a warm blanket during an autumnal storm. 🤩
Thank you for putting this out there.