More Reading Assignments
Remember when we talked about how the world at large is pretty damn racist and that carries right on over to the knitting community…no matter how much you wish it didn’t? Yeah, well it’s an ongoing conversation and I’ve got some more stuff I think you should read (and for the record, it’s good that the conversation is continuing…this isn’t a ‘think about it once and then congratulate yourself for having thought about it and be done with it’ sort of issue).
There is a great article over on Vox that talks about what’s been going on (if you’re on instagram, you’ve probably already seen lots of folks linking to this, but I know not all of you are). The article is full of all sorts of good links if you want to catch up or if you want to hear more from the folks leading the conversation. I’m going to particularly recommend the Unfinished Object website that Grace Anna, Korina, Ocean, and Sukrita (four of the folks most involved in this conversation on instagram) have created. Their Frequently Asked Questions, Answered post is especially important.
And if you come away from reading all that thinking ‘right, so I probably need to know more about the ways systemic racism shapes my life, even if I don’t like to consider myself racist,’ I’ve got some more places for you to dive in. White Fragility: Why it’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin Diangelo is great. (The book is very approachable, but if you’re up for something aimed at a more academic audience, you can find Diangelo’s article on the same topic here. But keep in mind it’s an article for the International Journal of Critical Pedagogy…so don’t let the style of the article scare you away from the book. Check out this video for an easier intro.). Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is another excellent read, as is Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers her Superpower by Brittney Cooper. All of these absolutely positively will make you feel uncomfortable at some point while you read them…that’s kind of the point. But you’re tough, you can take it. I promise it’s worth it.
Oh, and while we’re talking about it, feelings like ‘I apparently need to learn a lot more about this, and that sounds kind of exhausting’ or ‘well damn, I didn’t realize just how pervasive racism is, this sucks’ or ‘oh crap, I’m starting to suspect I’m part of the problem and that makes me hideously uncomfortable’ are totally reasonable. Those are all growing pains feelings and they’re great places to start from. We all were raised in and live in societies with really messed up ideas about race, and realizing that and changing how you think is a lifelong process. It’s bound to be hard and feel daunting at times. Hang in there.
Feelings like ‘racism isn’t a thing any more’ or ‘people are just too sensitive’ or ‘knitting is my happy place, don’t ruin it with this’ or ‘someone was mean to me in a yarn store once too and I didn’t make a big deal about it, just get over it’ are not so cool. If you find yourself feeling that way, I’m going to suggest again that you spend some more time listening to what people are telling they’re feeling and experiencing. And if, after that, you still feel that way, then we’re probably not a good fit and you’re probably not going to like it here. It’s totally cool if you want to go.
As with last time, comments are being moderated (that means you can leave a comment, but it won’t be posted until I’ve had a chance to read it…and if you leave nasty or threatening or dismissive comments, I am totally comfortable deleting them). So far everyone is being awesome, which is fabulous…keep it up!
I don’t normally comment on things like this but growing up I did encounter some of this behaviour due to my step dad being a different colour to myself and even to this day I cannot understand people that take a disliking to people just because they are “different”. We are all made of the same things on the inside so why does it matter what gender, colour or religion we are. I have three teenage boys that all have friends that all in all three of those groups and thankfully because of the way myself and my husband have bought them up they will stick up for their friends when people call them names or pick on them because they are what people class as different. I think it so nice to see that are lovely knitting community is bringing this to light and actually talking about it, it goes to show that there is still good in this world.
Thank you for these posts. I’m not on Instagram enough to have seen this there, and so your posts on the topic are where I’ve been getting my information. I’m half-Asian, but I present as white so I haven’t ever really been aware of how big this problem was.
I really want to thank you for these posts, being open to “going there” and challenging the current state of craft, recognizing that there is no real sphere of our lives that is exempt from these important discussions. I’m not typically on social media so I had no idea what exactly was happening on Insta but awareness and education are key. I teach so my journey with confronting my own privilege, societal racism, social justice… and trying to build awareness and activism in my students started more than a decade ago (and still way too late) but it’s a never-ending journey of learning, growing, making mistakes…. It can be painful and frustrating. There are a lot of parallels to craft and skill itself: Keep getting better. Keep growing. Work on it until it’s reflex and instinct rather than having to think about it. Don’t expect anyone else to do it for you….
Appreciate all the links to projects, articles, and books, and encouraging discourse.
thanks for this post! Ijeoma Oluo’s “So you want to talk about race” is a really fantastic read as well.
Yes absolutely! That’s one of the ones I recommended last time (along with Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge). They’re both absolutely grand.
Thanks. I highly recommend the video.
Thank you for pointing me to these reads. I tripped over the initial conversation after it was well underway and the level of anger and sadness radiated from the posts. I’m not a blog reader so had no idea of what triggered the conversation. You posted about letting people know what the conversation was about and pointed the way for me to start from the beginning. And I was impressed that you prompted readers – especially those of us who are white, to read, learn, listen, then read and listen more before saying or posting anything. I was born in 1959, am white, female, and grew up in San Francisco. Yes SF has been forever diverse and I was lucky in that aspect. I’ve long had empathy for difficulties people of color and LGBTQ face just trying to live their lives enduring racist hateful people. That noted it has only been the last few years I’ve come to recognize the other side of the coin – my white privilege. Awareness of being privileged because of my skin color should not have been the surprise it was and it came rather late in life. I admit it took some effort to accept that moniker. Following the conversations in the knitting world has furthered my perspective and I have more to do. I am experiencing the growing pains you noted and I do admit to having to step away for a time to “be” with what I’ve taken in and excepting that through my silence I too have been part of the problem. Sorry for the length of this. I just want to encourage anyone who can relate to what I’ve written to keep listening, keep reading, and keep learning. And to thank you for keeping the conversation going.