WORK : Whites Overcoming Racism through Knowledge
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- Favorite anti-racist inspiration:
- "For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are of constantly experiencing it, second by literal second, how much more exhausted we are to see it constantly in your eyes. The degree to which it is hard or uncomfortable for you to have the issue raised is the degree to which you know inside of yourself that you aren't dealing with the issue, the degree to which you are hiding from the oppression that undermines Third World women's lives... Let me make quite clear... White women don't work on racism to do a favor for someone else, solely to benefit Third World women. You have to comprehend how racism distorts and lessons your own lives as white women... Until you understand this, no fundamental change will come about"
Barbara Smith
- About Me:
- i am the mother of two mixed-race girls. i live in a very racist and xenophobic country, who never came to terms with its colonial past. The discourse on race it is at a very primitive stage here, if faced at all, and black and mixed-race people suffer both covert and overt racism. I moved to this country five years ago, and my kids , being the only black at school, felt the need to meet with other black children, so i set up a self-help group for black and mixed-race children and their parents, after discovering that none the such existed, being alliance among minorities who suffer a common oppression extremely frowned upon here.
Even parents of black kids do not want to deal with the issue of race and racism, in the desperate and hopeless effort to "make their kids less visible than possible", denying the terrible experiences they face every day, never seeing themselves being represented in toys and books and role-models (there are to date practically no black teachers, no black tv presenters, no black politicians etc.)...
- Website:
- http://afroitaliani.splinder.com
About WORK : Whites Overcoming Racism through Knowledge
damali ayo
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thanks for your comments. That is horrendous what you are saying about the books. I used to go to the Childrens Bookfair in Bologna and there are some wonderful Italian publishers and illustrators. I am really surprised to hear that there are no good, recent books available. In my work as a literary agent I was always trying to persuade publishers to include a wider view of what children look like, but they always ended up saying 'they won't sell'... What can you do? Perhaps buy some books in English from the UK (not many there either) or the US and translate it as you read them? That's ok when they are really young, but not when you want the children to read for themselves.
In the end the only way to get publishers to change their minds is to keep on demanding the books we want - and keep pestering the libraries to get the books you want (and get all your friends to do the same) - and write to the papers, the womens/family magazines... I don't know, keep complaining!! And then write some books yourself and get them published at penpoint if necessary!
Good luck and keep us informed.