“No matter how much evidence you have of racism and sexism, no matter how many documents, communications, encounters, no matter how much research you can refer to, or words you can defer to, words that might carry a history as an insult, what you have is deemed as insufficient. The more you have to show the more eyes seem to roll. My proposition is simple: that the evidence we have of racism and sexism is deemed insufficient because of racism and sexism. Indeed racism and sexism work by disregarding evidence or by rendering evidence unreliable or suspicious – often by rendering those who have direct experience of racism and sexism unreliable and suspicious.”
— Sara Ahmed writing on the blog Feminist Killjoys.




3 comments
August 17, 2016 at 6:34 am
tildeb
Yes, and it’s no different a response to non belief by the religious majority: unreliable and suspicious.
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August 17, 2016 at 9:37 am
The Arbourist
@Tildeb
Institutional power is hard to combat, and as you noted it cuts across many issues.
Most answers lie in organizing and militant action in order to change the structure of society (hopefully for the better).
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August 17, 2016 at 1:06 pm
Sha'Tara
It’s simply the same concept as blaming the victim to perpetuate victimization.
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