Dear Reader, Hello.
It’s raining this morning, and I’m not feeling well, so I’m going to keep this pretty short and ask a lot of questions. When I’m not feeling well, I feel like I have fewer answers. Is it the rain that’s doing this to my brain?
I got the idea for today’s post from this article asking, “Are Pesticides Racist?” from Grist. A reader wrote into Grist asking this question, and below is part of the response:
As a general rule, every environmental conflict has exploitation at its center: some entity (usually a corporation, a government, or another powerful entity) profiting off of some natural resource (water, oil, forests) to the detriment of the community that depends on that resource.
So, in short, the answer is “yes.” Pesticides are also often applied by farm laborers, who are usually BIPOC, who are then adversely affected by exposure. Pesticides make their way into local watersheds and float in local air, and white people are more likely to live far enough away to avoid their effects. All of this is by design. The system cares more about white people.
You could probably ask this kind of question about anything that is a part of modern civilization, and the answer would be “yes.”
Are bridges racist? (Yes, some are. In NY some bridges were built over roads at a height that meant that no buses could drive under them, only privately-owned smaller vehicles could, and that was to ensure that the general public (lower class, often BIPOC) couldn’t go to certain places, like beaches.)
Are seed companies racist? (Yes, some are. Many places are selling heritage seeds that are sacred to Indigenous peoples without giving any of the money to those Indigenous peoples. They are profiting off of of Indigenous traditions, and they are owned by white people.)
Are soap dispensers racist? (Yes, some are. The automatic ones that are supposed to recognize your hand moving under them were calibrated for lighter skin tones and they don’t always recognize when Black hands are moving under them.)
Are interstates racist? (Yes, some are. Below is a video talking about an interstate in Portland, OR that displaced a Black neighborhood, and created a temperature difference between “nicer” white neighborhoods and Black neighborhoods with less green space and more concrete.)
I never used to realize all of this. I was totally blind to the racist structures all around me for a long long time, because as a white person I didn’t have to notice. These things didn’t negatively impact me. That’s why it’s important to ask these questions and realize that the answer is probably “yes, at least in some cases,” and also figure out in which cases, so we can see how our world is built for white people. So we can understand what things need to be changed. As far as I can see, most things need to be changed, including things as innocuous as soap dispensers.
Prompt/Action (both at once!): Look around and wonder if the things around you are racist. Make a list of questions. Are (swimsuits, bakeries, cell phones, pencils, candy bars, etc.) racist? Anything that you are wondering about. Assume the answer is probably “yes.” Do some research to find out more about how these things are racist—What is the history? How are racial groups impacted differently? Who profits and who does the labor? Reflect on what you have learned, and write about how your understanding (before/after) is shaped by whiteness.
I hope that you are surprised by the answers you find. I hope you look into seemingly innocuous things. I hope you see things differently after this. I certainly did.
Until tomorrow,
Gwen