If we are going to point fingers re: racism and dialogue, it makes THE MOST SENSE OF ALL to point fingers at white people, at whiteness, at white privilege. It’s not about pointing fingers at individual people but at systems and technologies of oppression. I mean, pointing fingers is actually a pretty good tactic and it doesn’t have to violent/aggressive/etc. It can be gentle, firm, and on-point without backing down.
Why would I point fingers at Asians or Blacks or [insert minority group here] when the context of the discussion is about racism and oppression? It makes no sense to point fingers at the oppressed and tell them that they caused the problem so the burden is on them. But that’s what defensive people do, which brings us full circle about why Ramou is advocating for more nuanced discussion about race. And there are things that she mentions that are helpful for everyone, not just white people: namely, shutting the hell up and listening (she said it more eloquently than I just did, but the point is the same), and being vigilant in questioning your privilege and how that influences your re/actions, contexts, and opinions. That doesn’t even have to be about race, that’s just good advice.
To me, the phenomenon goes hand in hand with slut shaming as well. All of what you said is not just accurate and true, but also on a macro level, part of the same dominant culture that promotes the “slut had it coming” way of thinking.
We live in a culture of victim blaming (blame minorities, blame women, and even more so, blame minority women if you can, blame LGBTQ folks, victims of bullying, etc, etc, et-fucking-cetera ad infinitum). That’s why when discussing racism, the members of the hegemonic culture (Whites) would like the attention deflected on the members of [people who belongs to minority]. It’s always a tactic so that the structures that make oppression possible (racism, patriarchal paradigms, etc.) remain untouched and unquestioned.
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