I don't understand this really

[james_davis_nicoll]

But apparently white people whose relatives were progressives back when that was dangerous get full credits for that even if they had no choice in the decisions or actions involved (In my case, because I was not born yet). Yay me! I can claim at least two generations of social liberals on my father's side and while I have never done anything of note in this field [1], at least I have not been an active impediment.

I understand that those people who were denied the basic rights due any human are supposed to be grateful to that handful of oppressors who somehow managed to meet the minimum level of human decency and who worked to mitigate some of the obvious social inequities of the time. Will the oppressed know to bask in the pearly white glow of my good luck in picking my relatives or will I need to hand out cards announcing that that my ancestors weren't the complete assholes most of the rest of their social class were at the time?

What else is covered by this policy? Can I claim to be an important engineer because my father and grandfather made notable (but distinct) contributions to that field?


1: I have voted for politicians who grudgingly did the right thing once the polls made it obvious which way the public leaned and after the courts made it clear they had no real choice in the matter.

Comments

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

I'm willing to bet that, given where and when they came from, half my ancestors had never even seen a non-white person until after arriving in Canada. Those ancestors, at least, can't be held responsible for the oppression some of their contemporaries inflicted on non-white people, being spatially separated from any opportunity to do the same things. The other half, not so much.

I'm still trying to figure out whether white privilege trumps the kind of ablism you experience when you're visibly disabled, but not being a visibly disabled POC, I'm hard-pressed to tell. I suspect it's situational; in some cases, an able-bodied POC would do better than I would, and in others not.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I'm willing to bet that, given where and when they came from, half my ancestors had never even seen a non-white person until after arriving in Canada.

Really? Not even the odd native?

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, I was told as a kid that a relative of mine in NS trained his dog to go after black people [1] so I also have a Horrible Social Reactionary card I can play, too.


1: Almost everything I remember I remember because there's an associated story. This one would be the story of how a different relative sent a black subordinate off to the family farm to retrieve a tool case and how after several hours it occurred to that relative that the presence of that dog on the farm could well explain why the subordinate had not yet returned.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

And then there's the "fishers for the souls of men in Africa" letter, which I sure hope was a reference to missionary work.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're going to have to explain this one.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

My aunt has a preserved letter from an ancestor that makes a reference to fishing for the souls of men in Africa. The period the letter is from was IIRC the height of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade so the question is, is this a Christian metaphor for converting the natives or a euphemism for dragging them around the world to slave in the New World (see, by enslaving them you could expose them to Xtianity and so save their souls). The writer assumed the reader would know what he meant so there are no footnotes or clarifications.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

Your ancestors are much more interesting than my ancestors. All I've got's the Cossack story.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Everyone ancestors are interesting. Some are just better documented.

[fridgepunk.livejournal.com]

"expose to xtianity" is not quite what tended to happen re: slaves "becoming" christian.

Butbutbut at least your ancestor admitted that black people had souls! So you could still count that as part of your progressive ancestry!

[fridgepunk.livejournal.com]

The trick is to simultaneously take credit for your ancestor's achievements - bonus points if they're not that impressive, double bonus points if you can throw the whole "1/16th cherokee" thing in at the same time - while at the same using the whole "Well some of my ancestors were terrible racists but can't we just get over the past already?" canard.