“The oppressed struggle in language to recover ourselves, to reconcile, to reunite, to renew. Our words are not without meaning, they are an action, a resistance. Language is also a place of struggle.” bell hooks (1996, p. 146).
“There is no thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.” Audre Lorde (1984, p. 138).
(This month’s blog is part 1 of a two part discussion on the politics of language).
Delia Douglas
Where we live now: Translation terms and racial realities
Language matters.
We have been in the long emergency with respect to acknowledging and addressing manifestations of systemic racism. The events of the past few years have laid bare the ordinariness of racism, underscoring that there is no place to stand outside of its reach. The parallel pandemics of systemic racism(s) and COVID-19 highlight how race shapes who lives and who dies. From the disproportionate impact of the virus on Indigenous, Black, and racialized minority communities, to the police violence directed against Indigenous and Black folx, to the racist targeting people of East Asian descent, and the rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. These most recent examples emphasize the normalization of racism which is the very definition of systemic racism.
As long the impact of racism(s) continues to be homogenized/marginalized/ignored/denied interpersonal and social relations are compromised, talent will be lost, and people will continue suffer trauma and harm in a host of ways which will include death.
In order for us to disrupt and dismantle racism, we have to understand it. Racism is typically understood in simplistic and homogenous manner, however, there is no singular definition of racism. Rather, racism takes many forms, some of which include symbolic, embodied, psychological, institutional/systemic, every day, and interpersonal.
The violence is psychological, physical, and cultural. We are far more familiar (and indeed comfortable) with allegations of racism that involve white supremacist and extremist groups. There has been far less attention given to the ways in which our daily lives are crucial sites through which practices and beliefs regarding white racial superiority/power/domination are produced.
Racism is dynamic, and our language must adapt so that we are able to address our racial realities and avoid oversimplification/erasure/silence/lateral violence. We need language that is expansive, disruptive, and ultimately transformative.
As Audre Lorde reminds us, “We don’t lead single issue lives.” Consequently, if we are to understand the full effects of racism, we have to see how race intersects with other forms of difference such as gender identity and expression, sexuality, dis/ability, class, etc.
Dr. George Sefa Dei, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, uses the term “integrative anti-racism” to address the fact that people’s experiences of racism are shaped by the multiple elements of their identity such as gender, class, sexuality, and ableness. Talking about intersections is vital for us to be able to adequately understand and respond to the various ways in which racism(s) are manifest. However, while policies, strategies, and practices should address the integrative character of racism(s), he argued that we also need to be able to respond to the distinctiveness of anti-Black racism(s), anti-Indigenous racism(s), and Islamophobia in their myriad forms (e.g., engendered, dis/ability, sexuality).
Language is indeed a site of struggle. As a tool of resistance and refusal, it can help us to create spaces that recognize our humanity, diversity, and complexity, and in so doing offer possibilities for Black, Indigenous and racialized minority folx to find connections across our differences.
…to be continued.
Resources
Dei, George S. (1995). Integrative anti-racism: Intersection of race, class, and gender. Race, Gender & Class, 2(3), 11-30.
Essed, Philomena. (2002). Everyday racism. In D. T. Goldberg & J. Solomos (Eds.), A companion to racial and ethnic studies (pp. 202-216). London, UK: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
hooks, bell. (1990). Yearning: Race, gender, and cultural politics. Toronto, ON: Between the Lines.
Lorde, Audre. (1984). Sister outsider. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press.