I can try to explain, but I can't promise it'll make any sense, because no one thus far has been able to understand it, but here goes.
What it comes down to is that I pass as "white". Now, as you're probably aware, "white" in the anti-oppression framework refers to more than just skin colour, but refers to a whole myriad of cultural/religious/historical/etc. points as well. These points are generally applied to everyone of white skin colour.
Only... they're not applicable that generally. Historical experiences of different groups of white people vary widely. For example, while the British were out colonizing the world in the 18th century, Latvians and Estonians were still kept as serfs by German, Russian and Polish landowners. Serfdom wasn't abolished in the Russian Empire as a whole until 1861 (some of the Baltic provinces had abolished it by 1819, but part of Latvia was still under serfdom until 1861). We also didn't have surnames until serfdom was abolished. Even when serfdom was abolished, it didn't grant anybody land - you still needed to rent it, and there were still strict controls on being able to move about. Finally in the 1880s you could start to buy out the land you were working from the landowner. Latvian and Estonian were considered "peasant tongues", so if there was opportunity to get educated, you needed to abandon your language and culture and become Russified or Germanized. It was only after a series of hard-fought independence wars that we were able to gain independence after the First World War, only to have it taken away again barely 20 years later when the Soviet Union took over, and Latvians/Estonians once again became second-class. That's not even considering the thousands who fled to the West with little more than the clothes on their backs (if they were lucky), or were killed and deported to Siberia (if they weren't). Independence was regained again only 20 years ago.
So with that history in mind, I relate very little to the historical and cultural experience of the English, French, other Western Europeans. And it is that historical and cultural experience that the reference of "white" refers to. By grouping all white-skinned people under that banner, they've marginalized us and made us invisible, told us that our cultural and historical experience doesn't matter, that we share the same blame for historical events that our ancestors had no involvement in just because we look the same, that we have no place at the table for marginalized groups to modern-day issues because we look like the people who are considered the "majority", "privileged", whatever you want to call it.
Discrimination against Eastern Europeans is alive and well. It is extremely predominant in Western Europe, especially since many Eastern European countries joined the EU and consequently many Eastern Europeans moved to Western countries to work. It exists in our school systems, it exists in everyday life. It does seem better now than it did when I was a kid, but that could be because Ottawa is generally a more multicultural and welcoming city - a stark contrast to the small town in southern Ontario that I grew up in, that was 98% White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The other 2% were the few black and Asian families, and then mine. At my elementary school, I was regularly teased for my strange name, my ethnicity, and anything connected to my heritage. Teachers would not stop this ethnicity-based teasing, because, as far as they were concerned (and they told me this point-blank), "you're white, they're white, so it's okay". What part of that is okay?!?
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Date: 2012-03-01 10:43 pm (UTC)What it comes down to is that I pass as "white". Now, as you're probably aware, "white" in the anti-oppression framework refers to more than just skin colour, but refers to a whole myriad of cultural/religious/historical/etc. points as well. These points are generally applied to everyone of white skin colour.
Only... they're not applicable that generally. Historical experiences of different groups of white people vary widely. For example, while the British were out colonizing the world in the 18th century, Latvians and Estonians were still kept as serfs by German, Russian and Polish landowners. Serfdom wasn't abolished in the Russian Empire as a whole until 1861 (some of the Baltic provinces had abolished it by 1819, but part of Latvia was still under serfdom until 1861). We also didn't have surnames until serfdom was abolished. Even when serfdom was abolished, it didn't grant anybody land - you still needed to rent it, and there were still strict controls on being able to move about. Finally in the 1880s you could start to buy out the land you were working from the landowner. Latvian and Estonian were considered "peasant tongues", so if there was opportunity to get educated, you needed to abandon your language and culture and become Russified or Germanized. It was only after a series of hard-fought independence wars that we were able to gain independence after the First World War, only to have it taken away again barely 20 years later when the Soviet Union took over, and Latvians/Estonians once again became second-class. That's not even considering the thousands who fled to the West with little more than the clothes on their backs (if they were lucky), or were killed and deported to Siberia (if they weren't). Independence was regained again only 20 years ago.
So with that history in mind, I relate very little to the historical and cultural experience of the English, French, other Western Europeans. And it is that historical and cultural experience that the reference of "white" refers to. By grouping all white-skinned people under that banner, they've marginalized us and made us invisible, told us that our cultural and historical experience doesn't matter, that we share the same blame for historical events that our ancestors had no involvement in just because we look the same, that we have no place at the table for marginalized groups to modern-day issues because we look like the people who are considered the "majority", "privileged", whatever you want to call it.
Discrimination against Eastern Europeans is alive and well. It is extremely predominant in Western Europe, especially since many Eastern European countries joined the EU and consequently many Eastern Europeans moved to Western countries to work. It exists in our school systems, it exists in everyday life. It does seem better now than it did when I was a kid, but that could be because Ottawa is generally a more multicultural and welcoming city - a stark contrast to the small town in southern Ontario that I grew up in, that was 98% White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. The other 2% were the few black and Asian families, and then mine. At my elementary school, I was regularly teased for my strange name, my ethnicity, and anything connected to my heritage. Teachers would not stop this ethnicity-based teasing, because, as far as they were concerned (and they told me this point-blank), "you're white, they're white, so it's okay". What part of that is okay?!?