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Tamara Winfrey Harris
Noblesville, IN
Tami Winfrey Harris is a womanist, music lover, wife, nappy head, yogi, bibliophile, stepmom, student, Midwesterner, progressive, geek and of course… a writer. She wields her pen to discuss race, feminism, politics and pop culture at the blog What Tami Said. Her work has also appeared on The Guardian’s Comment is Free, Huffington Post and Racialicious. She is a graduate of the Iowa State University Greenlee School of Journalism. She spends her spare time researching her family history and cultivating a righteous 'fro.
Recent Activity
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Tamara signed the petition | -
Tamara signed the petition | -
Tamara signed the petition | -
Tamara commented on the article |Karla,
My point was not to blame the black women who are part of Nettleton Middle School's leadership. My point was that their presence challenged the narrative that many people had in mind when they first heard this story. Many of us supposed this policy was proactive bigotry by a majority in a state still struggling with human equality in many cases. Instead, Nettleton reminded that administrative inequality can be entrenched and complacency often allows it to be so.
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Tamara commented on the article |Holly,
It is everyone's responsibility to call out racism and homophobia and classism. It's not okay simply because someone (even the victim) profits from it. It's our responsibility because we are human and we should care about people being marginalized.
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Tamara commented on the article |The point is that black women are unfairly painted as being particularly averse to interracial relationships. CassDawn and Tracy, I have no doubt that white women who are dating black men encounter black women who disapprove. But know that black women who date white men also face this judgment from white women. And a heap of racism through history has related to white men protecting white women from men of color.
Nadra is right that this meme that black women are particularly prejudiced against interracial relationships is unfair and untrue.
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Tamara commented on the article |Black women are free to marry whomever they choose. My post is a response to the prevalence of media reports demanding that black women change themselves to better attract (mostly) black men. It is the reports that I refer to that make the assumption.
I do acknowledge that most black women who marry do marry black men, and thus, chronic problems between black men and women would be a problem worth addressing.
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Tamara commented on the article |Maggie, I agree that "ghetto" has strong class implications. I focused on race mostly because that is the topic of this site.
I did say: "But the idea that black = poor and urban= deficient, i.e. "ghetto," is too much a part of the mainstream’s consciousness to be funny." Very often the things people label "ghetto" are things they associate with poor, urban, black people. When the actions are deemed relatable to poor, white people, the colloquialism used is often "trailer trash" or "white trash."
ALL of these labels denigrate poor people, making the whole responsible for alleged poor behavior of a few. And, yes, the labels reflect racial bias as well.
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Tamara commented on the article |
Michael, Jeff--the topic of this thread is whether of not the current colloquial use of the word "ghetto" has race and class implications, not whether the use of hyphenated labels for Americans are acceptable. Please stay on topic.
Re: the topic. Jeff, I think you are being willfully obtuse. Anyone can easily look up the origins of the word "ghetto." Language is fluid. The current everyday use of the word "ghetto" has naught to do with Venice and I'm positive that you know that.
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Tamara commented on the article |
Turk,
The concern over policing language and motivation is a straw man. The bottom line is this: People who are dedicated to equality (racial and otherwise) owe it to themselves to question and analyze what they say, the culture they consume, etc., for unexamined bias. If we want to eliminate, or at least mitigate, racial bias, we need to be sensitive to it in all its forms.
No one is suggesting we lead a march to have the word "ghetto" banned from colloquial language. No one is suggesting that we lead a witch hunt against Kathy Griffin, who I continue to like and support.
But ignoring small instances of racial bias means closing your eyes to racial prejudice's prevalence. We need to see the small forms of bias in order to better identify and fight the big ones.
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