In "Locating freedom of speech in an era of global white nationalism" they say "In the past five years, across the United States and indeed the world, hate crimes such as the one Prof. Lawrence describes have been perpetrated against Black people, Asian people, Indigenous people, Muslim people, Palestinian people, and Jewish people, among others, against a backdrop of neoliberal settler colonialism. The "polite and polished" white colleagues persist using seemingly race-neutral standards to maintain power" (Vats and Dutta, 157). I love how they make a point to recognize the negative impact "seemingly race-natural" verbiage can have. Our generation in recent years has been very vocal about the importance of NOT being color-blind and acting with empathy when speaking to someone from a different background.
When speaking about hate crimes, it's important we discuss the recent events with Kanye inciting massive waves of antisemitism. Someone with as big of a platform and sphere of influence as Kanye plays a huge role in shaping the opinions of the masses, and I'm glad society and the brands he worked with held him accountable for his words and actions.
Vats, Anjali, and Mohan J. Dutta. “Locating Freedom of Speech in an Era of Global White Nationalism.” First Amendment Studies, vol. 54, no. 2, 2020, pp. 156–80, https://doi.org/10.1080/21689725.2020.1838843.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the quote that you chose. I think it did a great job highlighting the ways in which white people utilize race-neutral standards to maintain power and perpetuate hate crimes against so many minority groups. I liked that you chose Kanye as your example, he was one of the first examples that came to my mind. I think that social media has created a place that can be really great in connecting people and spreading messages but can also be very dangerous for the same reason. I found it really interesting that during COVID I noticed a lot of social media sites started adding tags to their posts informing the reader that the information was not accurate. I noticed these tags on a lot of really famous and influential people's posts including the presidents. It was fascinating to me that they allowed the posts to stay up even though they had inaccurate information just because of free speech.