Plus Ca Change – Turbo Version

Way back in 2007 I wrote about the nastiness of the online world. Of course nothing has changed but now it comes with a cause. And in the knitting world the cause de jour is racism. Firstly, why any knitter would be surprised that there is racism in the yarn community when there is racism throughout society, I don’t know. Secondly, racism is bad and should be combated by everyone. Thirdly, the convenient moniker of BIPoC (or BAME in the UK) does not accurately describe my family who are subjected to overt and covert racism.

So what should be done about racism in the yarn world? Obviously it is easy to recognize overt racism – offensive words, being treated differently. But what about unintentional racism? An event is all white people; not because minorities have been excluded but because they have not been included. The organizers have not been deliberately racist but the result is still the same – no minorities. But once you start to include them, minorities are more visible and (we hope) will be included more and more.

But this isn’t happening. It was to be hoped that when the racism issue was brought to the attention of white yarn people they would give a hand to their fellow citizens. Do I see my family represented in your pattern photos? Do I see any minority in your business? No. But what do I see? I see your words. I see you posting for any infraction real or perceived that a white person has committed. I see your words full of hate and vitriol whether an event is seen as all white or someone has used the N word. And how is this helping minorities? It’s not. These people, who say they are allies, do not want to give a helping hand to minorities because then what they would do? They need to be seen to be the good guy who’s speaking out for the underdog and if the community becomes more equitable, they lose their control and sense of power. But this is dangerous and offensive.
Dangerous, because when you attack everyone in the same way, and people come to their defense, real racists get the benefit of the doubt and continue their nefarious ways.

Offensive, because you haven’t asked the oppressed group what they want. Who gave you the right to be our savior? We are not your project and we do not need saving. And this is why you aren’t doing anything to bring us up. Because you want to be lauded. You were the one to stop the dyer, you were the one to make the designer apologize. But you weren’t the one to include a person of color on your pattern page; you weren’t the one to include the black person on your table at the yarn festival, you weren’t the one to make sure minorities were included at your retreat. Because you’re the savior, the big I-am, shouting at everyone on Instagram that they are terrible people for not doing these things. You’re living off the high you get from your hubris and self-importance.

But at the end of the day, you are just a bully who cares about one thing - yourself.