It reminds me of the “bike to work” movement. That is also portrayed as white, but in my city more than half of the people on bike are not white. I was once talking to a white activist who was photographing “bike commuters” and had only pictures of white people with the occasional “black professional” I asked her why she didn’t photograph the delivery people, construction workers etc. … ie. the black and Hispanic and Asian people… and she mumbled something about trying to “improve the image of biking” then admitted that she didn’t really see them as part of the “green movement” since they “probably have no choice” –
I was so mad I wanted to quit working on the project she and I were collaborating on.
So, in the same way when people in a poor neighborhood grow food in their yards … it’s just being poor– but when white people do it they are saving the earth or something.
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comment left on the Racialious blog post “Sustainable Food & Priviledge: Why is Green always White (and Male and Upper-Class)” (via ouiominy)
I was telling D today that I am blue in the face from asking people, “But why is so and so white?” It’s not that I’m all hating on a racial majority, it’s that I keep seeing historical and fictional people that are not white being represented as so. We’re not all white and the US is not a country of blondes with blue eyes. Some of us are, but some of us are not of western European descent. It frustrates me why that scares otherwise intelligent people so much.
(Source: thisisom, via highfunctioningsparkleaddict)
