Speaker For The Diodes - QotD

Aug. 10th, 2010

05:24 am - QotD

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"How many people have heard 'You have a responsibility to educate?' Or prompted a defensive response when saying 'It is not my responsibility to educate you?'

"It is my duty to constantly deconstruct other people's privilege, to explain to them what they're doing wrong, that I am required to either give a full 101 course right there on the spot or just walk away. I'm not allowed to say "You know, I found that offensive" and leave it at that. If I don't do the education, how will anyone learn? Right?

"Except what this means is that my energy and effort are available on demand. I have to be ready at a moment's notice to provide an exhaustive and exhausting rundown on all of the reasons why something someone said or did is oppressive and offensive. [...]

[...]

"So, this is why it is never any marginalized person's responsibility to educate you: Because no one owes you free labor, least of all when you've just made it abundantly clear that you hold institutional privilege over that marginalized person by fucking up."

-- Lisa Harney, 2010-08-05

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