Tuesday 16 June 2020
Black Lives Matter
The recent Black Lives Matter protests have made me more aware of whether I see variety of skin tones in the things I read, watch, follow etc.
I'm definitely not overtly racist, but I am a product of my white upbringing and culture, where white is normal/standard. I want to break this programming and be different.
(87% of people in the UK are White, and 13% belong to a Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic group, according to the combined 2011 censuses for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.)
I need to change my choices and perceptions, so I'm starting with small things:-
I actively look at the level of diversity when watching TV programmes and adverts.
I've added some new to me You Tube channels to my feed as I seemed to be following a lot of women a bit like me.
I emailed Burda magazine to say I won't be buying their magazine until they stop only having white models. (I've bought it every month since 2010, but no more).
I think this probably needs to extend to the Big Four as well. So I need to be more aware with any sewing magazines and patterns that I buy.
DBF and I have been reading and had a few conversations. We are not there yet, but we're thinking and challenging ourselves.
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/equality/resources/how-to-be-a-white-ally/
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3 comments:
Hi Ruthie! Every journey starts with one step, and you are taking several steps to start. The Burda one especially caught my interest. Good for you for trying to change!
I think this is great! Outlining concrete goals is a great way to actively challenge yourself in a measurable way. I have been doing a lot of reading, listening, thinking, conversing, donating, and petitioning, but I haven't really made an action item list like this. I think this is really helpful for people looking to make a start and find concrete things that they can actively work on.
Also really glad you took the initiative of contacting Burda and sharing the the response!
Hmmm Blogger ate my comment. Trying again... Thank you Ruthie for speaking out. As a white person, I've been struggling and reading and listening, trying to figure out how to move forward into a world where it seems now obvious that change must happen. I've been finding sewing blogs that do not even mention the societal shift we are in the middle of feel oddly irrelevant to me now. I did also find a new-to-me podcast "Stitch Please" (The official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where black lives matter) which I have been enjoying very much.
https://stitchpleasepodcast.com/
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