Reverse Racism?

Written by Abisola Okusaga on April 1, 2010

I have received past emails from people in response to inCOLOR’s Craigslist ad for contributors, some calling me crazy (among other things) for offering an unpaid position and others asking me if I was on drugs for thinking a past VP of Marketing with over 30 years of working experience might be a bit over-qualified for the position being offered. Needless to say, I was pretty shocked and taken aback after receiving emails calling inCOLOR reverse racism for only featuring people of color.

Is inCOLOR racist? I never thought so and I still do not think so. In response to one the emails I wrote:
The idea for inCOLOR came about after the July 2008 issue of Vogue Italia was released. There was a bunch of talk about the lack of people of color in fashion. Rather than arguing whether or not that is true, I believed that if you felt that they are not being seen or heard then do something about it.  A mentor of mine (who happens to be a white woman, but that is totally irrelevant) suggested that I include other aspects of art. I also decided to focus on up-and-coming artists, after all if someone doesn’t write about it, no one will know about it. So here is inCOLOR today, not a racist, non-inclusive site, but rather a site letting people know that these amazing artists do exist.

When I came up with idea of inCOLOR I was very excited with idea of creating not just an online publication but a network. A network of talented contributors featuring talented artists of color. In both cases I felt that giving people the opportunity for others to see, hear or read their work was a great idea, but now confronted by these views I wonder what other people think.

I recently wrote in my personal blog about being confronted with ideas of race and some issues arose for me:
1. Do the effects of past discrimination such as slavery and other social injustices still have an effect on the world today?
2. In racial discussions do people look at me and think she only thinks that way because she is black or because she is from Africa?
And lastly, should that make me not voice my opinion? Well I would love to hear your opinion.

28 Comments
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joalo

Apr 3rd 10

10:03 PM

if racism is being defined as uplifting/empowering one race of people at the cost of oppressing others then inCOLOR is not a site of reverse racism because u folks r not promoting/uplifting artists of color at the expense of oppressing/going against white artists.  however this site is dedicated to focusing on & empowering art/artists outside of a particular race, so then yall might be seen to be using certain tools out of the racism toolbox.  but does it make it a bad thing?  if racism is used by whites against non-whites, wouldn’t it be considered a form of neutralization if people strove to empower those racially discriminated against?

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