for shame
On Wednesday night I received a number of curious emails. I received an email from Tracie O’Keefe telling me she intends to sue me for libel, because I wrote that I thought her comments at the Transdestinations forum were racist. The email I received pointed out that O’Keefe herself is non-white, and that therefore, my accusation was particularly offensive. I received an email from my thesis supervisor, who had been sent a copy of the same threat to sue. (Who knows why you would send a thesis supervisor such a thing; it’s not like an employer/employee relationship, where they can fire you for saying the wrong thing in public.) The last email was from someone at Blogsome, requesting me to remove the comment about racism within twelve hours, or my blog would be deleted. They are a small hosting company, the email said, and they can’t afford to be sued for defamation. From this I assume Blogsome was threatened with legal action, as well.
I’ve removed the word ‘racist’ from the post and put ‘offensive’ in its place. Obviously I’d rather that my blog isn’t deleted. But I stand by my original response to what happened. I don’t know anyone present at the Transdestinations Law and Politics panel who wasn’t either fuming, or made really uncomfortable, by O’Keefe’s comments.
Of course, ‘racist’ is a hot button word. People tend to get uptight when you tell them that they’re being racist. Precisely because of that, it often loses its efficacy to communicate anything. Maybe this is one of those times. But then again, why is it defamatory to point out that a person’s actions are questionable in this way? Most people are raised in a culture that reproduces ideologies of racial differentiation. We treat people differently on the basis of their skin colour, or difference from ourselves, as a matter of course. I’ve behaved in a racist manner before; I’ve had racist ‘thoughts’, and so have you, probably. (I mean you specifically, and generally.)
I can say this without offering a specific example from my own life, because before a certain point when I became aware of it, racism was probably intrinsic to the structure of my known universe. I had to become aware of it, and then I had to re-order the way I ‘knew’ just about everything about the world. This is partially because I’m white, and I’d never experienced the violence of racialised thinking personally. But this is not because I’m Anglo. Race and racism work differently in particular contexts, but there is racism everywhere. It’s not a get out of jail free card to claim one is of mixed race. Particularly not in this situation, where we’re talking about a really different distinction: that between indigneous and non-indigenous people. Racism also depends on a hierarchy, and indigenous people are usually at the bottom being picked on by everyone else.
If someone commented that I was being racist, I might take it as an indication that I should interrogate my actions more carefully. I would try not to react as if it were an insult, a mark of shame that needs to be wiped away, or the cause to go to war.
Tracie has commented on the post itself, and I’ve responded to her concerns on the comment thread as well. I hope that I don’t get sued, but I’m not willing to simply back off on this point.
Take care, huh.
Comment by s0metim3s — February 29, 2008 @ 7:55 am
i feel for ya, az. u don’t deserve to be sued — this kind of action seems to me to be ________ (fill the blank).
is it possible, these days, to record what we observe, opinions also shared by others who were present?
regardless of intention, if one has offended even a few people at a symposium, and perceived to have said things in a certain way, the impression exists and is “true” for these people. one might more productively apologise sincerely and not sue a member of one’s own “community”, right?
Comment by Vek — February 29, 2008 @ 9:07 am
I second that…
Comment by WildlyParenthetical — February 29, 2008 @ 10:25 am
geez dude, hope you are ok. nice response though. this is sooooooo crazy. take care yeh?
Comment by ash — February 29, 2008 @ 11:56 am
Jesus fucking fuck. Especially Blogsome’s response - the limits of the internet, eh.
I don’t know if I’ve said this ‘out loud’ before but the problem is not you calling people on their shit, the problem is people’s reactions to it. I could totally understand if you just didn’t have the energy/time to cope with those reactions and thus avoided having to cope with them by not calling people on their shit, but the fact that you do call people is one of the things I really admire about you. SO THERE.
Comment by Ika — February 29, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
I’m sorry this has happened to you. I hope this is the end of it though.
Comment by Eric — February 29, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
I think threatening to sue somebody for calling one’s comment as racist is extremely poor form. While Tracie is understandably upset (as is anyone who is called on this kind of thing), a mature response would be to take a step back and examine how or why one’s original comment could be considered racist/offensive to others, and take the opportunity to reflect on one’s own privileges and assumptions.
I was not at the afternoon session, but I did find some of Tracie’s comments and behaviour in other sessions offensive and insensitive. I really don’t see how threatening to sue other trans people for saying so is in any way “seek[ing] to help the trans community” as Tracie thinks she is doing according to her comment on your previous post.
Comment by nix — March 2, 2008 @ 5:04 am
I’m sorry that this has happened to you - I hope you don’t get sued.
Doesn’t it speak volumes about the power of certain words in the liberal vocabulary and their capacity to threaten one’s idea of oneself - as Helpful, or Empowering, or Oppressed …
Comment by Leonora Blue — March 3, 2008 @ 9:08 am
for shame, certainly. I’m glad you’re not backing off the point. hang in there az, you have many friends and comrades (wince, for want of a better word) who believe in you. let me know if there’s anything i can do to help.
Comment by gaylourdes — March 4, 2008 @ 3:17 am
Hey everyone, thanks for the support. It looks like nothing is going to happen — at least I haven’t received any legal documents.
And Leonora, yes, it does speak volumes to the power of particular words in what you so incisively call the liberal vocabulary.
Comment by Az — March 4, 2008 @ 11:32 am