Do other Scandinavian countries use the word “neger” as well?

I guess it seems to be the equivalent to the english “negro”. People in Denmark call each other “neger” a lot, and always in a bad way. In fact, people here seem to love race jokes a lot and I can’t say anything about it because then it’s just another testament to my inability to understand Danish humor that is too ~dark and sarcastic for non-Danes to understand~.

The hot topics in my classes these days are overpopulation, immigration and the depletion of natural resources. What baffles me is the ignorance thrown around in these discussions; the general consensus seems to be that as long as 3rd world countries do something to control their growing population, there will be a balance between the amount of resources and consumers. Solutions such as population control, education and abortions in Africa (yes, people talk about Africa as if it is a single country) are being repeated, but what people fail to do is to look at themselves, the Western society and the way people consume resources over here.

I try to point this out to my class, but I don’t get taken seriously. I guess I’m a position where people think I’m just trying to stir shit up. If that really is my intention, then why would I put so much energy into it? I am frequently put on a spot where I am the only one speaking against a group of people, and it is definitely something I don’t enjoy. Sigh. 

The amount of blackface in this year’s Halloween is HORRIFYING

People everywhere dressing up as “Africans” (complete with bones in the hair and animal print) and black ghetto mamas and laughing about it - I JUST CAN’T

And no one says anything about it. 

ffeimo replied to your post: I get so sad when I hear people from my country…

In this context, ‘exotic’ sounds like an euphemism for ‘unattractive’.

It does. The worst part is that it is disguised as a compliment. Like when people say “oh, you’re quite pretty for a black girl!”

I get so sad when I hear people from my country call my fellow dark-skinned girls as “exotic beauties”. Because the thing is, we are a Southeast Asian country. Why is our dark skin considered exotic when we are actually the norm? 

I was once told that I was ruining the mood because I was talking about my difficulties with obtaining a permanent visa despite living in Denmark for so many years.

And believe it or not, it was during a discussion about the country’s immigration laws. 

Link: Race intelligence professor accused of dishonesty ↘

In this article, a Danish professor/”intelligence researcher” has been charged with plagiarizing an article wherein he claims that immigrants are lowering the Danish IQ average. The interesting thing is that the word RACISM is never mentioned at all - the guy actually gets away with all his racist “research” because researchers and legitimate professors are more preoccupied with him copying another racist! They are more concerned with this guy’s “sloppy science” than the fact that he is a blatant racist. Does this mean that legitimate researchers and professors actually acknowledge this guy’s racist theories? Denmark, what is wrong with you?

Top 5 Ways That White Women Continue to Discredit Women of Color ↘

laborreguita:

1) Say we are too “involved” or biased in regards to the subject, and claim that you are more “objective”.

This is frequently done to silence people who are trying to tell their own story. Academia is famous for this, but it happens outside academia as well. For example, who are the acknowledged “experts” about our cultures, religions, and lives? Why are there white upper-class men teaching Women’s studies, white upper-class women teaching African or Latin American studies, and white upper-class Christians or atheists teaching Islamic studies? Why does the media go to people outside the group they are speaking about to ask their opinion and views on a subject? The claim is that people of color and women are not “objective”. Especially in regards to religion, this is frequently thrown out there when discussing “Eastern” religions like Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism; we are viewed as too biased to speak about our own history, culture and beliefs.

2) Say we are ignorant of the subject, even though the subject is our own life, history, culture or religion, because we have dared to speak to our own story and question the way outsiders have portrayed it. This includes questioning our academic background (or lack of), our writing style/ability, and whether or not we cite “accepted” texts to prove our points.

So called “experts” are the most obvious examples of this, and this ties in with
number one above, but it is also enacted regularly by non-experts. The blogging world, for example, is full of people who think they know about something because they read it on-line or have a friend of a friend who experienced xyz, and then they use this as a means to say that this is the only version that is valid. Rarely are women of color allowed to speak to our own experience, to say that we were mistreated or discriminated against without someone else claiming that we are “reading too much into it”. Similarly, if we speak of the beauty and empowerment we have found in our own culture or religion, there is someone quick to dismiss it as an anomaly or us not knowing enough about where we come from to realize the intricate workings of oppression inherent in what we have stated we are not oppressed by.

3) Speak condescendingly towards us. Tell us we are too young or too old, naïve or bitter, and that we are angry or emotional, etc.

This is one of the most offensive things done by other women. We all recognize it when done by men, and we all rally around the anger and hurt that it causes then, but some of us experience it more frequently from our fellow women. Women of privilege regularly say these things to women of color as a way of silencing our questioning of their intentions, goals, and strategies. Rather than engaging why we are angry, we are dismissed for expressing deep emotion. Rather than accepting the opinions of a woman that differ, it is said that she is “old school” or “out of touch” or that she is too cynical because of past experience and therefore not giving the new guard a chance. Young women who come full of energy and new ideas are discouraged from changing the way things have been done and told that they are ignorant of the big picture. Act as though you are protecting us, mentoring us, looking out for our good – basically patting us on the head and telling us to pipe down.

4) Pull out your “credentials” to show that you have more support and legitimacy than we do.

This ties in with the idea of “experts” but goes one farther. If writing for a large feminist blog, the offending woman will say that the size of the blog is proof of her legitimacy. She will claim to have many followers, and her followers can’t be wrong, so she must be saying something right. She will point to a woman of color’s blog and say that it is small, or accuse her of the bad grammar, unprofessional writing, and “hating” to show that her blog and writing is more appropriate, thereby her ideas must also be more correct. If the white feminist has been published in magazines or has published books, she will point to these as further proof of her credentials and acceptance from the larger society, mocking the woman of color who has not attained this sort of approval even if the woman of color doesn’t want to be published.

5) Say we are hurting the cause of feminism, or that we aren’t really feminist at all.

This one is perhaps the most damaging of all. First, it presumes that we consider ourselves “feminist” at all and thereby implies that there is something wrong with us if we don’t. Then it attempts to define what feminism is, what counts as feminism, and tells us that we aren’t really part of it, while trying to shame us and discount anything we have to say because it is “not feminist”. It does not allow that feminism could have different forms and faces, but limits it to what serves the white woman and nothing more. If, as women, we cannot set our own goals, speak to our own needs, and create our own agenda, then how “feminist” are you? Ignoring us, pushing our concerns to the back, this is what is really hurting the “Movement”. It is arrogant for certain women to sit in judgment of other women and whether or not they should be allowed into the ranks or allowed to use a label. But then, that’s probably why so many women of color are throwing away the label of our own accord. We don’t want to be confined to your self-serving definition.

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I am a young POC immigrant in Nordic Europe
Not here to educate, but here to say things I can't say in real life.
This blog is about feminism,
racism, social justice, daily life
and my struggles in the cold north.

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