Michelle
https://www.goodreads.com/michelleshirk
“Tone policing is when someone (usually the privileged person) in a conversation or situation about oppression shifts the focus of the conversation from the oppression being discussed to the way it is being discussed. Tone policing prioritizes the comfort of the privileged person in the situation over the oppression of the disadvantaged person. This is something that can happen in a conversation, but can also apply to critiques of entire civil rights organizations and movements.”
― So You Want to Talk About Race
― So You Want to Talk About Race
“You have to get over the fear of facing the worst in yourself. You should instead fear unexamined racism. Fear the thought that right now, you could be contributing to the oppression of others and you don't know it. But do not fear those who bring that oppression to light. Do not fear the opportunity to do better.”
― So You Want to Talk About Race
― So You Want to Talk About Race
“Systemic racism is a machine that runs whether we pull the levers or not, and by just letting it be, we are responsible for what it produces. We have to actually dismantle the machine if we want to make change.”
― So You Want to Talk About Race
― So You Want to Talk About Race
“When we identify where our privilege intersects with somebody else's oppression, we'll find our opportunities to make real change.”
― So You Want to Talk About Race
― So You Want to Talk About Race
“You are racist because you were born and bred in a racist, white supremacist society. White Supremacy is, as I’ve said earlier, insidious by design. The racism required to uphold White Supremacy is woven into every area of our lives. There is no way you can inherit white privilege from birth, learn racist white supremacist history in schools, consume racist and white supremacist movies and films, work in a racist and white supremacist workforce, and vote for racist and white supremacist governments and not be racist.”
― So You Want to Talk About Race
― So You Want to Talk About Race
¡ POETRY !
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— last activity Dec 19, 2025 04:08PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read ...more
Michelle’s 2025 Year in Books
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