Kylie Brewer, a TikToker, says that racism can be harmful even if it is unintentional, and in her video titled “Yes, you can be racist ‘unintentionally’,” she tells her white audience members to reflect upon how their common everyday comments may be racially rooted.
As Brewer points out, some people do not realize the harm they bring about through their words due to an extremely overt concept of racism.
“So to them, anytime they say ‘oh, your hair,’ and they touch your hair, that’s a compliment,” she explains.
She also mentions comments that are supposed to be praise but are based on racial prejudices.
“When they say ‘oh, I would love mixed kids’ or they make creepy comments about your race or being ‘exotic,’ to them that is genuinely a compliment, even though it’s rooted in racism and fetishization,” she explains.
After that, she addresses the white viewers directly.
“If you’re a white person watching this, you need to understand that you can be racist, quote, ‘unintentionally,'” she says. “Anything that you do that causes someone to feel uncomfortable or unsafe based on your comments regarding their race is racist. Or anything that contains a hidden or implicit assumption that there is a difference between white people and people of color is racist.”
She adds that racism does not consist only of hate crimes and violent actions towards the members of certain races.
“So yes, while hate crimes and other overt acts of violence against people of color are racist, so too are other microaggressions and smaller acts,” Brewer states. “Those acts lead to dehumanization and violence against these groups over time. It is not okay.”
In conclusion, she invites her audience to share their personal experience.
“If you have any stories like this of white people not realizing it’s a microaggression, please comment it, and we can talk about it in my next video,” she said. “See ya.”
@kylie.brewer Most rac!st white people don’t think they’re rac!st… THAT’S the problem. 😭 #education #leftist #humanrights #sociology #lgbtq
♬ original sound – Kylie Brewer
