blackinasia:

As a black American who taught abroad, I will have to call the entire AAGU team on this complete and utter bullshit.

(TW: rape)

Like have we not been over this before? I deservedly got called on this exact same shit months ago because YES, WESTERN PRIVILEGE ABROAD IS A REAL THING EVEN IF YOU ARE A POC!

Why else would I have met Africans (from Africa) in China who I know try to “pass” as African-American so that they can have access to better treatment there? Oh, I don’t know maybe it’s because of our Western privilege?!?!?

African-Americans (and African immigrants to the West) get treated better than Africans (from Africa) abroad, why? WESTERN PRIVILEGE.

African-Americans and other POC from the West have access to many privileges when abroad that local peoples do not have, why? WESTERN PRIVILEGE.



African-Americans and other POC from the West even with the horrible antiblackness and other forms of oppression we may face abroad STILL get treated MUCH better than local minority groups, why? WESTERN PRIVILEGE.

How is it that the African-Americans and other POC from the West who make it abroad (and this includes those part of our imperialist military industrial complex) can even visit these countries period while the vast majority of the local people do not have a reciprocal opportunity to do the same? WESTERN PRIVILEGE

How is it that African-Americans and other POC from the West in the military can, like their white counterparts, rape local women, help bulldoze communities, etc. and in many cases get away with it? WESTERN PRIVILEGE

Jesus FUCKING Christ.

Bullshit like Jannat’s response are exactly why this is the FIRST tip on my “Guide on how to (try and ) not be a horrible Westerner abroad”:

Western privilege and white privilege are not the same thing, although they reinforce one another in non-Western settings when white people go abroad.

Does the AAGU team have no understanding of history, global power structures and (non US centric) context? This entire post is utterly shameful and a travesty. Just because you are oppressed in your local geography doesn’t mean that you can’t benefit from the imperialistic power structures which have elevated the status of your home country all across the globe when you go abroad (which is a privilege in and of itself). Imperialism does not have a “blind spot” for Western POC and implying as much spits in the face of history and tramples on the lived experiences of oppression of non-Western POC.

You all owe your readers an apology.