Analogies and metaphors
Metaphors are a really great way of being able to visualise and understand sometimes complicated concepts that might otherwise be tricky. Below are some awesome analogies people have come up with when trying to describe how racism shows up.
Saying "All Lives Matter" as a response to "Black Lives Matter" is like saying the fire department should spray down all houses in a neighborhood, even if only one house is on fire, because all the houses matter. And yes, your house does matter. One hundred per cent. But your house is not on fire. - Keegan Micheal Key (based on the cartoon by Kris Straub)
Imagine your privilege is a heavy boot that keeps you from feeling when you’re stepping on someone’s feet or they’re stepping on yours, while oppressed people have only sandals. If someone says, “Ouch! You’re stepping on my toes,” how do you react? Because we can think more clearly about stepping on someone’s literal toes than we usually do when it comes to oppression, the problems with many common responses are obvious. - Presley Pizzo, Kayla Reid and Amelie Lemont (Guide to Allyship)
Unearned privilege is a tailwind. Those who benefit from this tailwind are thrusting forward and making headway. . . Because the tailwind is invisible, it is easy to assume that individual effort alone is what is producing that progress. Structural disadvantage is a headwind. Those who are working into the wind are working hard, pushing forward and making little progress. Unseen forces are working against them, each effort exhausts and moves them forward little. Unlike the tailwind, there is never any doubt when you are cycling into a headwind. . . You can see others sailing past, revelling in their success and oblivious to the prevailing wind. - Mary Breheny (The Tailwind of Privilege)
. . . The widespread efforts to ecologically decolonise Aotearoa of rats, possums, stoats, old mans beard and other noxious exotic species may provide a helpful touchstone for considering the decolonisation of human systems. . . we cannot restore all past harms - resurrect the trees that were felled, or bring back to life the species that were driven to extinction - but we can remove the destructive colonial imports so that the endemic plants and animals can thrive again. We do not seek to banish all European species from Aotearoa (you can still grow tulips or roses in your garden, or keep a carefully monitored pet cat!) but we want to ensure that those that remain do so in balance, without damaging te taiao or Indigenous ecosystem. - Ocean Ripeka Mercier (Imagining Decolonisation)