Hipster Racism
Carmen Van Kerckhove first coined the term “Hipster Racism” in her article “The 10 biggest race and pop culture trends of 2006: Part 1 of 3.” In that article Van Kerckhove described the phenomenon as “irony” and “satire” used to mask racism. Millennials are the generation brought up in the fallacy of the “post racial” society and ideology of racial color-blindness. As a result of the lack of meaningful conversations about race, white millenials use “blatantly racist comments” in attempts to be cool and edgy. The “post racial” myth is ironic to Van Kerckhove, because it perpetuates the idea that racism is no longer an issue and because of this, blatant expressions of racism are outdated and no longer harmful. White hipsters appropriate cultural artifacts, fashion, and in recent years “slum” in “urban ghettos” all in the name of inclusivity and individualism. While embracing and celebrating cultures can be a beautiful exchange, hipsters in their attempt to denounce their white privilege and embrace other cultural identities, end up perpetuating racial stereotypes.
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Hipsters & Gentrification
“You don’t get points for slumming it in the hood when you still clutch your purse every time you walk past a black man” - Dear Dirty Hipsters
According to the PBS documentary “Flag Wars”, “gentrification is a general term for the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban district, a related increase in rents and property values, and changes in the district's character and culture—more often than not resulting in the displacement of poor communities by rich “outsiders’.”Hipsters are a dynamic force in gentrification. As previously discussed, gentrification is the driving out of low income people and people of color. They consistently co-opt and appropriate aspects of other cultures, piecemeal, and often without any cultural sensitivity or respect. They regularly draw upon the work and legacy of people of color, usually without crediting them, and most of their contact with people of color comes in the form of the service personnel serving them their food, cleaning their wine bars, and picking their organic produce.
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"Gentrification has been the cause of painful conflict in many American cities, often along racial and economic fault lines. Neighborhood change is often viewed as a miscarriage of social justice, in which wealthy, usually white, newcomers are congratulated for "improving" a neighborhood whose poor, minority residents are displaced by skyrocketing rents and economic change." -Benjamin Grant, Flag Wars |
Sources
Grant, Benjamin. “What is gentrification?” pbs.org, 17 June 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
Van Kerckhove, Carmen. "The 10 biggest race and pop culture trends of 2006: Part 1 of 3". Racialicious.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
Header Photo: http://crasstalk.com/2012/04/what-does-being-ironically-racist-tell-us/