101 with No1: How to be Woke
Welcome to the final in the series of 101 with No1. I think for some reason I've built up a bit of a rep for being woke. With a few people saying to me that I know everything about equality. Which is simply untrue, I still learn things everyday. But I thought why not share some of my knowledge to people that wanna learn and be better human beings. Firstly, what does woke mean? Well in short, it means to be political and socially aware. You acknowledge your privilege. And you want and fight for a better, more equal world.
Okay let’s start with the basics, if you’re not black then you can’t say the n word. Like y'all really out there still saying it in 2018 aren't you??!! And yes, even if you’re singing along to a song you still can't say it. No ifs or buts. Just don’t do it. Also please stop saying the r word. I’m aware people might not know what word I’m referring to so I will type it this once then refer to it as the r word from then on. Retarted. Like the n word it is an extremely offensive slur but this word is towards disabled people. The basics with ‘words’, is unless that word has been used against you and used to dehumanise you and offend you, then don’t say it. And if you’re not sure or in doubt then just don’t say it. It's also really important to be inclusive with language. For example, when talking about a women who is transgender you should say, 'trans women' not 'transwomen'. Maybe a small difference to someone who doesn't identify as trans but it's a big difference to someone who is. Also when talking about a person with a disability, instead of saying a 'deaf person', the respectful language is 'a person who is deaf'. Being trans or being deaf or being anything doesn't define a person, and at the end of the day they are still human. For example 'transwomen' is saying they aren't a women, they are a transwomen. One word. Whereas if you say trans women, you are saying they are a women but also trans. And with disabilities, instead of saying a deaf person, saying the word deaf before you say person, you are prioritising the fact that they are deaf over being a person. They are a person who just happens to be deaf. If you still don't understand why this language can be offensive, then firstly, lucky you, your privileged enough to not have experienced what its like. Secondly, you don't have to, this isn't about you, this is about not being offensive, it's really not that hard to change the way of saying something or typing something. And if you make a mistake just admit it and apologies, the majority of the time people will understand and appreciate your effort.
Next, stand up against injustice. If someone says something out of order, call them out. Even if they didn't mean it, educate them. A lot of things are about intentions. So if you mis-gender someone (eg get their pronouns wrong) and it was an accident and that person corrected themselves straight away and apologised then no need to say anything. But if that person has deliberately mis-gendered someone then that is not on and their intentions are nasty. I think it is always better to educate over attack. We want people to learn at the end of the day and they won't if they feel like they're being attacked. But also if someone is just being a straight up dick, no need to be nice about it hehehe, go IN!! Another point, which is sad and ironic, but people will listen more if a cisgender person (Cisgender is a term for people whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth) stands up against transphobia, if a white person stands up against racism. Your voice is more powerful than you think. Be the best ally you can be.
Also know your history. This is something I am behind on and most of us are. Because we didn't get taught the majority of it at school and there is a LOT of history to catch up on. This is a area I defo wanna improve on. But if you like reading, read history books, if you prefer watching things like me, watch documentaries. Also if you wanna know something specific or just a brief history of women rights for example just google it. Or if there is anything you don't know, like correct terms ect, we have this amazing thing called google. Use it, there aren't no excuse now.
So I can't tell you everything, I ain't got the time AND (more importantly) I also don't know everything. But what I do know, which is the MOST important thing, is that listening and talking to people from all walks of life is where all the knowledge comes from. You ain't gonna learn more about racism then from a BAME (Black and minority ethic) person because they have first hand experience. Learn from all the people you met. Their voices deserve a platform. If you take in everyone's point of view, you will see the world in a very different light. Not just your one perspective. One of the old presidents at my student union at my university wanted to get all the important top people (dunno what they are called lol) to spend a day in a wheelchair so they would know how inaccessible our university is. Unfortunately this didn't get passed but I thought what a great idea! And it's the little things, like when I was on the underground a year or two ago now and they made an announcement saying that this station was wheelchair accessible and it finally hit my naive privileged able-bodied ass how hard it must be for wheelchair users to use the London underground. There are 270 stations and only 72 of them have step-free access. For anyone thats been to London knows how much you depend on using the tube. It's all these little things that add up and make life so much harder for people with disabilities.
Okay so it's impossible to be woke from reading one blog post. Especially a post written by a white able-bodied male. Part of being woke is accepting you’ll never know everything about everything and that’s okay as long as your willing to apologise for any mistakes you make and learn from them. I have put together a watch list. And don’t tell me you don’t have time to watch this list when you watch Love Island every night! So even if its just one night a week, switch out one of the programmes you normally watch for something on this list.
From feature length films to 5 min YouTube videos, from heavy documentaries to comedic fiction stories, here is a list of some of the things I’ve watched to help me become woke;
13TH (Netflix)
Dear White People (Netflix)
Suffragette (Focus Features)
Things Not To Say (BBC3)
The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson (Netflix)
Queer Britain (BBC3)
Imagine - Nawal El Saadawi (BBC2)
Ackley Bridge (Channel 4)
A list of organisations I’ve either worked with or attended their events for you to check out;
Thank you so much for reading the final 101 with No1, make sure you check out the previous 101 with No1's on how to be happily single, how to be confident and how to go from fan to friend. No1Blog will be back on Sunday with another No1GuestBlogger taking over and I am sure I will see you soon, but for now, get woke and remember, be number one, not no one xo