{"id":33113,"date":"2021-04-19T12:21:15","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T16:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=33113"},"modified":"2021-04-23T21:53:21","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T01:53:21","slug":"tone-policing-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/tone-policing-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"Tone Policing: Racism in Another Form"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is tone policing and how does it relate to racism? What unconscious assumptions about race does tone policing reveal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tone policing is a series of strategies that turn the focus of a discussion from what<\/em> someone is saying to how<\/em> they\u2019re saying it. In the context of racism, tone policing is actually a form of microaggression because silencing someone implies that they don’t have the right to be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read about tone policing and how it relates to and perpetuates racism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Tone Policing and Racism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tone policing is a way of talking that puts the emphasis on how <\/em>something is said instead of the actual content of the message. <\/strong>Tone policing takes the form of comments like \u201cOkay, calm down,\u201d \u201cAnger won\u2019t get us anywhere,\u201d or \u201cRelax!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with microaggressions, you might not know you\u2019re doing it. You might, for example, just think you\u2019re trying to keep the conversation on an even keel. Or you might think you\u2019re simply reminding everyone to be respectful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in reality, tone policing paints people\u2019s justifiable emotions about the issues as being distracting or a turnoff. Tone policing is a form of implicit racism<\/a> because silencing someone carries the message that they don\u2019t have the right to be heard. And putting conditions on your listening asserts your right to control the behavior of people of color for your own benefit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the context of racism, tone policing springs from the belief that there are \u201cright\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d ways to talk about race. The \u201cright\u201d way is to focus on peace, love, and idealism<\/strong>, to rise above the bitterness, be pleasant, and present your arguments mildly and with liberal sprinklings of \u201cnot all white people.\u201d An example of someone who spoke about racism in the \u201cright\u201d way is Martin Luther King Jr. (In reality, this is a sanitized version of him and his philosophy.) The \u201cwrong\u201d way is to be angry and provocative<\/strong> and to make white people feel intimidated. Examples of people who talk about racism the \u201cwrong\u201d way are Malcolm X, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often people refuse to listen to or engage with a person of color because they\u2019re \u201cinflammatory\u201d or \u201ctoo angry.\u201d The stereotype of the angry black person makes it easy to minimize or dismiss people who are justifiably angry about their suffering<\/strong> and that of other people of color. If you dismiss this anger, you\u2019re saying that only people of color who prioritize the comfort of white listeners deserve to be listened to. People of color who don\u2019t <\/em>prioritize white comfort<\/a> don\u2019t deserve to be listened to. They don\u2019t deserve equality. But equality shouldn\u2019t need to be earned through deference to white people\u2019s emotional needs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea that the acceptability of what someone says about race depends on the comfort level of the white listener harks back yet again to the history of slavery: The main priority for the white person is their own comfort, and the main priority for the person of color should be the comfort of the white person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assumed right to police to use tone policing on the people of color is linked to the assumed right to police the behavior of people of color. <\/strong>This perceived right to discipline and control is a form of implicit racism and it can present in more subtle ways too. For example, who polices the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable in a conversation about race? Ask yourself: Who has the right to control whom? Who has to bend to whose wishes? Every time you are tone policing a person of color, you\u2019re engaging in implicit racism and demonstrating that the White Supremacist system is still intact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re subject to tone policing<\/strong>, remember that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n