When White people try to dismiss Indigenous and other people of colour’s discussion of colonialism and its present-day impact by focusing on “tone,” that’s racism. Consider this exchange. I shared an article by Teila Watson , Birri Gubba Wiri and Kungalu/Gungalu Murri woman artist, who wrote about the impact of colonialism on Australia’s past, present and future. Originally published in The Guardian, Watson was unimpressed that the editors changed the title from White “Australia” Has a Black Future, to “Indigenous knowledge systems can help solve the problems of climate change.” So she chose to self-publish the longer version of her article with the original title on Medium.
A white woman reshared my tweet of this article, adding that she refuses to read the article due to the title, which she sees is “uncivil.”
The Other Sociologist 