afronerdism:

quaint-kelila:

afronerdism:

We need to dismantle the systems in place that allow white people to get away with offering black people sub-par services based on the excuse that our bodies are more difficult to work with. Black hair is not more difficult than white hair, it simply requires a different skill set. Tattooing vibrant tattoos on black skin isn’t more difficult than tattooing white skin, it simply requires a different skill set. Photographing black people isn’t more difficult than photographing white people, it simply requires an understanding of photography. Doing makeup on black skin isn’t more difficult than doing makeup on white skin, it simply requires different products. Working with black people is not more difficult than working with white people you’ve all just been taught that it’s not valuable and therefore not worth learning how.

This is extremely similar to the dilemma faced by disabled people. It is no more expensive to design a building with ramps instead of stairs, it’s only when you create the building first and have to tear down the stairs and replace them that you incur costs. If we teach the skills of inclusion from the beginning, there should be no additional costs for services and accessiblity for anybody.

Initially I wasn’t sure I wanted to diverge from the axis of race over to disability, but I actually think that the analogy of that building and how it’s only after we’ve institutionalized inequality that costs are incurred trying to fix it, is a valuable one so thanks for the contribution.