Tbh I’m still pretty upset over the discourse regarding an off-hand remark about the whiteness of archaeology and how that intersects with the discipline’s role in colonialism - I saw how whiteness manifests against BIPOC who speak out against the things that harm us...

...and it’s like, some of you who decide to react so poorly and angrily confront the BIPOC who agreed? You’re probably the same folk who say, “yeah it’s a shame that our field isn’t diverse”.

Like, yeah of course it is, look how we’re treated!

Being called confrontational or racist (please please please understand how “reverse racism” isn’t a thing) for wanting something better, something more tangible and meaningful from our discipline...apparently it’s too much, we should accept crumbs with a polite smile.

You don’t ask for equity with a smile and a polite bow. That’s just not how it works. You don’t demand that marginalised folks perform gratuity for the bare minimum. You don’t get upset if someone who has seen their culture locked away in museums feels strongly about it.

I’m just so tired that we have to continue to have Racism 101 and Privilege 101 discussions. That we can’t get any farther than “maybe our discipline still has a lot to do in order to make things right”.

And I get that folks took those statements personally, and I know that in the grand scheme of things that your average commercial arch isn’t the one looting bodies and artefacts.

But your presence is still something to interrogate in the larger picture! WHY is it that our field is apparently 99% white? How come many of our “experts” in Asian or African archaeologies are often white foreigners? How do make these opportunities more available for BIPOC?

This entire discourse made me want to just toss my entire research proposal towards developing decolonisation methods for archaeologists out the window, I mean apparently we still need to work on the concept of privilege.

Archaeology has a horrific, violent past and, in many ways, continues to inflict violence on marginalised communities. We cannot change this until folks recognise the ways in which they may be complicit and stop vicitimising themselves when confronted with their privilege.

I’m just so tired of having to have these conversations. You know, I end up having these conversations in person too, right? Lots of well-meaning white folks, friends and strangers a like, asking me about racism and what they can do to be better.

And I don’t mind most of the time, I’m glad to see folks are trying to be better! But the discourse from the other day put things in perspective - that I spend so much labour doing this, that I’m so tired, that the state of the discourse is truly dire.

I always think about how a colleague, after seeing my Tweets once, reached out to me to talk about the racism they faced constantly and how they felt affirmed to talk about it with me because, like me, they were a person of colour working in British prehistory.

And how isolating it is to not have any other BIPOC in our field of research and how easy it is to gaslight yourself into thinking you’re overreacting when actually yes, you ARE dealing with racism...

...and often time it becomes a choice between letting it slide to fit in, or trying to call it out and becoming ostracised from our already tiny field with an even tinier job market that we already have a massive disadvantage in.

I’m just begging you all to think and reflect before getting angry when BIPOC say something in reaction to years of oppression and marginalisation and violence. Even if you think you’re one of the “good allies”, even if you think it’s mean or has nothing to do with you.

We can’t keep having these discussions and then wonder why nothing has fundamentally changed.

I’m so tired. My friends and colleagues are so tired. I know it’s a big ask, and it’s a lot of hard, personal work, but please do the work. Learn others’ struggles. Work in solidarity.