When Racism Is Dismissed as Exhausting
Sometimes the discomfort of hearing about racism is treated as more urgent than racism itself.
I’ve noticed that people who name racism are often framed as tiring, negative, or divisive.
The issue gets shifted.
Away from the harm.
Away from the pattern.
Away from the responsibility to respond.
Instead, the focus becomes tone.
Timing.
Emotion.
How often it is raised.
How uncomfortable it makes others feel.
For Deaf and disabled people of colour, this can create another layer of exclusion.
Racism is already harm.
Being told it is too much to talk about adds another harm on top.
It asks people to manage other people’s discomfort while carrying the impact themselves.
This is not fairness.
It is avoidance.
When racism is dismissed as exhausting, the person naming harm is treated as the problem.
The system stays protected.
The pattern stays untouched.
And silence becomes easier than accountability.
People do not become exhausting because they name racism.
Systems become exhausting when they refuse to change.
