Weekend Reflection
Reflect on the different solutions we have explored so far for addressing the different levels of racism and white superiority/supremacy.
Which ones jump out that you want to use or explore more? Are there others that come to mind or that you are already using? Please share! Consider having a conversation with someone else about your thoughts, feelings and discoveries around ways to undo racism and white supremacy.
Next week’s theme will be: Stories, Movements, New Visions and New Directions
Reflecting in open forum makes me nervous, but I’d like honest feedback on how this presents, if y’all are willing!
Having come from a lower-class background (being white in a predominantly white community), I struggled to understand privilege and white supremacy initially. It was a lot for me to start viewing institutions and society in the frame of racism- I shared the article about “explaining white privilege to poor people” and got some kickback from my social network, particularly folks back home, who might just be experiencing the same “white identity crisis” that I was- battling “it’s not my fault” with “what about my struggles?”
I’ve come a long way in my understanding, and a large part of that has been a consistent and institutionally/culturally supported effort from my institution to actively address racial inequities- looking at the continuum of anti-racist organizations, I think we’re somewhere between an Affirming Institution and a Transforming Institution. We have a lot of structures in place to advance racial equity, and people with the right mindset, but we don’t have the representation at different levels that reflects what our beliefs are. We’re very diverse at the top, and at the front-line, but our middle management/department leadership is overwhelmingly white.
I feel that sometimes, it becomes most difficult for those in white culture to imagine a world where they are not placed above others in some context. There’s a sort of social norm in homogeneous white communities to express things like “well, at least I’m not ______, thank goodness,” whether intentionally expressed or unintentionally conveyed when speaking in a paternalistic way about historically oppressed racial groups. That sort of attitude just reinforces itself when it gets validated, and norms of whiteness continue to be dominant .
I’ve really enjoyed the challenge so far! Thank you all for engaging with me.
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Hi Joe, thank you for this thoughtful reflection. I, too, am white and came from a lower class background, and I can relate the process of learning and understanding that you described. Related to that, there are some great resources from Class Action you might find interesting: https://classism.org/
It’s heartening to hear that your institution has been supportive and committed to addressing racial equity, while recognizing that there is more to do. I’d love to hear more about what policies or behaviors the institution has advanced that you think have made a difference. It’s great to learn more about how we can put our values into practice, especially within institutional structures that can feel very solid and hard to change.
Thank you again for sharing and for joining us on this journey!
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Hi Joe,
I appreciate your openness in sharing here. I’m curious about how you might see yourself disrupting the social norm you described. How do you build relationships and communities that can stop this behavior and attitude from reinforcing itself? The point here is that if you (or me or anyone) can imagine another way that things could be, I think we can breath that new way into life. So what do you imagine when you think about how things could be, and, considering your journey of awareness of racism, how do you see yourself embodying this, especially in groups of other white people ?
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Thank you both for engaging with me! I think that largely what my institution has done (most relevant to my role) has been really intentional changes in our talent management process that reduce the chance for bias and create space for those from historically oppressed groups to find opportunities, and working to create communities of practice that help those staff members feel included. Our students want to see themselves in our leadership at all levels- we’re improving, but we have a long way to go before our management and program staff truly reflect those that they serve.
As for challenging that norm, I think it’s largely ownership by those of privilege (myself and other white folks), as has been pointed out in some of the resources shared over the course of the challenge. I truly believe that every conversation counts, even if someone is defensive or openly resistant to change when you discuss racial equity with them- that works both to create change and to reinforce harmful norms. If a white person makes a racist joke, and another white person responds positively in some way (even if it’s something as “small” as a smirk or a chuckle), it gets validated and that behavior will continue.
The excuse that I used to give myself was that it wasn’t worth disrupting relationships to address those things, but I’ve learned that the opposite is true- those relationships aren’t worth avoiding those important conversations. It has challenged some of my previously-held beliefs about family (i.e., family as “everything” or central to life) but ultimately, social justice inherently involves reflecting upon and challenging values.
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