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Discussion and Debate
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White Silence is Violence
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<blockquote data-quote="istodolez" data-source="post: 75100498" data-attributes="member: 428671"><p>Over the past year or so I've read "The New Jim Crow" by Michele Alexander, "How to be an Antiracist" by Ibram Kendi and "White Fragility" by Robin D'Angelo.</p><p></p><p>I loved "The New Jim Crow" as it was academically robust without being dry and it really pointed to a clear systemic problem within our nation. "How to be an Antiracist" was interesting but felt more like a course syllabus for an african-american studies class. </p><p></p><p>But by far the hardest one to get through was "White Fragility". I will assume you have some familiarity with it. Her thesis is built on the idea that all of us in America who are white are part of and benefit from a racist system and are inherently "racist". It is a variant of "white privilege" which puts the onus on us to either accept that we enjoy these benefits or asks us to step away completely from everything we have benefited from. That's a tough call. </p><p></p><p>I will say at the outset that there were things about D'Angelo's suggested approach that I found more difficult to internalize. More about that in a bit...</p><p></p><p>In "White Fragility" we hear that many black people feel that any time white people try to seriously discuss racism it ultimately ends up as a way to force black people to somehow "ameliorate" our collective guilt for white systemic racism and that "makes it about the white person". And to some extent I see that. Any time a white person is faced with their privilege they kind of knee-jerk respond by claiming they had it tough and have no "privilege" or some other way of distancing themselves from the very system which has benefited them non-stop. OR they try to claim that they, themselves, are not racist...they "don't see color" or whatever. The "I don't see color" is not considered a solid position these days because it delegitimizes the real lived experience by people of color. </p><p></p><p>It's an ideal we should strive toward but we CANNOT live like that until we have accepted our collective responsibility in supporting a system that inherently benefits us as white and has systematically developed a counter-system which disenfranchises people of color.</p><p></p><p>Justice is not a pie, but access to resources is. If we who enjoy all the benefits of a system custom built to make OUR access to resources much easier than someone else's don't do something then we are complicit in that system's continued existence. Hence "White silence = violence".</p><p></p><p>Now for the part of D'Angelo's book that I had trouble with: she further claimed that people's <em>intentions</em> should have no bearing on the conversation. She gives an example of how she said something totally innocently that offended a woman of color. (D'Agnelo is white). D'angelo, in order to maintain her central thesis, then had to admit that her completely innocent INTENTION had no bearing on her crime. That no matter how much she had NOT intended to be racist the fact that someone interpretted it as such (based on historical use of the concept she had been talking about) meant she was guilty no matter what. Personally I feel that "intentions" can be good. And that should count for something. But overall the rest of the book was an interesting read and a call to action for white people to pay close attention to our actions always.</p><p></p><p>I DO benefit from white privilege. I always have. I struggle to figure out how I can change the system as I have little direct control of anything...but it is something I must work toward. I am not allowed to simply enjoy the benefits without thinking where they come from. In that distant future day when I have the opportunity to do the RIGHT THING I hope my awareness of my complicity in the white privilege I enjoy will help me to do the right thing and not just maintain status quo.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="istodolez, post: 75100498, member: 428671"] Over the past year or so I've read "The New Jim Crow" by Michele Alexander, "How to be an Antiracist" by Ibram Kendi and "White Fragility" by Robin D'Angelo. I loved "The New Jim Crow" as it was academically robust without being dry and it really pointed to a clear systemic problem within our nation. "How to be an Antiracist" was interesting but felt more like a course syllabus for an african-american studies class. But by far the hardest one to get through was "White Fragility". I will assume you have some familiarity with it. Her thesis is built on the idea that all of us in America who are white are part of and benefit from a racist system and are inherently "racist". It is a variant of "white privilege" which puts the onus on us to either accept that we enjoy these benefits or asks us to step away completely from everything we have benefited from. That's a tough call. I will say at the outset that there were things about D'Angelo's suggested approach that I found more difficult to internalize. More about that in a bit... In "White Fragility" we hear that many black people feel that any time white people try to seriously discuss racism it ultimately ends up as a way to force black people to somehow "ameliorate" our collective guilt for white systemic racism and that "makes it about the white person". And to some extent I see that. Any time a white person is faced with their privilege they kind of knee-jerk respond by claiming they had it tough and have no "privilege" or some other way of distancing themselves from the very system which has benefited them non-stop. OR they try to claim that they, themselves, are not racist...they "don't see color" or whatever. The "I don't see color" is not considered a solid position these days because it delegitimizes the real lived experience by people of color. It's an ideal we should strive toward but we CANNOT live like that until we have accepted our collective responsibility in supporting a system that inherently benefits us as white and has systematically developed a counter-system which disenfranchises people of color. Justice is not a pie, but access to resources is. If we who enjoy all the benefits of a system custom built to make OUR access to resources much easier than someone else's don't do something then we are complicit in that system's continued existence. Hence "White silence = violence". Now for the part of D'Angelo's book that I had trouble with: she further claimed that people's [I]intentions[/I] should have no bearing on the conversation. She gives an example of how she said something totally innocently that offended a woman of color. (D'Agnelo is white). D'angelo, in order to maintain her central thesis, then had to admit that her completely innocent INTENTION had no bearing on her crime. That no matter how much she had NOT intended to be racist the fact that someone interpretted it as such (based on historical use of the concept she had been talking about) meant she was guilty no matter what. Personally I feel that "intentions" can be good. And that should count for something. But overall the rest of the book was an interesting read and a call to action for white people to pay close attention to our actions always. I DO benefit from white privilege. I always have. I struggle to figure out how I can change the system as I have little direct control of anything...but it is something I must work toward. I am not allowed to simply enjoy the benefits without thinking where they come from. In that distant future day when I have the opportunity to do the RIGHT THING I hope my awareness of my complicity in the white privilege I enjoy will help me to do the right thing and not just maintain status quo. [/QUOTE]
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