We as white people have lived so long in a seemingly majority white world – one that was carefully and precisely engineered over hundreds of years for our comfort and success – that we often don’t find it unusual. It’s simply the norm. So normal in fact, that when we routinely find ourselves in entirely or at least mostly white spaces, many of us rarely bat an eye. These settings range from government meetings to social settings, bars to places of worship, farmers markets to cultural events, editorial pages to product brochures, and community events to association meetings.
However, when an intentionally white space for learning is created, it is common for our defenses to kick in. Given our propensity as white folks to say ‘I don’t see color’ (aka color blindness), this feels wrong – like we’re being divisive or re-instituting segregation. And to be honest with our country’s history, a group of white people meeting together is generally pointless or dangerous, depending on who you talk to. But the truth is, we have work to do. Specifically white work. Deep cultural and internal learning about ourselves and each other to enable us to more effectively cultivate an anti-racist, expanded culture AND simultaneously move into multi-racial spaces.
Here are some thoughts to consider to challenge that initial internal resistance.
- Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) are consistently called upon to educate white people about racism and white supremacy, often with resulting frustration and exhaustion. We are taking responsibility for learning a system that we created, as well as our own white culture, in order to challenge and change both.
- So often we come to anti racism work because we deeply empathize with those oppressed within the system. This is a great entry point to the work, however it is necessary to then identify with, and eventually empathize with, the oppressor as that is our scripted role within the system. Only then can we better grasp what we are resisting with anti-racism work – the system of white supremacy, our role in it, and our impact on BIPOC.
- We are not meeting to learn about other people. Rather this is a space where we can take responsibility for our collective, serving as honest mirrors for each other in order to see what is typically unseen – white supremacy’s default of whiteness. By examining and owning this in us and our collective, we are more able to define and build a new culture of white anti racism, radically focusing on the underlying system and its narrative rather than quick fixes outside ourselves.
- Challenging and dismantling white supremacy, unlearning racism and healing the disconnection inherent in white culture is a long, difficult and sometimes painful process laden with emotions and awarenesses that we rarely have to deal with – we’ve engineered our world to avoid them. It’s helpful to have space where other white people engaged in this process can support and challenge us, without having to subject BIPOC to further undue trauma and pain as we learn.
- It’s a space where we can learn that this is not a zero sum game, that is, we aren’t unwinding white supremacy solely for the purpose of aiding BIPOC, but also because we understand that we have sacrificed our humanity by participating in this pervasive system. “We need to become involved with it as if our lives depended on it because really, in truth, they do.” ~ Anne Braden, white anti-racist educator and activist.
- Often white people in social movements tend to berate or shame other white people who aren’t on board or are new to the process. This doesn’t help a mass movement form. Rather it separates further and creates a division within a group that could learn and heal together in order to be a more effective resource to BIPOC. Thus it is necessary to create a space that welcomes others in, believing they have the capacity to learn the needed skills to fully understand the larger white community and effectively transform it.
- We are very aware and intentional that this is a supplement to, not a replacement for, multi-racial dialogues between white people and BIPOC. It’s important that white people give space in their lives to learn from and bear witness to BIPOC’s experience of racism without taking over (colonizing) those spaces.
- So often white people come to social justice work before understanding themselves, their collective and the system of white supremacy as a whole. This lack of presence means we often co-opt movements and rush to solutions. It is intentional to develop a white collective that serves as a resource to BIPOC who want to work with white people but don’t want to have all of their energy spent teaching, explaining, proving or simply dealing with the inherent racism of white people. It is imperative that we do this internal work of unwinding and understanding so we may come to anti-racism work whole and connected, humble enough to listen, feel and follow BIPOC rather than speak and lead.
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©Sauer/AWARE-LA2020
