"But what can I do?" asked the white person. Who had just about gotten to the point of realisation that things were not white right in the world with regards to race and that something needed to be done. Which is where a lot of white people tend to stall out. "Yes, i get that there's a problem, but tell me what can I do?" as if with any other problem they faced they [...]
Is white guilt a thing and should we have more of it? The third part of my Blogger's Block series prompt came courtesy of a Twitterer friend, Keri Stroebel who asked this: Why do so many white people attack other white people who are trying to be anti-racist? Why use the terms "white saviour", or accuse you having "white guilt" or even straight up call you a traitor to your race? i invited her [...]
This morning i found myself facing Blogger's Block. i mean is that even a thing? i know 'Writer's Block' is a thing and so surely it must be. Anyways, i decided to turn to the Twitterer and share my dilemma and ask for topics to write on and a few really good ones came in. So i thought i would dedicate this week's bloggering to picking topics that others have chosen for me and [...]
i speak a lot about #NotOnOurWatch and thought it deserved a post. Interrupting Racism As a white person, i hold to a daily #NotOnOurWatch commitment when it comes to racism. This is a commitment i make every morning when i get up to interrupt racism wherever i see it. There are a few things that come to mind: Every Day - not simply when i feel like it, which is not a lot of [...]
In spaces of social justice and activism there is often a call for greater kindness. Which i absolutely agree with. But for who? 'Be Kind, but with Spine!' Wow! That is a powerful quote i read today [which may or may not be by Karen Salmansohn, hard to determine] and it sums up quite well what i wanted to write about. i believe deeply in being kind. In the scary and often brutal world we [...]
Does the term 'anti-racist' sit well with you? i admit that any term that defines someone as something they're not or something they're against feels unwieldy to me. This is why i come out so strongly against the term 'non-white'. It puts white people in the middle as the norm or accepted or perfect thing and then distances anyone who is called non-white away from that. As if whiteness is normal or right or [...]
Why do we have such a problem with being called racist? i wonder if it is because some of us have a slightly messed up understanding of what it means when we talk about racism. Let me give you an example. When many of us think of racism, we tend to think of this definition that Robin di Angelo [author of the book, White Fragility] uses as an example: 'An individual who consciously does [...]
What do i mean by a 'Racism Spectrum'? This morning i chatted to four grade 6s about Racism. Don't get me wrong, that's not a regular hobby of mine - "Hey kids, gather round and listen to how awful your ancestors were..." - in fact, this was an amazing opportunity gifted to me by a friend of mine who teaches at their school. Grade sixes were doing a project and four of them chose [...]
My dream is that i will one day live in a nation where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Sound familiar? i am busy reading 'The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.' and so that has been influencing me quite a bit. But that really is my heart. And to that end i don't want white people to feel guilty or unincluded or [...]
When the Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke incident of segregated children in the classroom broke, people quickly seemed to rush to pick sides, with a lot of white people doing soem rather impressive gymnastics to try and defend the white teacher. This is such a helpful comment from my friend Nobuntu Webster which expresses better than i did what i was trying to say earlier: = = = = = = = = = "What you all may not realise [...]
