Being White
I grew up ‘American’ — and that meant, ostensibly, white*. It was a small town in Pennsylvania and there were two black* kids in our school. It was a big school — about 2,500 kids in my high school, yet I remember both black kids names. The phrase People of Color (POC) as an embracing term for the few people who weren’t white didn’t exist. At least in our world.
When I went to Haiti as a college first year I saw Haiti and the mostly black people who live there through my white lens. I saw everything through that lens. I thought that lens was colorblind. I thought because I wanted to ‘help’ to ‘be friends with everyone’ that I was not racist. I was colorblind! Oh boy… Mission trips and racism is over and ‘I’m here to help’ — welllll I’m here to tell you to leave that baggage at home. If you’re a person, you’re racist. And if you’re a white person — you are benefiting from the current racial system.
I rallied against these ideas for years. I didn’t want to believe it. I felt white guilt. I also felt that I had earned my way through life and that admitting that other people might have had to carry more — or worse, that I had benefited from others carrying more — was uncomfortable, mind blowing, and icky feeling. No one wants to feel that way.
If you are white — you can ignore the facts, or benefit from years of facts and become a better person. To do this, you need to admit that you benefit from being white. Look, you DO. I don’t care if you’re poor, or you’ve had everything go sideways in your life x1000 — if you are white, you have privilege. What is the harm in educating yourself and working towards a more just world?
IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT
Let’s learn something together — psychologists have a bazillion different ways to understand how we develop as humans within our given society etc. It’s all broken down so we can measure it and better understand the intricate processes that make up human development. It’s beautiful and I love it. I’m so into development — basic things like — lifespan development (when a baby/ person usually does this or that) — and then there’s the whole category of IDENTITY development… feminist identity development, racial identity development etc etc. Breaking things down into smaller categories helps psychologists to get at things that are murky and mucky and deep in our hearts and minds.
For this discussion, let’s talk about RACIAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT… The first lady of racial identity development is Dr. Janet Helms a professor I met at Boston College and had the immense privilege of learning from. She created scales to measure racial identity development — and you can learn more about her by clicking the links above or simply by googling either her name and/or racial identity development. Read about it. It’s cool. It’s like a Cosmo quiz except you’ll see where you are in your development as a racial person.
BEING WHITE IS A RACE
If you aren’t going to get a chance to engage in an Experience Day to learn about who you are as a racial person** at least read through this short article that has to make you go ‘what?!’ and stop and think. In general, it’s always good to stop and think (invisible knapsack).
RESOURCES — Mostly books I fell in love with:
Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together?
The movie The Color of Fear and the adjoining information on their wonderful site — here is a clip from the movie… (what it is to be American clip from COF). I LOVE THIS MOVIE even though it gives me ALL THE FEELS and I sometimes want to alternately yell and puke while watching.
There is SO MUCH MORE out there — obviously a few paragraphs, three books, a few websites, and one incredible film do not represent the abundant and glorious work of so many for so many years. My goal here was to *start* a conversation not complete one. There is far to go and much to learn but if you honestly open your heart and explore what’s out there — how can you go wrong???
CLICK BAIT VERSION
You aren’t colorblind
Racism isn’t ‘over’ (whether or not we had a black president)
We live in a society built on the shoulders and heads of POC — white people systematically benefit, whether they feel it individually or not
TO DO
Educate yourself
Do not think of yourself as a savior (more on mission trips/ etc later… there is a way to offer aid without showering your activity in privilege)
WHEN IN DOUBT, NEVER ASSUME. ASK ANOTHER PERSON WHAT THEIR EXPERIENCE IS.***
*for the sake of ease I am not capitalizing black or white
**there are TONS of meaningful activities/ movies/ etc to explore these ideas with a group or on your own… I can tell you about them if you like.
***This is helpful in nearly every situation in life.
