Sunday, April 22, 2018

Eracism Minute 5/14/17

Eracism Minute - May 14, 2017 - Cat McIntyre

Good morning, my name is Cat McIntyre. Here's what's in my heart this morning.

Reading The New Jim Crow, one line that hit me hard was: when young white people smoke marijuana, they go to college. When young black people smoke marijuana, they go to jail.

I went to college for eight years, and I smoked a lot of marijuana.

That was 40 years ago, but right now, our country continues to conscientiously deprive black people, especially black men, of their liberty and their right to vote.

In our Black Lives Matter Ministry I am learning, with others, more about institutional racism, white privilege and our oppressive cultural system.

This is not easy. Each time I peel off another layer of my ignorance, I feel embarrassed about an uncomfortable truth: how I benefit from my white skin.

Today at noon, there's an information meeting downstairs about the Black Lives Matter Resolution. Please attend, ask questions, and tell us what is in your heart.

African-American Generations Timeline from October 2016 Service



Generations: A Timeline
adapted from a program by Gail Forsyth-Vail, Director of Religious Education at North Parish Church (Unitarian Universalist), North Andover, MA

I represent the first generation of West African people who came to North America as slaves. We came to Jamestown, Virginia in the year 1619.

I represent the children of those people, born between 1625 and 1650; and I remain enslaved.

I represent the grandchildren of those Jamestown slaves, born between 1650 and 1675, and I remain enslaved.

I represent those Jamestown slaves’ grandchildren’s children, born between 1675 and 1700.  Many of my generation remain enslaved.

I represent their grandchildren’s grandchildren, born between 1700 and 1725.  Many Europeans have come now, and taken land for towns and cities, but I remain enslaved.

I represent the grandchildren’s grandchildren’s children, born between 1725 and 1750.  The natives who used to live in the area have been driven out to make way for the expanding number of cities and towns in these British colonies, and I remain enslaved.

I represent the great, great, great, great grandchildren, born between 1750 and 1775.  These British colonies have begun to clamor for political independence, stating that “all men are created equal.”  But we remain enslaved.

I represent the great, great, great, great, great grandchildren, born between 1775 and 1800.  The British colonies are now a country: The United States of America. Many native people have lost their lands as the United States has become bigger and bigger.  The cotton gin has been invented, meaning that the farmers can grow lots more cotton. It takes a lot of people to take care of the cotton. Many white people choose to get the help they need with the cotton crop by buying more slaves.  Thousands more West African people, kidnapped from their homes, arrive in chains.

I represent the 9th generation of African slaves, born between 1800 and 1825.  This country is twice as big as it was just a few years ago. Many white people are going West, looking for more places to build towns and cities.  The cloth mills in the North are hungry for cotton, so farmers in the South grow more and more, needing more and more slaves. As more and more slaves arrive, I too remain enslaved.

I represent the 10th generation, born between 1825 and 1850.  The Indian Removal Act of 1830 is pushing Indians from their land.  Many Indians are slaughtered. In 1848, the United States takes a huge piece of Mexico and now rules over its Spanish-speaking citizens.  There are now groups of people writing and speaking against slavery, but I still remain enslaved.

I represent the grandchildren’s grandchildren’s grandchildren’s grandchildren of the Jamestown slaves, born between 1850 and 1875.  The country has fought a civil war. The railroads have been built by Irish and Chinese workers. The Indian wars continue in the West, as native peoples are forced into small areas of land called reservations.  Slavery has been officially outlawed. I am no longer a slave, but people in power are working hard to limit my rights.

I represent the 12th generation, born between 1875 and 1900.  There are now laws limiting who may come to this country and who may not.  The Supreme Court has declared that whites and non-whites ought to be separated.  I am no longer a slave, but the law says that I have fewer rights and privileges than white people.

I represent the children’s children’s children’s
Children’s children’s children’s
Children’s children’s children’s
Children’s children’s children
born between 1900 and 1925. A world war is fought in this time, and women are finally allowed to vote.  I still live and work under laws that separate me from white people.

I represent the following generation, born between 1925 and 1950.  The country suffers the Great Depression – when many people lose their jobs – then fights in the Second World War.  Just like the rest of society, people of color in the military are kept separate from whites.
Whole towns full of new homes are built after the war for the returning soldiers; people of color are not allowed to live in many of those towns.

I represent the children born between 1950 and 1975.  This is the time of the Civil Rights Movement and of Martin Luther King, Jr.  At long last, the children’s children’s children’s
Children’s children’s children’s
Children’s children’s children’s
Children’s children’s children’s
Children’s children
Of Jamestown slaves have achieved equality under the law.

I represent those born after the bicentennial year, 1976, while U.S. cities were raging over school integration, and in smaller cities like Bellingham, significant numbers of non-white citizens began to change our community’s self-perception. Also during this period we experienced the racial turbulence following the beating of Rodney King. But as the new millennium dawned, we looked ahead with guarded optimism.

I represent the generation of today, born since September 11, 2001. I was born into an interdependent world where it has become increasingly clear that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Two generations have passed since racial discrimination was legally sanctioned, and our first African American president has been elected and re-elected. My generation will continue to tell the stories of our human struggles for freedom. And we will do our part to carry forward the dream.

**Original** 13 Steps To Confronting Racism From July 2016

13 STEPS TO CONFRONTING RACISM,
IN SUPPORT OF #BLACKLIVESMATTER

Step 1. Be willing to lean into discomfort.  Reading this is part of learning how to be supportive of folks that you most likely have not been taught to support, and the more you learn, the more you will come to realize and deeply understand why you haven’t been taught to support people of color, why you actively have to seek out information, and why racism happens even when you aren’t saying anything racist.

Step 2. Leaning into the discomfort, use that wonderful Unitarian brain and heart of yours and
get educated. Seek out information and media created by people of color, and listen actively to what they are saying: online, activists, books, forums, movies etc. There is a group of folks at BUF who are working on planning ongoing educational forums. However, information is easily accessible to those who are motivated to find it.

Step 3. Begin to overtly respect black lives by respecting the privacy, physical space, spirituality, culture, language, and lived experience of black people.
Examples:
Educate without expecting black people and people of color to teach you!
Do not touch someone’s body without asking.
Do not ask to touch their hair.
Do not use their culture (if you are unsure of what that is, look up cultural appropriation.
Do not respond to someones experience with a counter-argument LISTEN!
Don’t ask people of color where they’re from; “Where are you from?” implies that they don’t belong.

Step 4. Being a part of and supporting #BlackLivesMatter is a part of supporting good police practices. Those who are sworn to serve and protect should do just that. Please help us hold our officers accountable, and support systemic change so that officer training and police practices reflect the inherent worth and dignity of all people. Being pro-black lives does not make a person anti-police.

Step 5. Self-care is essential to learning new ideas and creating new systems. A rested and aware brain is a creative brain. Ask yourself: How are you feeling? Can you feel the paper in your hand? If your sitting, can you feel the furniture or floor supporting you? If standing, can you feel your feet on the floor? Confronting racism (internally and in community) takes the entire self. It takes the whole self. Are you able to feel your emotions and sense your body? Connecting to your own emotions and physical sensations creates a strong foundation for learning new ideas, new ways of connecting, and new ways of finding resources within.

Step 6. Some people respond to #BlackLivesMatter with the saying #AllLivesMatter. Of course, all lives matter. However, we need to acknowledge that black people have been consistently and specifically targeted and killed because of their race.  This movement is a response to that reality. When people say #AllLivesMatter, they are pushing the black experience aside and denying that our society literally makes decisions wherein black people’s lives do not count as much as white people’s lives. These decisions are still being made.   Additionally, white individuals do not get to re-name the movements that people of color are initiating.

Step 7. You might not think that you act overtly racist. However, racism is a systemic problem. Our country is built on a legacy of devaluing black life, which we unintentionally benefit from economically, socially, and politically. If you are white, a simple Google search for “white privilege,” will provide you with many resources. Consider the benefits you experience everyday because you’re white. If you are white carefully examine your own behavior and the behavior of those around you. How do you feel when you see a person of color? How do you act differently because of those feelings?

Step 8. Realize that the oppression of black people intersects with and overlaps with the oppression of other marginalized identities. MOVEMENTS FOR EQUALITY NEED NOT COMPETE. Additionally, recognizing that you have privilege because of your race does NOT negate your experience if you have been discriminated against in other ways (i.e. for your sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic status).

Step 9. Racism is everyone’s problem; not a problem that people of color should be expected to solve. Racism is sustained by the behavior of white people and the institutions set up by white people, so racism will change primarily when white people’s behavior changes.

Step 10. Good intentions and saying “I’m sorry,” do not solve the problem. People of color are calling for white people to change, learn, speak the truth and take risks on their behalf. This includes being in uncomfortable situations, taking direct action, and giving our time and money.

Step 11. Mistakes will happen, they are essential to growing and learning. Learn from past mistakes and make a commitment to do better next time.

Step 12. Reverse Racism does not exist! Many people feel that when people of color have negative feelings toward white people, it is “reverse racism.” However, this denies the validity of black experience. In fact, people of color have many reasons to be angry and distrustful of white people.

Step 13. Many white people think the answer to racism is to see “everyone the same,” or be “color-blind.” This denies the unique experience of people of color. Please do not say you are color-blind. An ideal society is not a “melting pot” where everyone’s culture is mixed in, but rather a quilt where the individual identities shine brightly and true diversity is celebrated.

RESOURCES: www.joincampaignzero.org
             Support the #BlackLivesMatter movement at www.uua.org

Eracism Minute 2/11

 Eracism  Moment  Feb  11, 2018
 Rev. Barbara Davenport

 I’m Barbara Davenport and have been a member of this Fellowship since l993 arrived here from the East coast. Barbara Cheatham and I both came here as newly minted UU ministers. Barbara  to serve this congregation and  I became the minister in Mt. Vernon. 

    Growing up in  rural Vermont on a 140 acre  subsistence  farm-- Vermont,  notoriously the  nation’s  whitest state--  for the first 16 years of my life, I never saw  a black person. 
My  knowledge  of black people came originally from children’s  picture books like Little Black Sambo.  Impressed with Little Black Sambo’s bravery and courage in confronting the tigers, when we got our  black   lab   puppy, when I was 6,  I named him Sambo. 

    In    l954   when I was 16, I flew  alone   to Jacksonville,  Fl to meet up with my best friend, Dot, and her family who had driven down   from Vermont, for spring break.
. When I got off the plane I headed for the nearest  women’s bathroom.  To my utter  befuddlement    it was filled with  “Colored” women who gave me  quizzical looks and  whispered to each other. Florida, 1954 was when I first  encountered “whites only” signs  everywhere--laundromats, drinking fountains, and restaurants.
 The visible signs are gone but the invisible ones still exist. 
My black friend Joe Lloyd, my age,  who lived in my York neighborhood- for many years,  but moved back to his  birth place, Birmingham,  when he retired.
Some of you may have known him as Joe the Tailor.
To this day Joe will not go into inhospitable restaurants where white folks congregate.

          After college, in l964  my husband and I moved to Raleigh NC and were actively involved with our lay led  Unitarian Fellowship’s anti racism work. We lived in Raleigh  until l970—during the height of the civil rights movement.
The  passage of the l964 civil rights act, outlawing segregation in schools and public   places  set off an avalanche of race riots
and  made for troubling times.

      One time, myself and other members of our lay led  Raleigh Unitarian Fellowship brought black children to the public swimming pool. Officials promptly closed the pool.
When we’d   stage sit ins at lunch counters and restaurants with African Americans,   we’d be offered a different menu , one with far higher prices than the usual “white” menu. 

    Although the  Civil rights  act  of 1964 outlawed segregation,  centuries of  inequality and racism are not erased with the stroke of a pen.   Discrimination  is erased  only by the hard work of those who suffer under inequality and those who benefit from it and from white allies and advocates.

   Last summer  my aunt turned 100.  We had a  birthday party for her in Montpelier Vt. Asher,  my 10 year old  biracial adopted grandson  was  the only black person among the  130 of us.  Noticing this,  someone at our table asked him:   “ How does it feel to be the only
Black person in this room.
Asher, with a cheerful grin, promptly replied, “Oh racism is so yesterday”

Would that his words were true.

I worry a lot about  my precious  grandson.   How do I  both   encourage his  exuberant optimistic spirit,  while  at the same time warn him of the dangers of being a black man in American.   When and how do I  help him understand his own roots-- of slavery and systemic discrimination?  
  I’m haunted by this quote  I saw in the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico city .
 “Without memory there  is no recognition, without recognition there can be no justice.” 

Eracism Minute 4/15

Hi, my name is Linda Fels.  I'm a fairly new traveler on this path toward antiracism work.  As such, I've been doing a lot of reading, exploring and pondering.
This past week, I came upon a new term and concept, at least for me.
Social Locator Questions. Let me repeat that.      Social Locator Questions
What the heck are those?
These are questions I have been taught my whole life to use to get to know people I've just met.  Ice breakers.  Connector questions.  In fact, they are still being taught at business trainings I've attended in the last few years.
So what are these questions, you may ask?  Things like . . .
Where do you work?  What do you do for a living?  What part of town do you live in?  Where are you from?  What did you do on your last vacation?
Wait a minute! What's wrong with those questions?
As Debby Irving writes in her book “Waking Up White” and I quote “Though, at the time, asking someone, “So what do you do for work?” felt as normal and polite as saying please and thank you, I now see a clear connection to my boxes and ladders mindset.  I needed to be able to fit someone in a box in order to engage with them.  My social skills were based on finding out where people lived, worked, had grown up, and had gone to school so I could place them in a social context, not get to know them as individuals.”  End quote
Wow!  That is exactly how I was raised!!
Thing is for people of color, these questions can trigger a stress response because they have experienced strange reactions to their answers like “Wow, really!  You're a professor!” or “Hmm, what's it like to live in THAT neighborhood?”.
No wonder they consider even the QUESTIONS “microaggressions”!
Definitely not a good approach when trying to build a multicultural congregation or society. 
In fact, in many parts of the world, what you do for work is not considered all that important.  Come to find out it's a dominant white culture thing.
There are lots of beliefs and attitudes that are imbedded in our white culture that seem normal to us but work to separate us from others. But that's a subject for my next Eracism minute.
Think about this question even in a white persons' setting: “So when are you and your partner going to start a family?”  Could be a minefield if they have been struggling with infertility or they decided not to have children for a very private reason.  Think about what your question could bring up for this person you've just met.  And yes, I've been asked this often when my husband was in the military – a perpetual baby factory.
So what are better conversation openers?  Remember, even white people do not want to be put into a box.
How about something you both have in common?  If you are attending a conference, how about “Which workshop did you attend? And what did you think of it?”.  Or at BUF coffee hour, “What attracted you to BUF?” Or even “What was the most interesting thing you experienced this week?”
Try to connect with the person.  We don't have to resort to just talking about the weather.
Don't worry!  We will make mistakes.  This takes practice.
But best of all, we can practice with other white people.
Thank you.

White Supremacy Cuture

 White Supremacy Culture

From Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, ChangeWork, 2001

http://www.cwsworkshop.org/PARC_site_B/dr-culture.html

This is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture which show up in our organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify. The characteristics listed below are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being pro-actively named or chosen by the group. They are damaging because they promote white supremacy thinking. They are damaging to both people of color and to white people. Organizations that are people of color led or a majority people of color can also demonstrate many damaging characteristics of white supremacy culture.
Perfectionism
  • little appreciation expressed among people for the work that others are doing; appreciation that is expressed usually directed to those who get most of the credit anyway
  • more common is to point out either how the person or work is inadequate
  • or even more common, to talk to others about the inadequacies of a person or their work without ever talking directly to them
  • mistakes are seen as personal, i.e. they reflect badly on the person making them as opposed to being seen for what they are ó mistakes
  • making a mistake is confused with being a mistake, doing wrong with being wrong
  • little time, energy, or money put into reflection or identifying lessons learned that can improve practice, in other words little or no learning from mistakes
  • tendency to identify whatís wrong; little ability to identify, name, and appreciate whatís right
antidotes: develop a culture of appreciation, where the organization takes time to make sure that peopleís work and efforts are appreciated; develop a learning organization, where it is expected that everyone will make mistakes and those mistakes offer opportunities for learning; create an environment where people can recognize that mistakes sometimes lead to positive results; separate the person from the mistake; when offering feedback, always speak to the things that went well before offering criticism; ask people to offer specific suggestions for how to do things differently when offering criticism

Sense of Urgency
  • continued sense of urgency that makes it difficult to take time to be inclusive, encourage democratic and/or thoughtful decision-making, to think long-term, to consider consequences
  • frequently results in sacrificing potential allies for quick or highly visible results, for example sacrificing interests of communities of color in order to win victories for white people (seen as default or norm community)
  • reinforced by funding proposals which promise too much work for too little money and by funders who expect too much for too little
antidotes: realistic workplans; leadership which understands that things take longer than anyone expects; discuss and plan for what it means to set goals of inclusivity and diversity, particularly in terms of time; learn from past experience how long things take; write realistic funding proposals with realistic time frames; be clear about how you will make good decisions in an atmosphere of urgency

Defensiveness
  • the organizational structure is set up and much energy spent trying to prevent abuse and protect power as it exists rather than to facilitate the best out of each person or to clarify who has power and how they are expected to use it
  • because of either/or thinking (see below), criticism of those with power is viewed as threatening and inappropriate (or rude)
  • people respond to new or challenging ideas with defensiveness, making it very difficult to raise these ideas
  • a lot of energy in the organization is spent trying to make sure that peopleís feelings arenít getting hurt or working around defensive people
  • the defensiveness of people in power creates an oppressive culture
antidotes: understand that structure cannot in and of itself facilitate or prevent abuse; understand the link between defensiveness and fear (of losing power, losing face, losing comfort, losing privilege); work on your own defensiveness; name defensiveness as a problem when it is one; give people credit for being able to handle more than you think; discuss the ways in which defensiveness or resistance to new ideas gets in the way of the mission

Quantity Over Quality
  • all resources of organization are directed toward producing measurable goals
  • things that can be measured are more highly valued than things that cannot, for example numbers of people attending a meeting, newsletter circulation, money spent are valued more than quality of relationships, democratic decision-making, ability to constructively deal with conflict
  • little or no value attached to process; if it can't be measured, it has no value
  • discomfort with emotion and feelings
  • no understanding that when there is a conflict between content (the agenda of the meeting) and process (peopleís need to be heard or engaged), process will prevail (for example, you may get through the agenda, but if you haven't paid attention to peopleís need to be heard, the decisions made at the meeting are undermined and/or disregarded)
antidotes: include process or quality goals in your planning; make sure your organization has a values statement which expresses the ways in which you want to do your work; make sure this is a living document and that people are using it in their day to day work; look for ways to measure process goals (for example if you have a goal of inclusivity, think about ways you can measure whether or not you have achieved that goal); learn to recognize those times when you need to get off the agenda in order to address peopleís underlying concerns

Worship of the Written Word
  • if itís not in a memo, it doesn't exist
  • the organization does not take into account or value other ways in which information gets shared
  • those with strong documentation and writing skills are more highly valued, even in organizations where ability to relate to others is key to the mission antidotes: take the time to analyze how people inside and outside the organization get and share information; figure out which things need to be written down and come up with alternative ways to document what is happening; work to recognize the contributions and skills that every person brings to the organization (for example, the ability to build relationships with those who are important to the organizationís mission)
  • only one right way
  • the belief there is one right way to do things and once people are introduced to the right way, they will see the light and adopt it
  • when they do not adapt or change, then something is wrong with them (the other, those not changing), not with us (those who ëknowí the right way)
  • similar to the missionary who does not see value in the culture of other communities, sees only value in their beliefs about what is good
antidotes: accept that there are many ways to get to the same goal; once the group has made a decision about which way will be taken, honor that decision and see what you and the organization will learn from taking that way, even and especially if it is not the way you would have chosen; work on developing the ability to notice when people do things differently and how those different ways might improve your approach; look for the tendency for a group or a person to keep pushing the same point over and over out of a belief that there is only one right way and then name it; when working with communities from a different culture than yours or your organizationís, be clear that you have some learning to do about the communitiesí ways of doing; never assume that you or your organization know whatís best for the community in isolation from meaningful relationships with that community

Paternalism
  • decision-making is clear to those with power and unclear to those without it
  • those with power think they are capable of making decisions for and in the interests of those without power
  • those with power often don't think it is important or necessary to understand the viewpoint or experience of those for whom they are making decisions
  • those without power understand they do not have it and understand who does
  • those without power do not really know how decisions get made and who makes what decisions, and yet they are completely familiar with the impact of those decisions on them
antidotes: make sure that everyone knows and understands who makes what decisions in the organization; make sure everyone knows and understands their level of responsibility and authority in the organization; include people who are affected by decisions in the decision-making

Either/Or Thinking
  • things are either/or ó good/bad, right/wrong, with us/against us
  • closely linked to perfectionism in making it difficult to learn from mistakes or accommodate conflict
  • no sense that things can be both/and
  • results in trying to simplify complex things, for example believing that poverty is simply a result of lack of education
  • creates conflict and increases sense of urgency, as people are felt they have to make decisions to do either this or that, with no time or encouragement to consider alternatives, particularly those which may require more time or resources
antidotes: notice when people use ëeither/orí language and push to come up with more than two alternatives; notice when people are simplifying complex issues, particularly when the stakes seem high or an urgent decision needs to be made; slow it down and encourage people to do a deeper analysis; when people are faced with an urgent decision, take a break and give people some breathing room to think creatively; avoid making decisions under extreme pressure

Power Hoarding
  • little, if any, value around sharing power
  • power seen as limited, only so much to go around
  • those with power feel threatened when anyone suggests changes in how things should be done in the organization, feel suggestions for change are a reflection on their leadership
  • those with power don't see themselves as hoarding power or as feeling threatened
  • those with power assume they have the best interests of the organization at heart and assume those wanting change are ill-informed (stupid), emotional, inexperienced
antidotes: include power sharing in your organizationís values statement; discuss what good leadership looks like and make sure people understand that a good leader develops the power and skills of others; understand that change is inevitable and challenges to your leadership can be healthy and productive; make sure the organization is focused on the mission

Fear of Open Conflict
  • people in power are scared of conflict and try to ignore it or run from it
  • when someone raises an issue that causes discomfort, the response is to blame the person for raising the issue rather than to look at the issue which is actually causing the problem
  • emphasis on being polite
  • equating the raising of difficult issues with being impolite, rude, or out of line
antidotes: role play ways to handle conflict before conflict happens; distinguish between being polite and raising hard issues; don't require those who raise hard issues to raise them in ëacceptableí ways, especially if you are using the ways in which issues are raised as an excuse not to address the issues being raised; once a conflict is resolved, take the opportunity to revisit it and see how it might have been handled differently

Individualism
  • little experience or comfort working as part of a team
  • people in organization believe they are responsible for solving problems alone
  • accountability, if any, goes up and down, not sideways to peers or to those the organization is set up to serve
  • desire for individual recognition and credit
  • leads to isolation
  • competition more highly valued than cooperation and where cooperation is valued, little time or resources devoted to developing skills in how to cooperate
  • creates a lack of accountability, as the organization values those who can get things done on their own without needing supervision or guidance antidotes: include teamwork as an important value in your values statement; make sure the organization is working towards shared goals and people understand how working together will improve performance; evaluate peopleís ability to work in a team as well as their ability to get the job done; make sure that credit is given to all those who participate in an effort, not just the leaders or most public person; make people accountable as a group rather than as individuals; create a culture where people bring problems to the group; use staff meetings as a place to solve problems, not just a place to report activities
  • iím the only one
  • connected to individualism, the belief that if something is going to get done right, ëIí have to do it
  • little or no ability to delegate work to others
antidotes: evaluate people based on their ability to delegate to others; evaluate people based on their ability to work as part of a team to accomplish shared goals

Progress is Bigger, More
  • observed in systems of accountability and ways we determine success
  • progress is an organization which expands (adds staff, adds projects) or develops the ability to serve more people (regardless of how well they are serving them)
  • gives no value, not even negative value, to its cost, for example, increased accountability to funders as the budget grows, ways in which those we serve may be exploited, excluded, or underserved as we focus on how many we are serving instead of quality of service or values created by the ways in which we serve
antidotes: create Seventh Generation thinking by asking how the actions of the group now will affect people seven generations from now; make sure that any cost/benefit analysis includes all the costs, not just the financial ones, for example the cost in morale, the cost in credibility, the cost in the use of resources; include process goals in your planning, for example make sure that your goals speak to how you want to do your work, not just what you want to do; ask those you work with and for to evaluate your performance

Objectivity
  • the belief that there is such a thing as being objective
  • the belief that emotions are inherently destructive, irrational, and should not play a role in decision-making or group process
  • invalidating people who show emotion
  • requiring people to think in a linear fashion and ignoring or invalidating those who think in other ways
  • impatience with any thinking that does not appear ëlogicalí to those with power
antidotes: realize that everybody has a world view and that everybodyís world view affects the way they understand things; realize this means you too; push yourself to sit with discomfort when people are expressing themselves in ways which are not familiar to you; assume that everybody has a valid point and your job is to understand what that point is

Right to Comfort
  • the belief that those with power have a right to emotional and psychological comfort (another aspect of valuing ëlogicí over emotion)
  • scapegoating those who cause discomfort
  • equating individual acts of unfairness against white people with systemic racism which daily targets people of color
antidotes: understand that discomfort is at the root of all growth and learning; welcome it as much as you can; deepen your political analysis of racism and oppression so you have a strong understanding of how your personal experience and feelings fit into a larger picture; don't take everything personally
One of the purposes of listing characteristics of white supremacy culture is to point out how organizations which unconsciously use these characteristics as their norms and standards make it difficult, if not impossible, to open the door to other cultural norms and standards. As a result, many of our organizations, while saying we want to be multicultural, really only allow other people and cultures to come in if they adapt or conform to already existing cultural norms. Being able to identify and name the cultural norms and standards you want is a first step to making room for a truly multi-cultural organization.

http://www.cwsworkshop.org/PARC_site_B/dr-culture.html

Eracism Minute April 8, 2018

Good morning,

My name is Lauralee Carbone, here to present an Eracism Minute, a minute of consciousness-raising on behalf of the BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team. Eracism is defined as the removal from existence of the belief that one race is superior to another.

First I’d like to acknowledge the anti-racism work many of you are engaged in: you take weekly Eracism minutes to heart; you attend seminars like the recent “How to Talk to Your Racist Uncle;” you encourage your book groups to read books about race such as Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, Waking Up White by Debby Irving, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; you’re googling concepts like “white supremacy,” “white fragility,” “checking your privilege,” “intersectionality,” “the school-to-prison pipeline,” and “microaggressions.” You’re attending some Black Lives Matter meetings both here at BUF and in the community and checking out the Racial Justice Coalition’s page on Facebook to keep up with local racism as well as reading about police brutality in the national news. You’re listening to your children-- they so often “get it” more than we do. You’re looking inward to your own heart and mind when feeling defensive in conversations about race. In other words, you’re adding to your anti-racism toolkit to navigate our complex racial landscape and taking action because you’ve learned that keeping silent is complicit in maintaining a racist culture.

I was recently given a new book by one of my BUF comrades, So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo. I’d like to share a passage that added one more tool to my anti-racism toolkit. It can further understanding of systemic racism among the people we interact with, linking the systemic effects of racism whenever we talk about racism. Here goes:

Instead of posting on Facebook: “This teacher shouted a racial slur at a Hispanic kid and should be fired!” you can say all that, and then add, “This behavior is linked to the increased suspension, expulsion, and detention of Hispanic youth in our schools and sets an example of behavior for the children witnessing this teacher’s racism that will influence the way these children are treated by their peers, and how they are treated as adults.”

Good, right? Here’s one more:

If you hear someone at the water cooler say, “black people are always late,” you can definitely say, “Hey, that’s racist,” but you can also add, “and it contributes to false beliefs about black workers that keeps them from even being interviewed for jobs, while white workers can be late or on time, but will always be judged individually with no risk of damaging job prospects for other white people seeking employment.” That also makes it less likely that someone will brush you off saying “Hey, it’s not that big of a deal; don’t be so sensitive.”

So there’s the new tool I’ll be practicing: tying individual racism to the system that gives it power, and hopefully making a difference in our culture.

Thank you,


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