Saturday, September 29, 2018

ERACISM Minute by Heidi Ohana--September 23, 2018

I want to talk about white fragility today.  I know someone comes up here each week and talks about racism in this country, within our denomination, and within ourselves.  I also know sometimes people get tired of it.  This is what white fragility is about. 

White people in this country live in an environment that protects and insulates us from race-based stress. This insulated environment builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering our ability to tolerate racial stress.  We don’t want to hear that we benefit from institutionalized racism, that we live in a white supremacist culture, or even that we, ourselves, hold some racist attitudes.  We’re good people after all.  We’re on the “right” side of this issue.  No one wants to feel bad about themselves – especially if they believe racism is wrong.  And that is not the goal.  The goal is to become increasingly aware of how we benefit from and participate in this system.

White fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive feelings.  Learning to tolerate this discomfort and continuing to listen and to learn and not be defensive will be how change happens.


Heidi Ohana

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