RazorOye
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I have a lot I'd like to add here, but don't really know where to start. And certainly don't want to take the place of others who should be speaking instead.
But I guess I'll just respond to this for now, because I think one answer was one I was exposed to today.
So, in another post - on the Demonstrations thread - I mentioned a Zoom panelist discussion I 'attended' with black academics and researchers.
I've studied and written and presented on this notion of 'white privilege' and 'white fragility' but years ago, when I started, I approached it from "de-centering whiteness" because I found that particular phrase and the ethos behind it to be more action-oriented. It struck a more effective balance - for me - between the theoretical and the practical. Which has always been my concern - even before I pursued academia, listening to my mom rant about "McNeese professors" who "lectured her" about teaching. She resented their know-it-all-ness, because she had to work in a 100% Black, 100% free- and reduced-lunch school with asbestos and these professors would know better than her?
So, 'de-centering whiteness' appealed to me more.
ANd over the years, I feel like I've encountered a lot of ideas and perspectives, but I heard a new one today.
One of the panelists said he was aggravated. He appreciated white people coming to the movement and wanting to be allies, but he said we had to get out of our own heads, get out of ourselves.
And he put it this way: (paraphrasing) "White people want to be a victim, and an oppressor, and a savior all at the same time."
I thought that was profound. I mean, I'm white, and don't want to presume to speak on behalf of FTP who would probably answer it differently.
But this Black man felt that the 'movement' was going to be limited by these well-intentioned white folk who made everything about them. He explained how he understands it's not entirely their fault, because it's part of our social fabric. It's built into the histories and stories we tell white kids and black kids.
Still, white people need to somehow get over this self-centrism that insists they find their own sense of victimization, by default almost, because it impairs their empathetic ability to see others as victims.
that made a lot of sense to me
obviously I am going to be biased. De-Centering Whiteness is the core of everything I do, so it's going to resonate more with me than other answers to your question.
But maybe it gives you something to think about?
But I guess I'll just respond to this for now, because I think one answer was one I was exposed to today.
Great post.
You talked a bunch about the sort of visceral instinct to maintain the status quo. I think on an emotional level, almost every white person, or at least white male, experiences that to some degree or another. Even those of us who I think would generally be considered an "ally" to the black community still have to fight the sort of instinctual urge to get ruffled feathers about change. I had a really strong initial emotional reaction to the requests by the Texas players to remove the "Eyes of Texas". It took me a couple of days until I sort of thought through it and realized "wait, I actually am not really bothered by that at all - it's a song that I always thought was creepy and I understand why they want it gone". But the initial reaction was strong.
I'm interested in your thoughts there.
So, in another post - on the Demonstrations thread - I mentioned a Zoom panelist discussion I 'attended' with black academics and researchers.
I've studied and written and presented on this notion of 'white privilege' and 'white fragility' but years ago, when I started, I approached it from "de-centering whiteness" because I found that particular phrase and the ethos behind it to be more action-oriented. It struck a more effective balance - for me - between the theoretical and the practical. Which has always been my concern - even before I pursued academia, listening to my mom rant about "McNeese professors" who "lectured her" about teaching. She resented their know-it-all-ness, because she had to work in a 100% Black, 100% free- and reduced-lunch school with asbestos and these professors would know better than her?
So, 'de-centering whiteness' appealed to me more.
ANd over the years, I feel like I've encountered a lot of ideas and perspectives, but I heard a new one today.
One of the panelists said he was aggravated. He appreciated white people coming to the movement and wanting to be allies, but he said we had to get out of our own heads, get out of ourselves.
And he put it this way: (paraphrasing) "White people want to be a victim, and an oppressor, and a savior all at the same time."
I thought that was profound. I mean, I'm white, and don't want to presume to speak on behalf of FTP who would probably answer it differently.
But this Black man felt that the 'movement' was going to be limited by these well-intentioned white folk who made everything about them. He explained how he understands it's not entirely their fault, because it's part of our social fabric. It's built into the histories and stories we tell white kids and black kids.
Still, white people need to somehow get over this self-centrism that insists they find their own sense of victimization, by default almost, because it impairs their empathetic ability to see others as victims.
that made a lot of sense to me
obviously I am going to be biased. De-Centering Whiteness is the core of everything I do, so it's going to resonate more with me than other answers to your question.
But maybe it gives you something to think about?