diversity and oppression: racism

1/16/08

so, it's already wednesday, and i'm still struggling with a way to digest last friday's diversity and oppression training. this training session made me really upset. I feel like we focused so much on afro-centricism that we really didn't talk about racism. we didn't discuss any latino issues, nor did we even mention one of the most oppressed groups of people in our country: native americans. after all, blacks and whites aren't the only groups of people in this country.

why is it that all discussions on race ultimately boil down to being black or white? what about those of us who can't sit so cleanly on a side, and for those who simply don't fit into those particular molds? we are in fact, all americans, are we not? while our experiences may differ based on some predetermined factors that are out of our hands (be they sexual preference, race, gender, origin, etc) , everyone has been discriminated against. i don't feel that going around in a circle and saying what color we were was an effective means of discussing race. at most, i feel that it perpetuated an unspoken exclusionist attitude for everyone in the room who was not black-identified.

now, in public ally tradition, let me clarify what I am saying and assume some accountability for these words and ideas. yes, i do identify as black; i am comfortable with that. that does not, however, make it ok for me to go on a tirade against a whole group of people in order to express my sentiments on racism. look around. there have been at least 3 genocides during my lifetime. does that mean that you can successfully counter hate with hate?

i suppose that if we were to have a discussion on valuing heritage, and celebrating culture, i could understand a lot more of this training. cultural pride does not excuse the bashing of any race at any time, and i feel we let that happen. this time, because we were supposed to be having an inclusive discussion on racism, i feel we really didn't do the job.

in celebration of my own culture and heritage, i may apply the experience of being MULTI-RACIAL (read: not so simply broken down as black or white, but in fact, african, choctaw indian, danish, german, and french; surely there are many others that i am unaware of) to my existence. i can proudly express these diverse backgrounds, display all of the aspects of each experience, be that comprised of great struggle and endurance, beautiful music and arts, or delicious food.

when you re-read that last sentence, which part of my heritage do you think i am referring to? there is no one answer, because all of my make up, in spite of melanin or kink of hair, has beautiful and awful elements. i embrace them willingly, and am not looking to question anyone else’s.


i have no problem questioning the intention of phrasing.

one of the terms that's been thrown around lately is “white liberalism.” some people understand the expression, some don't. most are coming to understand it's negative connotations. but many of the white folk in public allies are asking themselves, "is that me?" it opens a whole new slew of terms we just don’t talk about. why aren’t we discussing words like “uncle tom” or “white-washed” and other such terms that have to do with the phenomenon of co-opting cultures? (i admit, i don’t know a lot about many other cultures, so my examples are primarily black relating to white.)

what about our own struggles as people within the context of our races?

i’ve seen wonderful and terrible in all races; and in spite of what we were told in the friday training, i can not buy that whites are the only group capable of being racist. I’m really curious to see what everyone else is really thinking, gloves off.

i get very razzed about racial issues. hate to say it this way, but everything isn’t always black and white.