So I just came from a discussion about racism. It got very heated, especially on the white end. And I just wanted to share some of the ideas.
So the lady was basically presenting her organization The People's Institute which is a complete anti-racism corporation. So she started out by telling us the philosophy of the organization and their definitions of racism. I'd rather not go through the entire discussion, instead I'll just say some of the things I disagreed with and why, you know major things. So here we go:
1. Her organization's definition of racism generally made all whites racist because they had white privilege. I agree that white people have privilege, and that race was created to keep this privilege to white people. I don't think that because white people have privilege they're racist, but they can perpetuate racism by taking advantage of the privilege and/or not realizing they have them.
The white people in the discussion were upset by this, and you could tell they didn't consider themselves racist. I understand their being angry because the organizer was a bit abrasive by calling ALL white's racist unless they rejected their privilege and came down to the level of people of color.
2. The presenter was right about it being a very emotional discussion and something that has to be brought to light in order for racism to be completely eradicated. I think a lot of the white people were taking to heart what she was saying about being racist, and not understanding or disregarding her point about white privilege. There was a lot of tension in the discussion because black people were frustrated trying to explain white privilege, and we were all frustrated trying to understand her approach to it all.
3. Overall the program and the idea is good, but the presenter's lack of a degree in any social related subject kind of made me suspect. I mean, its all well and good, its a great cause or whatever but for her to have degrees in everything but sociology makes me take it with an extra grain of salt.
4. The other big thing I disagreed with was her idea that all other 'isms' develop from racism. If there's one thing I learned in sociology so far its the social construct of society directly mirrors the economic construct. So that means that above all an economic factor causes social ills. I could see how she would argue the other way around thought because the main white privilege is access to money, which is a reflection of class/classicism.
5. Something else she pointed out was that not all groups of whites were originally accepted as white in America. For example Italians and Irish weren't in the first group of 'whites'. It wasn't until the proportion of whites to other colors started changing that these groups were accepted into 'whiteness'. AND they were accepted on the conditions that they would consider blacks and consequently other colors as the 'anti-neighbor', while gaining 'white privilege'. Not only would they have to reject other colored people, they would have to reject their original culture.
6. Another interesting topic was 'what do you like about being white'. As any other race you can answer that same question with something about your culture; language, food, family etc. but being white means you're more disconnected from that original heritage/bloodline, i.e. you identify as 'white'.
As a group we somewhat made a distinction between those people who are 1st and 2nd generation immigrants, and those who have been in America the longest because the former are more connected to their heritage. What I realized from this is that even though the individual may identify as Italian for example, if someone in America identifies them as 'white' they'll still get white privilege. This is exactly how it works because the Italian person doesn't even have to recognize what's going on, nor do anything in particular, yet they get privileges that a person of color wouldn't get.
7. When did you realize you were black/latino/asian? That's an experience that needs to be brought to light and discussed between all races for white people to understand the privilege they have. Whether it was a situation stemming from a prejudiced incident or not. At some point a person of color realizes that they are not white, that they are/have been treated differently because of their skin color. And while thats something white people will never experience first-hand, their knowledge makes them sympathetic.
The program was really insightful overall, and I feel like if I had a company of my own I would still be willing to work with her program because we have similar goals. Even if we're not in total agreement, I could still support her if she came up with a legit solution for racism.
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