The Amniotic fluid of racism

As a white person in the U.S., I was born into racism and bigotry.

It’s the water we swim in, the amniotic fluid of our beginnings.  I’m saturated in it; whether I “like” to believe that or not is of no consequence.

“The truth doesn’t change according to our ability to stomach it.” - Flannery O’Connor

I realize I am quoting a southern white woman here, one who divides critics on whether she herself was a racist or a writer with a bold contempt and criticism of racism. 

I almost quoted Zora Neale Hurston, a writer I have long admired, who interestingly received her own share of criticism from all sides...but quoting her felt like cultural appropriation...and so then I almost said nothing.

I know I’m gonna get things wrong, say it poorly, not know enough to weigh in, but at this point, silence as the alternative is self-serving and cowardly.

I am humbled and broken-hearted by my complicity with all that is so deeply broken in this world.  Without making more emotional labor for my friends by asking them to “teach” me to do better, I am trying to unlearn systemic racism and oppression by listening, by reading, and by sharing resources. 

I want to share some of my teachers, people I follow and new people I just started following because HOW WE THINK about a thing becomes HOW WE ACT. 

White people can not afford to not know HOW TO THINK (we never could) because you know who pays the price for willful ignorance?  Hint: it’s not white people.

The unwillingness for a white person to get uncomfortable means somebody somewhere pays the price in death.