One of the difficult challenges we face as white people is to identify a positive way of being white while recognizing we live in a culture based on white supremacy. I abhor white superiority and want a racial identity that isn’t based on the oppression of people of color or the elevation of whiteness. I can’t take off my white skin and white society will continue to give me unearned privilege, so the challenge is to feel good about being white without asserting that I am superior to other people. Here are some steps we who are white can take; not an exhaustive list, but a starting point for further reflection.
1. Be an accountable ally to people of color. Are we willing to follow people of color as they provide leadership in the struggle for racial justice? As white people we were raised to believe that “the white way is the right way,” but people of color have other ways of viewing the world and we have much to learn from their perspectives. We can develop a more highly textured – multi colored, less white centered – view of the world. A good white ally trusts the experience of people of color, so minimizing the experience of oppression is best avoided. Be open to understanding their first hand experiences of racism. A good white ally is open to critique from people of color. In our relations we need to listen deeply and avoid being defensive. When a person makes a critique, welcome it, determining what is helpful in it and learn from it.
2. We need to take responsibility for changing the institutions that we presently control – the schools, media, religious institutions, and families – which currently benefit those of us who are white. If we want things to be different, we need to be leaders working to dismantle white power in our core institutions. Here we get to the issue of power, and those of us who are white will need to relinquish some of the overwhelming power we have. At other times we will need to empower people of color in our organizations, working together across racial lines to develop new ways of sharing power and creating accountable relationships.
3. We need to live as multi-racial people, de-centering whiteness while we move toward those who have been traditionally marginalized. W.E.B. Du Bois talked about African Americans living with a bi-racial awareness, meaning they had to live in their own community and navigate the world of whiteness as well. As whites we have an opportunity to live in authentic relationship with people from a variety of different racial communities.
4. I must be willing to take responsibility for my own personal racial identity journey, meaning I must do deep personal reflection, seeking to understand how racism has impacted my life. We are socialized by white institutions like schools, religious communities, and the media and internalize the notion that people of color are inferior. It takes discernment to understand how we learned white superiority from these institutions and to discard old thoughts and behaviors and learn new ones. For the sake of our communities, this is work we whites must do for ourselves; they are our responsibility.
5. There are many issues of racial identity that go on for all children and we can nurture a positive anti-racist identity in our children. We can make a profound difference in the lives of our children by empowering them to develop a positive racial identity that is not based on the oppression of other people.
6. As whites, we can work with other white people to dismantle racism and create beloved communities. We can’t expect people of color to do all of this work, nor can we expect people of color to take on the responsibility for working with our white brothers and sisters; this is our responsibility. This is not about blaming or shaming other white people, but about inviting people who are white into a different way of being in the world.
As white people, we can’t be antiracist or dismantle racism by ourselves, for it is very powerful. There are things individuals can do, but collective action by members of an anti-racist community is needed to dismantle systemic institutional and cultural racism. We need to work with other white people and people of color to develop our collective capacity to dismantle racism
The Rev. Bill Gardiner and the Rev. Melissa Carvill-Zeimer will be leading a workshop February 13-15. Click for more info.
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