On the second day of Me and White Supremacy the lesson is White Fragility--ways we make working against racism all about US. We draw attention, we cry, deny, demand, forget we're trying to remove obstacles white privilege leaves in the way of people of color. I'm working through my gut resistance to being called "white." I think it gets in the way of the work that I want to do. But find it is the work I am called to do.
At last, accepting I am white people,
obscured in a mass of kin-like persons.
So that's what it feels like—a reduction—Black people. White. Established by law.The distinction between us. I amwhite people and should converse with my own.Two steps back to go one forward, to moveup to one step back then two forward. Iattempt to see systemic racism.
The Matrix—a Hollywood scifi film—clarified "systemic." Appearancesare deceiving. Programming makes us livehow big powers want us to, and livingoutside the systems is no fun. At leastwithin them, some people live the promise.Outside them, some people see how they're rigged.You're either on the bus or off the bus.Possibilities are bounded by code.
Exceptions prove the rule. Exceptionsare necessary to make exposure seem a lie.I made it, so you can too. You're just lazytry harder. You are Black. I am White. Feelthe pigeonholing. Blue eyes or brown eyes?You'll get your turn tomorrow, if we don'tachieve freedom today. Confusing, yes?That's how systems work. First, make us believethat we're different by natural law.At last, accepting I am white peopleI turn to talk with other white people.See the lies. Hear the fake narratives. Wewalk their line. See angry white people whowant ingrained systems to be natural.Mommy will love them. Daddy likes them best.Daddy rewards them for a reign of rage.Terrorism is domestic, programmedinto systems that we must outgrow.
Tomorrow is Juneteenth, now a state holiday.
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© 2020 Susan L. Chast
1 comment:
I have always felt uncomfortable in my white skin, the skin of the oppresser of people of colour all over the world. I feel happier now that I love in a community which is half indigenous, as they know I am an ally and are friendly to me, which helps ease my burden of a colonial past somewhat. In Canada we are addressing systemic racism in both the police force and the health care system (I have witnessed it in both). I hope this time they put action to words and studies and make some actual changes. Long past time. Your poem is so powerful and says it all so well. Terrorism is domestic. I never could figure out how people could support the orange man, given what comes out of his mouth. This morning, on the news, watching the smiling faces of his supporters, I finally got it - they support him BECAUSE of what comes out of his mouth. What a sick feeling in my stomach when I realized it.
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