[WAsummit] U.S. For All of Us/beyond whiteness?

[Frances Kendall]

Dear All,
I am troubled by this conversation. Like Dottie and Margery I feel that it
is essential for those of us who are white (and receive unearned
opportunities and access to power and resources because of our skin color)
to become comfortable with that moniker. As I know you all know, so much of
our history, our laws, and our racialized systems are based on that very
concept. 

Very regularly, participants in my sessions say, ³I don¹t see myself as
Œwhite,¹ I see myself as just a human being.² And, in my mind, I think,
³That¹s interesting and not particularly relevant.² I then talk about Allan
Johnson¹s comment in his book, Power, Privilege, and Difference:

 ³When it comes to privilegeŠit doesn¹t really matter who we really are.
What matters is who other people think we are, which is to say, the social
categories they put us in.²

So, for now and in the foreseeable future, I believe it¹s critical that
those of us who are white embody that as part of who we are, comfortable or
not. I definitely believe language is important. AND, for us to choose to
³abolish whiteness² seems to me to be a mindset that only the extremely
privileged could explore.

Thanks for the opportunity to talk about this.

Francie



On 1/14/10 7:28 AM, "Dottye Burt-Markowitz" <pasoconsulting at fastmail.fm>
wrote:

> Ditto to Margery's comments.
>  
> I found myself having a very emotional reaction to Lou's message.  Examining
> the reasons for that, I realize it is tied to the twenty-plus years that I
> have now been doing anti-racism training and consulting and the many
> conversations I have had during that work on this very topic.  One of the
> things we always share at the beginning of our workshops when we put on the
> table the assumptions we are making about racism and white privilege is about
> the importance of looking at results rather than intentions.  So many racist
> statements and behaviors by white people are rationalized by the statement "I
> didn't intend it that way."  I try to apply looking at intention vs. results
> in assessing what works and what doesn't work in helping people understand and
> become effective anti-racist activists.  What works consistently is bringing
> people to an understanding of the historical roots of whiteness, what
> whiteness means in our culture, why we who benefit from white privilege cannot
> distance ourselves from being white, and how we can use the privilege we do
> carry to act against racism.  Maybe others are finding results (I mean real
> concrete actions for institutional change results) by using a different kind
> of language.  For me, I don't see how we leap over defining and understanding
> a problem to speaking a language that implies the problem does not exist.
>  
> I do understand the longing for a less "tainted" terminology.  I often say in
> workshops when we ask everyone to state their racial identity that I identify
> as white and European American, and that I would really like to be able to
> just say European American, but cannot do that as long as my whiteness gives
> me privileges and benefits denied to people of color.
>  
>  
>  
>  
> On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:34 -0800, "margery freeman" <margeryfreeman at yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>>   
>>   Dear AntiRacist White Friends,
>>   
>>  I appreciate the discussion/debate over what language best communicates our
>> values and vision.  Those of us who use the term "antiracist" as a positive
>> short-hand expression of what we are often find ourselves challenged by other
>> white progressives who think the term is "too negative."  I often respond to
>> that criticism by noting that "anti-slavery" was not considered negative in
>> its day by abolitionists.  I also have never heard a person of color
>> criticize the phrase "antiracist" as negative.
>>   
>>  When it comes to the term white, there is a similar discussion:  This
>> country set up "white" by law and structured all our systems on the
>> supremacist value system of white being the model of humanity.  Despite it
>> being illegal for 40 years, the ideology of white supremacy still undergirds
>> all our institutions and results in the massively disproportionate number of
>> People of Color who are in prison, failed by schools, jobless, poor, in ill
>> health.
>>   
>>  As we create an antiracist white response to this white supremacist
>> structure, I think we need to hold on to white (as we also must to black and
>> hispanic) because it is socio-political:  It defines our collective status.
>> If we let go of being "white" we may slip down that slope of individualism
>> that diverts our attention from the results of white supremacy and lulls by
>> our good intentions.
>>   
>>  I say kudos to the white antiracists who have begun U.S. For All Of US!
>> It's a great movement-starter in a time when even the President is not
>> permitted to talk about race.  I will publicize it as far and wide as I can.
>>   
>>  With best New Year wishes to you all,
>>   
>>  Margery
>>   
>>  Margery Freeman
>>  The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
>>  718-918-2716; cell: 504-813-2368
>>  --- On Wed, 1/13/10, Louisa Davis <louisaldavis at verizon.net> wrote:
>>  
>>> 
>>>  From: Louisa Davis <louisaldavis at verizon.net>
>>>  Subject: Re: [WAsummit] U.S. For All of Us/beyond whiteness?
>>>  To: "White Anti-racist Summit" <wasummit at lists.wacan.org>
>>>  Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2010, 5:57 PM
>>>  
>>>  Lou and all, Appreciating your call for more careful, inclusive and
>>> interruptive language-ing in our work.
>>>  
>>>  Of course, I¹ve known there was something really weird about the term
>>> ³white² for my Euro-american ancestry...but for years I have made myself
>>> name ³whiteness² in as many contexts as I could as a way of both respecting
>>> my ³black² colleagues use of the terms ³black and white² with the growth of
>>> black pride and also wanting to somehow rebalance the lenses of race, as
>>> when quoting the white, Prussian theologian Karl Barth in a sermon.
>>>  
>>>  But, wow, when I read ³ the great lie that we are forced to  live as the
>>> price for the racially shaped privileges we enjoy² I¹m feel shock and
>>> recognition and yes, awe‹wanting to base my work on common ground- building
>>> observables and liking the energy of ³creative  interruption² of habits of
>>> domination, even verbal habits.
>>>  
>>>  However, I¹m guessing people who identify as ³of color² are in as many
>>> different places on this as ³we² are...so I¹m wanting to honor your passion
>>> for inclusion but also hold a space for a more humble ³interim ethic² of
>>> ³making whiteness visible².   Does this make sense?
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  
>>>  on 1/13/10 4:43 PM, Nancy at narvold at sfo.com wrote:
>>>  
>>>   
>>>> Lou - it may be an opportunity to support the group in honing their message
>>>> to include your critique. I'd say, write to them.
>>>>   
>>>>> 
>>>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>   
>>>>>  From:  louschoen at aol.com
>>>>>   
>>>>>  To: email at massslaveryapology.org ;  wasummit at lists.wacan.org ;
>>>>> usforallofus at awarela.org
>>>>>   
>>>>>  Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 7:36  PM
>>>>>   
>>>>>  Subject: Re: [WAsummit] U.S. For All of  Us
>>>>>   
>>>>>  
>>>>>  I want very much to sign this statement but, in  the "usforallofus" web
>>>>> site, the preface to the words  quoted include,  twice, a limiting phrase,
>>>>> which contradicts the broad invitation to signatures  at the end of the
>>>>> web site.  It asserts, "We are white people..."   That affirmation would
>>>>> make it difficult to sign, with conviction, for anyone  not defined as
>>>>> white..  
>>>>>  
>>>>>  It's also a challenge for those of us who  are asked  by US culture to
>>>>> accept "White or Caucasian" identity but who  understand that the very
>>>>> concept of "white," as a racial definition, is at the  root of
>>>>>  our continuing racial crisis and divisions.  Europeans and  Euroamericans
>>>>> claimed that shade for its relative value supremacy among color
>>>>> definitions, in spite of their own pinkish, yellowish and tannish
>>>>>  hues,  contrasting it deliberately with the blackness of those they
>>>>> enslaved.   It was a strategy to justify their oppression of others, and
>>>>> was reinforced by  promoting cultural, legal and scientific belief in the
>>>>> mythological concept of  "race."  As James Baldwin wrote in 1984, "It is
>>>>> not merely that whiteness  is oppressive and false; it is that whiteness
>>>>> is nothing but oppressive and false."  ("On Being 'White' and Other Lies,"
>>>>> Essence Magazine.)
>>>>>  
>>>>>  It would be healthy for all  "white" anti-racists to  study carefully and
>>>>> discuss the recent book by Zeus  Leonardo, Race, Whiteness and Education.
>>>>> He builds upon  David Roediger's 1992 work, Towards the Abolition of
>>>>> Whiteness, exploring the process of  transformation and ultimately
>>>>> abolition of the great lie that we are forced to  live as the price for
>>>>> the racially shaped privileges we enjoy.  Our  struggle for transformation
>>>>> demands more from us than collective statements of  principle decrying the
>>>>> bigotry around us..
>>>>>  
>>>>>  Lou  Schoen
>>>>>  Minneapolis
>>>>>  
>>>>>  In a message dated 12/26/09 5:16:36 PM,  email at massslaveryapology.org
>>>>> writes:
>>>>>  
>>>>>  
>>>>>   
>>>>>  Hi Friends,
>>>>>  
>>>>>  You might be interested in a statement  from http://www.usforallofus.org.
>>>>> <http://www.usforallofus.org./>
>>>>>  Their website says:
>>>>>  
>>>>>  "We long for  a country that lifts all of us up, dares to care, offers
>>>>>  love,   generosity, and justice. We reject the racism that keeps us
>>>>> divided.
>>>>>  We  celebrate our interdependence and our capacity to love our neighbors
>>>>> as
>>>>>  ourselves...The first step is to say together: "There is no room  for
>>>>>  racism in a U.S. for all of us."
>>>>>  
>>>>>  Their statement has been  signed by 65 organizations and almost  600
>>>>>  individuals.
>>>>>  
>>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>>  
>>>>  
>>>>   
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>>  
>>>>  _______________________________________________
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>>>>  
>>>>  
>>>> 
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>>> 
>>>  
>>>  -- 
>>>  Louisa L. Davis, M.Div., PhD
>>>  11330 Dockside Circle
>>>  Reston, VA 20191
>>>  home: (703) 860-1203
>>>  cell: (240) 338-5156
>>>  
>>>  ³Get very clear about the kind of world [you] would like and then start
>>> living that way.³
>>>         -- Marshall Rosenberg, Center for  Nonviolent Communication
>>>  
>>>  
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