[WAsummit] U.S. For All of Us/beyond whiteness?
Mary Capps
marycapps at earthlink.net
Thu Jan 14 21:16:15 CST 2010
I agree with the responses to Lou which emphasize the reality of our
white-ness & its power & privilege in our everyday lives.
I moved from New Orleans to Mississippi a few years ago. Everyday
black women, men & children call me "Miss Mary". I'll say "Please
just call me "Mary". The response usually is "Yes, Ma'am".
This is not a small interpersonal matter. It represents the
historical power relationship established under white supremacy. I
might wish for a different relationship, & over time might develop
genuine friendships with some black people, but the reality is my
whiteness is a very real factor in my daily life, interactions,
opportunities, etc.
Also, as I try to do anti-racist work with other white people I need
to meet them at our common point - that is, at our common whiteness.
Many of them have very different "takes" on race, racial oppression &
injustice than I do, but it is important that I talk with them as
another white person. Isn't this the point of white anti-racist
activism? Isn't it our whiteness that gives us the opportunity and,
hopefully, some effectiveness, in challenging other whites on racism,
white supremacy?
Of course, as whites we need to be accountable to people of color. We
need to recognize the leadership of people of color.
One piece of that, in my experience so far, is to acknowledge my/our
whiteness, the power & privilege it confers, and to work to challenge
that in/with other whites.
respectfully
Mary Capps
On Jan 14, 2010, at 12:28 PM, Frances Kendall wrote:
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, “I don’t see myself
as ‘white,’ I see myself as just a human being.” And, in my mind, I
think, “That’s interesting and not particularly relevant.” I then
talk about Allan Johnson’s comment in his book, Power, Privilege, and
Difference:
“When it comes to privilege…it doesn’t 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.”
So, for now and in the foreseeable future, I believe it’s 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 “abolish whiteness” 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, I’ve known there was something really weird about the
>>> term “white” for my Euro-american ancestry...but for years I have
>>> made myself name “whiteness” in as many contexts as I could as a
>>> way of both respecting my “black” colleagues use of the terms
>>> “black and white” 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 “ the great lie that we are forced to
>>> live as the price for the racially shaped privileges we enjoy”
>>> I’m feel shock and recognition and yes, awe—wanting to base my
>>> work on common ground- building observables and liking the energy
>>> of “creative interruption” of habits of domination, even verbal
>>> habits.
>>>
>>> However, I’m guessing people who identify as “of color” are in
>>> as many different places on this as “we” are...so I’m wanting to
>>> honor your passion for inclusion but also hold a space for a more
>>> humble “interim ethic” of “making whiteness visible”. 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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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> WAsummit mailing list
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Louisa L. Davis, M.Div., PhD
>>> 11330 Dockside Circle
>>> Reston, VA 20191
>>> home: (703) 860-1203
>>> cell: (240) 338-5156
>>>
>>> “Get very clear about the kind of world [you] would like and
>>> then start living that way.“
>>> -- Marshall Rosenberg, Center for Nonviolent Communication
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>>>
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>>
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