AllyWork
Helping White people fight White Supremacy
Recent Comments
- Dawn Reed on Racism Prevention 101: Parenting With the Natural Healing Process
- ben on Why There is a BET and There isn’t a WET
- ben on Why There is a BET and There isn’t a WET
- TheRightChoice on Why There is a BET and There isn’t a WET
- SFAlly on Unlearning Racism Pt.3: Just Lists
- Learner on Unlearning Racism Pt. 2: getting to know ourselves
- M johnson on Why There is a BET and There isn’t a WET
Archives
Unlearning Racism: the set-up
Published by vegankid | Filed under 101, Racism and White Supremacy, Taking Action
Rachel and i were recently interviewed for the Addicted to Race podcast. And in that interview we were asked a very important question, “what can White people do?” The two of us both started with the same response: start the process of self-awareness. That interview got me thinking a lot about Ally Work and the role that we are and aren’t playing in fighting racism/White Supremacy. I began to question whether we are working towards our stated goals. I believe we are, but i came to realize that i, at least, may be putting the cart before the horse in many instances. So i decided to go back to that core work that Rachel and i felt deserved to be highlighted in the interview. To help start that process of self-awareness and consciousness-raising, i’ve decided to attempt to take the workshops i facilitate to the web. Obviously they will be greatly altered (since there is no physical contact and a greater lacking in accountability, but i will also have the advantage of not being constrained by very limiting time frames). So every week i will put up a new post in the series. I will try to make the post the same time every week for consistency, but please recognize that sometimes things come up. The series will last for at least six weeks, at which point i will re-evaluate the series with other Ally Work folks (and whoever else cares to contribute their two cents).
I will publish the first post in the series soon, but first, i wanted to go over something that i feel is important and seems to be greatly ignored in such conversations: triggers. Here are some words from Pat Griffin on triggers:
Triggers are words or phrases that stimulate an emotional response because they tap into anger or pain about oppression issues. Typically, triggers often convey, consciously or unconsciously, a stereotypical perception or and acceptance of the status quo. Examples of triggers include:
“I don’t see differences, people are people to me.”
“What do you people really want anyway?”
“I think men are just biologically more adapted to leadership roles than women.”
“I fell sorry for people with disabilities. It’s such a tragedy.”
“If everyone just worked hard, they could achieve.”
“Homeless people prefer their life.”
“I think people of color are blowing things way out of proportion.”
“If women wear tight clothes, they are asking for it.”
I invite others to identify a process for naming triggers in ways that encourage open and respectful dialogue. If we cann’t create such a process, this space is no longer a safe space and a meaningful dialogue cannot happen (as many people respond to triggers by leaving and avoiding the situation). I encourage readers to name triggers as they come up. At some point in the discussion, once we have a little distance, we’ll go back and discuss the triggers. If you are triggered, I ask that you explain why. If you do not feel safe or comfortable explaining it here, feel free to contact me using the contact form.
My purpose for this series is not to get everyone to agree with me. I do not mean for this to be an attempt to convince you that all White people are racist. I merely want to have open and honest dialogue that allows us to look at racism in the US; to see that racism does exist; and to look at what role White people play in ending that racism. In order for that to happen, we must look at each exchange as something to think about and something to learn from. Like i said, it is not an attempt to change anyone on the spot. We must focus on our own persynal learning while creating a space for others to do the same. We cannot fully focus on our persynal learning when we feel defensive or chastised. And that it why i feel it is important to create a way for us to be able to name triggers - so that we may create a safe space for learning.
I will post Part 1 of the series later today. I hope that many of the lurkers will join us in this most important discussion.
June 16th, 2006 at 10:21 am "But what can I do?"...
One of the things that comes up whenever people is that, while it's unfair and unreasonable to expect the people on the short end of the privilege stick to shoulder the whole burden of education and change, the people in......
June 16th, 2006 at 11:29 am Jesus.
If that is 'triggering' then I have an itchy trigger finger, sorry.
'triggers' for me are:
'the colonial phase in history is the most influential on our society today'
'racism is a white phenomena'
'euroAmerican culture splits things into a dichotomy where there is always war and violence, unlike the rest of the world's cultures'
'White people are immoral'
These triggers seem related to political outlooks and…um... might be hard to agree on.
But, we can do it.
June 16th, 2006 at 11:45 am we don't have to agree on triggers. different people have different triggers. all we have to do is respect that fact. and i thank you for listing your triggers. they certainly make sense to me.
June 16th, 2006 at 12:36 pm VK:
That's insightful.
But I think that these 'triggers' are irrational and based on the emotional significance of a given individual's political outlook.
I know my triggers are irrational.
That's one reason why I think there is a line between respecting triggers and curtailing openness through self-censorship.
I mentioned some of my triggers, but I would be patently fomenting an environment of intellectual fascism If I wanted you to avoid those triggers in a dialogue.
I might be offended, but so what?
Free speech is more important than the feelings of the individual.
June 16th, 2006 at 1:24 pm Excellent idea. I am looking forward to reading your work.
June 16th, 2006 at 7:59 pm I feel that self-examination is emotional
work. I believe that white privilege
causes a deeply enbedded detachment
from those emotions. So, I guess one
of my triggers is when I hear disrespect
for a person who is experiencing an
emotion and trying to process the feeling.
For example, white guilt is something
that is commonly experienced. It is just
an emotion, not a state of being. Now I
do think anger is another valuable emotion,
but I don't think there should be a hierarchy
of these feelings as it might cause someone
who is trying to learn to shut down instead.
June 16th, 2006 at 10:42 pm I'll go through my blog and pick out some triggers for me.
PS-I really respect the honesty in douglass' response.
June 16th, 2006 at 10:56 pm hm. not sure if you're looking for just white folks responses or poc responses too, but this is an interesting topic, so i'm gonna add my two cents just because
--for me i have two triggers--any variation of the: "if you all would just work *harder* you wouldn't be where you are!" line and any variation of the "we're not killing them, we're liberating them" mantra. most other things don't really get to me.
June 17th, 2006 at 4:18 pm Hi Brownfemipower,
I just went over to your blog and just
can't believe someone would be defending
the KKK on your site. I went to her
blog and noticed that she provides a
link to another Kookoo Kluckist.
One of the reply's on your blog was
definately a trigger. When I hear an
anti-racist imply that white educated
high class people wouldn't think that
way, I do feel a reaction. You know what-
it sounds like somebody saying they
know more about racism because they
have studied it more, even if they
haven't lived it.
June 17th, 2006 at 5:09 pm bfp - its always good to hear people's triggers, imho.
douglass - i agree that freedom of speech is more important on the macro level. but we aren't dealing with the macro, we are dealing with this particular discussion series on this particular blog. and with any discussion, we always set certain standards/boundaries/rules. often those rules are unwritten, but i'd like to make our discussion's guidelines more overt. in this particular discussion, i feel it is important for folks to speak their minds honestly. i am not asking anyone to self-censor themselves. to do so is dishonest and doesn't help our discussion. what i'm asking is that we be aware of other people's triggers and that we not get defensive if someone calls us out for using a trigger. instead, i ask that we listen to the persyn's concerns and try to respond to it compassionately. if that cannot happen, then this is not a safe space to talk about very difficult things. making this a safe space is my top priority and if anyone messes with that process, then i will not hesitate to ban them from the conversation. not that i'm saying that's what you are proposing to do, just putting it out there for everyone.
and i ask you to recognize how that statement, "i might be offended, but so what" is a product of White privilege. so what, because there is no consequence other than you feeling offended. Racism for people of color has very real consequences, and those triggers are often in response to those real life consequences.
And that's why i ask for complete honesty, like douglass is giving. because when we can talk openly, we can really look at our thought processes and how they play into racism and fighting racism.
oh, and i didn't publish the first part of the series yet for two reasons: 1) i wanted to give this thread a little more time, and 2) i was contemplating whether we needed to create and go over guidelines of discussion first.
June 17th, 2006 at 10:18 pm Hey Kathy!
Thanks for visiting my site...I know what you're saying about education level being a way for racist people to distance themselves from the lower classes. You see a lot of that between poor white folks and upper class white folks--that Ms. Rebel said something about "stupid rednecks"--and when the SD abortion ban went through, I know a lot of liberals/progressives started in with the uneducated cracker/redneck/white trash/trailer trash/hicks bull crap. So I know exactly what you're talking about...
But I did want to say, cuz I think you are referencing Rachel S.'s comment about how she bets that Ms. Rebel was probably working class white woman, that Rachel is actually referencing a discussion we had a while back (and that i think is actually linked on ally works) about why most of my trolls identify as working class/lower class white women wheras most of her trolls are white men (and I think we mentioned nubian getting a lot university level educated white women trolls). We were basically noticing the trends and wondering what it is about each of us, nubian, rachel and I that attracks certian kinds of trolls. So when Rachel noticed that I got yet another white woman she was just speculating on what we had previously discussed, that it was probably safe to assume that this woman was probably of the working class as well, just like the others---she wasn't meaning it in the previous sense, that, "look it, here's some dumb uneducated cracker". In fact Rachel comes from a poor white back ground (she grew up in a house with no running water until she was 13 I think she said!!!) Which is not to say she couldn't ever be classist, just that she openly identifies herself as formly poor white, so she is quite a bit more critical of the class issues used to divide and seperate...
just wanted to clear that up, so that nobody feels unsafe with Rachel as a moderator...
June 18th, 2006 at 10:57 am Hi bfp,
thanks for validating my pov and for
explaining rachels pov.
kathy
June 18th, 2006 at 5:49 pm VK:
Of course your definition of
'white privilege' influences my thinking just as much as it influences the thinking of every white person.
Although that may be true; Such terminology is politically damaging to whites everywhere.
In a political sense, terms like 'white racism',reverse discrimination' and 'white privilege' ooze with the agenda of exacting reparations from whites.
June 18th, 2006 at 5:52 pm reptilian code: Those privileged racists must pay.
June 18th, 2006 at 7:21 pm douglass - i hear ya. but i prefer you speak in 'i' statements cuz i, in all honesty, don't really care about how white people as a whole react and interpret what i'm saying as much as i care about the reactions and interpretations of those with which i am in dialogue. so i guess i'm asking if you, persynally, are interpreting my words to mean 'those privileged racists must pay.' if so, i'd like to say that is not my intent.
you may have noticed i've been calming my rhetoric down a bit:) but the fact is that i'm a White persyn, this blog/discussion is largely for White people, so i'm going to talk about our privileges and our racism as White people because that's what we have power over - ourselves. revenge is not my goal, by any means.
bfp - thanks for your clarification. that's also how i read the comment, but if one wasn't a privvy to that conversation i can see how it would seem a bit disturbing.
i also hate when people assume working-class = uneducated = overtly racist (implying owning-class = educated = nonracist). so i can certainly understand your trigger, kathy.
June 19th, 2006 at 12:35 pm VK,
Good points.
Remember that you who equated reparations with revenge, not me.
Changing minds is not revenge either, but that goal serves a purpose.
June 19th, 2006 at 4:33 pm d - you're right, i was making an assumption of what it is that you were saying and i shouldn't have. i mistook "those privileged racists must pay" to mean a threat of revenge, not literal monetary payment. but such an arguement still seems kinda moot to me since i don't believe we've talked about reparations once on this site. just how i feel.
i don't deny having a purpose. my purpose is to end racism. if some White people are turned off by that goal, then i'm not going to focus on them but rather the folks who share that goal.
June 21st, 2006 at 11:31 am if you are wondering where the last 11 comments went, check here. Please keep this discussion on the topic of the original post.