10 Books About Race To Read Instead Of Asking A Person Of Color To Explain Things To You [bustle.com]

Pamela Denise Long posted:

Christine Cissy White posted:

Hi Pamela,

These are good/hard questions and I sure don't have the answers. I do think we are responsible for doing our own work and making sure it's ongoing. Speaking only for myself, I haven't always known or believed that though. I didn't know it was on me to do, at least at first - and that once I got that yup, it is, it's actually core and central. It hasn't meant I knew/know how to do the work and how it's related to the rest of the work I do. I'm in the process of educating myself, getting educated (training) to start thinking about this more for myself and work. And that it will be constant and ongoing. Cissy

Cissy, thanks for sharing your insights and experience about being invested in doing the work.  I wonder, what helps one perceive each individual is  "responsible for doing our own work and making sure it's ongoing."  What prompts that shift in belief, attitude, action, toward ownership of educating and decolonizing one's identity and the other aspects of the work?  

Pamela:
I had to sleep on this. I started writing back several times last night but it was too long.

I think that shift, at least for me, is part of why I'm in the ACEs movement. It was, at midlife, getting more clear on public health, social context and having a WAY wider view of life, issues, struggles and how personal problems are not really all that personal. Once I saw how contextual, systemic, predictable and with dose-response patterns and results, things that I'd thought of pscyh or social issues are and were, it kind of shifted things. But not necessarily everything all at once.

At first, to be honest, being totally self absorbed I only saw all the places I had too much pain and all the places I had little or no power or privilege or voice. That for me, was the first aha. It's not like I wasn't aware of anything or the personal being political before but approached things as single-issues, to a large extent, focused on childhood sexual abuse, interpersonal violence, and class issues and also kind of excluded what I thought of as baggage from my own past or family dysfunction. I still had a lot of us and them, powerful and powerless, victim and perpetrator thinking (and often, still do and have to look at that EVERY DAY, not just to check myself but to be aware of power differentials and it's hard).

Over time, I started to realize I also have to learn about where I have power, privilege and not just pain and adversity/oppression and be part of the solution and not reinforce crap by being silent and unconscious. And when I get ragey at people for not getting things I also remember how slow I am and that there's much I still don't even know that I don't get. 

Thanks for asking and getting me to really reflect and think.

What do you think? 

Cis

Christine Cissy White posted:

Hi Pamela,

These are good/hard questions and I sure don't have the answers. I do think we are responsible for doing our own work and making sure it's ongoing. Speaking only for myself, I haven't always known or believed that though. I didn't know it was on me to do, at least at first - and that once I got that yup, it is, it's actually core and central. It hasn't meant I knew/know how to do the work and how it's related to the rest of the work I do. I'm in the process of educating myself, getting educated (training) to start thinking about this more for myself and work. And that it will be constant and ongoing. Cissy

Cissy, thanks for sharing your insights and experience about being invested in doing the work.  I wonder, what helps one perceive each individual is  "responsible for doing our own work and making sure it's ongoing."  What prompts that shift in belief, attitude, action, toward ownership of educating and decolonizing one's identity and the other aspects of the work?  

Thanks for this resource and reference. I work diligently to get my blind spots exposed and educated. These resources will help. 

Pamela Denise Long posted:

What are the competencies for anti-racism and decolonizing identity work? How do those differ for working in collaboration? To what extent is the anti-racism collective responsible for the development of those who are engaged in the work?  Also, what knowledge or extent of knowledge should a Black or non-black person bring to the table and under what circumstances?  Thank you for sharing this resource.

Hi Pamela,

These are good/hard questions and I sure don't have the answers. I do think we are responsible for doing our own work and making sure it's ongoing. Speaking only for myself, I haven't always known or believed that though. I didn't know it was on me to do, at least at first - and that once I got that yup, it is, it's actually core and central. It hasn't meant I knew/know how to do the work and how it's related to the rest of the work I do. I'm in the process of educating myself, getting educated (training) to start thinking about this more for myself and work. And that it will be constant and ongoing. Cissy

What are the competencies for anti-racism and decolonizing identity work? How do those differ for working in collaboration? To what extent is the anti-racism collective responsible for the development of those who are engaged in the work?  Also, what knowledge or extent of knowledge should a Black or non-black person bring to the table and under what circumstances?  Thank you for sharing this resource.

When I get frustrated about having to educate people about issues related to class, gender, adoption, ACEs as experienced, etc. I remind myself of all the ways I have not educated myself and remember to try to channel my frustration because of how much I need to learn. Thanks for some book titles and posts.