On White People’s Work Right Now
Dear White Cousins,
As White people, we have presided over a system that has caused unfathomable harm to people who don’t look like us. The twin pandemics of COVID-19 and anti-blackness have made this obvious and left many asking:
How did we get here?
Why weren’t the movements of the 1960’s enough?
What else haven’t I been able to see?
These are all areas where Black, Brown and Indigenous leaders have spoken clearly, across generations, in genres from historical and scientific research, to podcasts, literature and cinema.
We are explicitly being asked to listen to them now.
Why didn’t I see this all before?
Who am I in this racial landscape?
#Justice4Jamar March, December, 2015, Minneapolis
But, there are also internal questions, questions such as:
Why didn’t I see all this before?
How can I make sense of everything I’m sensing and feeling now?
Who am I in this racial landscape and what is my work?
How can I build my capacity to stick with this work for the long haul?
It is not the job of Black, Brown and Indigenous people to help us make sense of all this.
Learning to see and sense our common world as it truly is, so that we can act from compassion and authenticity is White people’s work right now. And it is daunting.
No one can take the journey for you, but you don’t have to go alone.
As a white woman, I have been on this journey long enough to have picked up the tools and skills to be your guide, even as I continue along the path: Move, Feel, Make Sense, Repeat.