In the past week, I've spent quite some time talking to friends who insist on saying "I don't see color", or "I don't believe in racism", "I'm not racist because I have black friends", or even "all lives matter". I just couldn't, as hard as I tried, change their minds. [1/8]
It's been exasperating to see that even with all of the written material available, all the data (even some excellent cartoons!), some folks still don't want to admit this. It can be really hard to change one's view point, it seems. [2/8]
But I'm going to go ahead and add one more resource to the pile already available... [3/8]
If you have 9 min to spare, I highly recommend this video of Robin Diangelo discussing her book, “White Fragility.” It's a powerful short interview that might open many people's eyes. It was shared by Jim Parsons on Instagram [4/8]:
instagram.com/p/CBN6ym7gWwn/
instagram.com/p/CBN6ym7gWwn/
The topic of "white fragility" is something that I thought was just an off-hand joke, not an actual area of study. Multiple issues raised by Robin in this short video resonated with me and some things opened my eyes as a path forward. [5/8]
For example, when she said "you were born in a society that set you up in this way": I think that's really powerful because it disarms one's sense of guilt and defensiveness and opens up a path for people to feel that they can recognize their bias and grow. [6/8]
I also have learned that (even as someone who identifies as POC myself), it is not my place to pretend to understand the reality of black people. I will never have that type of racism directed towards me, so I will never truly comprehend what that experience feels like. [7/8]
Talking about it is not enough, of course. But hopefully the "non-racism" to "anti-racism" shift we're witnessing will lead to real change over time. [8/fin]
[9/8] Oh, and if you haven't yet... Take the Harvard Implicit Bias test!! It's an oldie but goodie eye opener...
implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takea…
implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takea…
