As we were leaving the meeting, a white Quaker woman who was sitting on a crucial decision-making committee at the WCC told me,“You know, no one in this group is trying to marginalize you, and no one at the WCC is trying to marginalize you.”
I told her,“I would be happy to have this conversation with you if you like, but it merits more time than two minutes on the way to the bus. Since you are in a position of power, I understand why you would say that. But I will just point out that that is what the powerful always say to and about the marginalized.”
It would have been much more helpful to me if this woman had said,“You have a point of view I haven’t heard. I’m distressed about it. And, in my position of power, I want to make sure that I can hear your voice fully. Would you be willing to meet with me and talk?” This would have signaled to me that she was willing to listen about how I felt marginalized, rather than engage in a rather dismissive one-minute conversation, and that she was open to learning about the process of marginalization within WCC of which she might be unaware. ..I hope that my experience as an indigenous woman can be taken seriously.
-”The Land is Not Empty,” Sarah Augustine, 2021, Herald Press, pp 67-8.
Queries
What did I learn from this quote?
How will this quote impact my actions in the future?
What characteristics of white supremacy culture cause us to marginalize others?
11/1/2024 Queries
10/25/2024 Queries
10/18/2024 Queries