(Carolyn has) been thinking a lot about those Indian princess doll souvenirs of her childhood and found the following:
“‘It Has Stuck With Me 35 Years’: 11 Childhood Memories of Blackface and Other Racist Incidents. Readers reveal racist behavior they committed or witnessed as children and reflect on how it affects them today.
The blackface performances that 68-year-old Bernie Oakley remembers from the 1960s weren’t held during booze-fueled college fraternity parties. They were held at fund-raisers for local schools. And his father, who considered himself an anti-racist Sunday school teacher, was the M.C. Mr. Oakley was one of about 75 readers who wrote to tell us about their memories of witnessing or participating in blackface or other racist behavior when they were young.
Many recalled seeing or participating in racist activities at school, where it was sanctioned by adult role models, when they were children. Their memories, spanning seven decades from 1940 to 2010, chronicle the evolution and persistence of racist episodes within schools and among groups of children. Several described struggling to reconcile their enjoyment of those things with their anti-racist beliefs and to unlearn what they were taught.”
-The New York Times, by Lela Moore, February 23, 2019.
Queries:
What racist activities or images or stories do you recall seeing or participating in when you were young?
In what ways did these experiences teach you how to be racist?
How might these activities/images inform your anti-racism work today?
7/23/2021 Queries
Because of how rarely privilege is examined, even our social justice movements tend to focus on the most privileged and most represented people within those groups. Anti-racism groups will often tend to prioritize the needs of straight men of color, feminist groups will tend to prioritize the needs of white women, LGBYTQ groups will tend to prioritize the needs of white gay cisgender men….These solutions, not surprisingly, often leave the underprivileged populations in our movements behind.
Ijeoma Oluo–So you want to talk about race
Queries:
In what ways can I ensure the focus of my antiracism work raises the voices of those least heard(or with the least privilege)?
How can I help others become more aware of how their privilege impacts others with less privilege?
7/16/21 Queries
"The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.” Ijeoma Oluo(from her book“So you want to talk about race”)
“Do not accept anything as love which lacks truth.” Edith Stein
Queries:
In what ways do you live into your commitment of challenging racism wherever you find it?
How do you respond when you identify racism within and how do you care for yourself?
What practices help ground you in truth and love?
6/25/21 Queries
“ What we must do is commit ourselves to some future that can include each other and to work toward that future with the particular strengths of our individual identities. And in order for us to do this, we must allow each other our differences at the same time as we recognize our sameness.”
– Audre Lorde
In what ways can I commit myself toward being authentically vulnerable in my anti-racism work?
How will I be stretched when I make this commitment?
6/18/21 Queries - Juneteenth
“Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” - Coretta Scott King
“We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.” - Bayard Rustin
On this Juneteenth holiday, newly recognized by the Federal government, where is your anti-racism work focused?
7/29/2021 Queries
7/23/2021 Queries
7/16/21 Queries
6/25/21 Queries
6/18/21 Queries - Juneteenth