Monday, October 15, 2018

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown


Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age 7, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools, organizations, and churches, Austin writes, “I had to learn what it means to love blackness,” a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America’s racial divide as a writer, speaker and expert who helps organizations practice genuine inclusion.

In a time when nearly all institutions (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claim to value “diversity” in their mission statements, I’m Still Here is a powerful account of how and why our actions so often fall short of our words. Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice, in stories that bear witness to the complexity of America’s social fabric--from Black Cleveland neighborhoods to private schools in the middle-class suburbs, from prison walls to the boardrooms at majority-white organizations.

For readers who have engaged with America’s legacy on race through the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Eric Dyson, I’m Still Here is an illuminating look at how white, middle-class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting the reader to confront apathy, recognize God’s ongoing work in the world, and discover how


People talking to her when she calls out racism:
·       Perhaps you misunderstood
·       Perhaps he didn’t mean it like that
·       Be more patient and see his heart
·       Divisive, negative, toxic
·       Try again to help them see systemic
·       Too sensitive
·       Too angry
·       Should watch tone
·       Too inflexible to people who are trying
·       Easily identified as being present or absent

She tries to help people look at the system of oppression:
·       Words about system instead of individuals
·       White boardrooms and white leadership teams
·       Organizations Perpetuating white culture and not diversifying

Points
·       Cultural way of being are not because of goodness
·       Never open items in the store without receipt in hand.
·       Companies want racial diversity, but not diversity of thought and culture

Prayers from them are different than the prayers I need
·       Don’t ask that I be understood, but that I would have more grace
·       Make me more like them

Confessions
·       Going up to PoC and confessing
·       Telling me about books to read and movies to see

Racial Reconciliation – What should you do?
·       Oriented to structural change
·       Never apolitical
·       Have to choose sides
·       Always choose justice
·       Diversity and inclusion are not reconciliation and justice (it’s often about “numbers”)
·       Without PoC in key positions, influencing decisions, it’s mostly white
·       Cake with sprinkles is still vanilla
·       PoC are constantly fixing the problems (pushing allies, responding to events, etc.)
·       It’s not about teaching white people about racism
·       It is not your responsibility to transform an entire community

Historical Injustice
·       At no point did all white people come together to correct racial injustice
·       At no point did all white people decide chattel slavery should end, we should listen to the freedom fighters, enact black people’s right to vote
·       And yet there has been change, over time and over history, and it’s only taken the transformed (I don’t need to talk to all white people, just those who join the struggle)

She is tired of hearing, “f we could just learn to love one another”
·       “Whiteness sees love as a prize it is owed rather than a moral obligation it must demonstrate”
·       Demand for grace, niceness, and patience, so people are comfortable as the change
·       I need a love that can no longer be concerned with tone, because it is concerned with life
·       It is fierce in its resilience and sacrifice
·       There was no real hope within their individual lifespan, and they struggled and resisted. They still showed up.

From the White Privilege Symposium some of us attended this weekend
·       Thanos (from the Avenger movie) and asked, “If you had the Infinity Stones, what would you do with them to create a more just world?” She asked us to please imagine more than Thanos did.
·       Use the world “Global majority” instead of PoC, though some want to claim African/Black American to no distance self from racial experience

Raisin in the Sun
·       A realist sees a circle
·       An idealist sees a line, you can barely see the change, but you can see the line to the future

From a course Claudia is taking:
Racial Literacy
·       Racial Literacy TED Talk by Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo (12 min)
·       Knowing experiences and combine it with historical literacy or what happened in this country
·       Ability to understand what race is, why it is, and how is it used to reproduce inequality and oppression
·       Understand why things are the way they are
Racial Realism
·       Acknowledge that racism is here and always has been
·       There is a history related to today’s experiences
·       The curriculum was created to put POC down and uplift white people
Racial Reconstruction
·       Deconstructing (breaking down) inherent thoughts and beliefs about race, in order to rebuilt and create a new present day
·       There is no such thing as a race neutral curriculum, etc. (it is actually pro white)
Racial Reconciliation
·       Ideally healing and deliberately putting reconciliation first
·       Relinquishing comfort as a white person so other can feel comfortable
·       Giving up things we might enjoy/think valuable because of the damage it does to other

Privilege is the best word we can come up with that is the opposite of discrimination
Privilege does not mean “wealth”

If we hold things constant, how can we see the difference between a white family and a family of color?
·       Narrative is a tool (down of their luck vs. lazy and living off government)
·       White people are treated more favorable by police
·       White people are more likely to get a job interview based on resume
·       Where do they live?
·       How are they treated in school?
·       What is the emotional repercussions?
·       Medical differences
·       Narrative about how family got there is different (affirmative action)

“When we talk about racial equity, we are in science fiction because we are creating a world that does not yet exist.” ~Debby Irving

What discriminatory policies were made from those above the line to those underneath?
·       Voter suppression
·       mass incarceration
·       hiring practices
·       Tuskegee experiments
·       War on drugs
·       Terrorism
·       Segregation
·       Homeland security
·       War on poverty
·       Reservations

Are you one up or one down? You want to have people at the table who have multiple one down identities. I don’t know them. I don’t feel them. I can’t even imagine them.
·       It’s automatic, if it’s above the line.
·       We’re all a constellation of above and below the line.
·       An incredible tool for intersectionality.
·       Above the line is 98% of the Fortune 500.
·       Power looks upright and able (and white and male).

White supremacy is the system that says one group to the best to run (the top of the line/level playing field). White Rage is about white supremacy being recalibrated.

Plantations were diverse. We really need to think about it differently. We want to include people (in our thing). The more power we have, the less we have to follow the rules. Debby uses the right side to decenter whiteness


“Togetherness across racial lines doesn’t have to mean the uplifting of whiteness and harming of Blackness. And even though the Church I love has been the oppressor as often as it has been the champion of the oppressed, I can’t let go of my belief in Church—in a universal body of belonging, in a community that reaches toward love in a world so often filled with hate.”

“When you believe niceness disproves the presence of racism, it’s easy to start believing bigotry is rare, and that the label racist should be applied only to mean-spirited, intentional acts of discrimination. The problem with this framework—besides being a gross misunderstanding of how racism operates in systems and structures enabled by nice people—is that it obligates me to be nice in return, rather than truthful. I am expected to come closer to the racists. Be nicer to them. Coddle them.”

“White supremacy is a tradition that must be named and a religion that must be renounced. When this work has not been done, those who live in whiteness become oppressive, whether intentional or not.”

“The monster has always been well dressed and well loved.”

“But I am not impressed with America’s progress. I am not impressed that slavery was abolished or that Jim Crow ended. I feel no need to pat America on its back for these “achievements.” This is how it always should have been. Many call it progress, but I do not consider it praiseworthy that only within the last generation did America reach the baseline for human decency. As comedian Chris Rock says, I suppose these things were progress for white people, but damn. I hope there is progress I can sincerely applaud on the horizon. Because the extrajudicial killing of Black people is still too familiar. Because the racist rhetoric that Black people are lazier, more criminal, more undeserving than white people is still too familiar. Because the locking up of a disproportionate number of Black bodies is still too familiar. Because the beating of Black people in the streets is still too familiar. History is collapsing on itself once again.”

“Then, as we pulled into a parking lot to break for lunch, another white student stood to speak. But instead of a different variation on “Please don’t make me responsible for this,” she took a deep breath and gave in to the emotion of it all. “I don’t know what to do with what I’ve learned,” she said. “I can’t fix your pain, and I can’t take it away, but I can see it. And I can work for the rest of my life to make sure your children don’t have to experience the pain of racism.” And then she said nine words that I’ve never forgotten: “Doing nothing is no longer an option for me.”

“Our only change at dismantling racial injustice is being more curious about its origins than we are worried about our comfort. It's not a comfortable conversation for any of us. It is risky and messy. It is haunting work to recall the sins of our past. But is this not the work we have been called to anyway? Is this not the work of the Holy Spirit to illuminate truth and inspire transformation? It's haunting. But it's also holy.”

“This is the shadow of hope. Knowing that we may never see the realization of our dreams, and yet still showing up.”

“White people desperately want to believe that only the lonely, isolated “whites only” club members are racist. This is why the word racist offends “nice white people” so deeply. It challenges their self-identification as good people. Sadly, most white people are more worried about being called racist than about whether or not their actions are in fact racist or harmful.”

“We like to pretend that all those white faces who carried protest signs and batons, who turned on their sprinklers and their fire hoses, who wrote against the demonstrations and preached against the changes, just disappeared. We like to pretend that they were won over, transformed, the moment King proclaimed, “I have a dream.” We don’t want to acknowledge that just as Black people who experienced Jim Crow are still alive, so are the white people who vehemently protected it—who drew red lines around Black neighborhoods and divested them of support given to average white citizens. We ignore that white people still avoid Black neighborhoods, still don’t want their kids going to predominantly Black schools, still don’t want to destroy segregation.”

“Anger is not inherently destructive. My anger can be a force for good. My anger can be creative and imaginative, seeing a better world that doesn’t yet exist. It can fuel a righteous movement toward justice and freedom.”

“White people who expect me to be white have not yet realized that their cultural way of being is not in fact the result of goodness, rightness, or God’s blessing. Pushing back, resisting the lie, is hella work.”

“And even though the Church I love has been the oppressor as often as it has been the champion of the oppressed, I can’t let go of my belief in Church—in a universal body of belonging, in a community that reaches toward love in a world so often filled with hate. I continue to be drawn toward the collective participation of seeking good, even when that means critiquing the institution I love for its commitment to whiteness.”

“White institutions are constantly communicating how much Blackness they want. It begins with numbers. How many scholarships are being offered? How many seats are being “saved” for “neighborhood kids”? How many Black bodies must be present for us to have “good” diversity numbers? How many people of color are needed for the website, the commercials, the pamphlets? But numbers are only the beginning. Whiteness constantly polices the expressions of Blackness allowed within its walls, attempting to accrue no more than what’s necessary to affirm itself. It wants us to sing the celebratory “We Shall Overcome” during MLK Day but doesn’t want to hear the indicting lyrics of “Strange Fruit.” It wants to see a Black person seated at the table but doesn’t want to hear a dissenting viewpoint. It wants to pat itself on the back for helping poor Black folks through missions or urban projects but has no interest in learning from Black people’s wisdom, talent, and spiritual depth. Whiteness wants enough Blackness to affirm the goodness of whiteness, the progressiveness of whiteness, the openheartedness of whiteness. Whiteness likes a trickle of Blackness, but only that which can be controlled.”

“My white teachers had an unspoken commitment to the belief that we are all the same, a default setting that masked for them how often white culture bled into the curriculum. For example, when teachers wanted to drive home the point that we should do something daily, they often likened it to how you wash your hair every morning. It never occurred to them that none of the Black girls in the class did this. Knowing it was true for white people, and having gotten used to white teachers’ assumption of universality, we would all nod our heads and move on. Who had time to teach the teacher?”

“Dr. Simms wanted us to be emotionally connected to our learning, to sit in the pain, the horror, the absurdity of America’s racist history, and to humanize those who dared stand against the system. Dr. Simms made us believe that we could follow that legacy of resistance, but one piece of his advice stood out to me more than all the others. “Ain’t no friends here.”

“But numbers are only the beginning. Whiteness constantly polices the expressions of Blackness allowed within its walls, attempting to accrue no more than what’s necessary to affirm itself. It wants us to sing the celebratory “We Shall Overcome” during MLK Day but doesn’t want to hear the indicting lyrics of “Strange Fruit.” It wants to see a Black person seated at the table but doesn’t want to hear a dissenting viewpoint. It wants to pat itself on the back for helping poor Black folks through missions or urban projects but has no interest in learning from Black people’s wisdom, talent, and spiritual depth. Whiteness wants enough Blackness to affirm the goodness of whiteness, the progressiveness of whiteness, the openheartedness of whiteness. Whiteness likes a trickle of Blackness, but only that which can be controlled.”

“In my experience, white people who believe they are safe often prove dangerous when that identity is challenged."