Denial and fear is not a strategy for dealing with ‘white privilege'
James Lewis
Inspirer | Master Communicator | Facilitator | Course Designer | Coach | Writer | MC | Artist | Endurance Athlete | Connector
Why are so many white people so deeply fearful of acknowledging that we gained because of our skin colour, and that we continue to do so? Do we think that by acknowledging this incontestable reality that we somehow align ourselves with the populist forces out there who want to find any way to steal all our ill gotten gains? What is the major fear here? Perhaps the real fear is in even thinking about this topic deeply enough to develop an informed view of it in our own minds? Instead of really thinking about it we just reject it as soon as the topic comes up! Many white people are investigating putting their heads firmly in the sand and simply refusing to even look at it.
Maybe then there are those white people out there who are not fearful of acknowledging white privilege at all; instead they believe it doesn’t exist, and that it is a tactic of ‘reverse racism’ by black people to attack white people. This thinking is beyond ridiculous, most significantly because for this view to be validated it means that the collective experience of black people suffering under institutional racism is illegitimated; what black people experience of their own degradation, and of the elevation of white over black, is not true in the minds of these people.
How much of our view of white privilege is based on actually thinking it through / considering the facts / doing the work of facing reality / considering the perspectives of those who believe it is real? Or how much of our default position on this subject is purely based in deep fear?
Going forward here things are going to be hard, and there is going to be fear, conflict, and a lot of challenge for us all as South African citizens. Despite these realities I choose to be part of a conscious and personally accountable body of people in this country who understand that we can only go forward if we all face our demons. this process is called social restitution and it only works if people can face the hard realities that affront us all.
To choose to deny this topic, and to choose to argue that you have nothing to do with this countries issues, or with the responsibility for our future, is a clear statement of detachment and fear of reality.
Thinker, Designer, Creator
6 年James the level of silence on this network when you raise topics of this nature is deafening. That in itself is not a problem, until one realises that its the same old same old 'keep to safe conversations and never be seen to play the race card under any circumstance and you will be just fine'. Conversations and debate around these issues has been see to be carrier limiting if not outright suicidal. And I am talking about just 'race' conversations let alone those relating to white privilege. The fact of the matter is that this is the therapeutic speak we (black and white) need to get us out of the gutter of strained race relations and therefore broken social relations. Even this very thing we are trying to do right here, called 'business connecting and networking' is actually affected by the race 'detours' we have to make along the way just to maintain that 'correctness' we must show in order not to stray to the racial offside as it were. You are brave to confront this on a public forum. Well done. My take on it is this: you are spot on, its a cancer no one want to live with. No white child today wants to grow up with this stigma of privilege. As a black parent, I equally do not want my child to ever grow up with the stigma of racial underprivileged. Which leads me to the conclusion that the actual conversation needs to be on both sides, black and white. When you grappling with what it actually means to be privileged as a white person, I have to grapple with what it actually means to be underprivileged as a a black person. The real point of racial and social cohesion lies somewhere in-between this continuum. That is the magical co-ordinate that only talking and engagement can locate, not some of the racial abuse I see on some social media sites that seek to perpetuate supremacy of one view over another, yet when closely analysed all those views are simply meant to drive self preservation. I for one, do not believe that commenting forthright on a topic like this makes my professional career endangered. Instead I invite other smart, mature, self-respecting and peace loving adults on both sides of the divide to step out and say their opinion without fear of being judged. No politician no matter how loved they are, can solve this 'us' and 'them' racial profiling or the hate speak that emerges from time to time. Only we, the people can do so but in the absence of open conversations, we are doomed till the final day. Kudos to you James!