Lyra: As I stated earlier on this thread, I don't think it really matters at all what we think, or even how we think. The critical point is determining whether we benefit from the current social structure, which is based on raced and gendered categories, and by which people who are white automatically receive privileges at the expense of others.
So, I say it again, if you do not actively work against that structure you are racist. There's no such thing as being a "passive" anti-racist.
So, what this has meant, for me, is, making sure that my work place ACTIVELY seeks to hire people of color in positions of power. And it has also meant, in a way, I have a felt a moral obligation that relates to friendship.
A good number of my friends are formed through work. Now, personally, I like having people of color around; too many white and/or heterosexual folks in one place makes me nervous. (So I agree that if you don't see that the spaces you habitually spend time in, that the people you live and interact with are "white," then you're being unconsciously, passively, racist.)
So, anyway, I believe I also have an obligation (as well as a vested interest!), to help make sure that a new colleague of color isn't closed out of the social networks at work, for instance. I don't want to preach, so--at the risk of sounding pretentious--I'll just use my own feeble attempts in this area. I'm not claiming to be somekind of a white Martin Luther King, Jr. or an Atticus Finch wannabe, but I've become tremendous friends with a woman initially in great part because I was very conscious of the unconscious way white working friendships often work to exclude black folks.
First off, I was in a good position (my office was nearby, we have similar areas of expertise) to make a conscious effort to make sure she felt included in my department, and to listen to her. I mean it was important for me to send subtle and overt signals that we are on the same side, that I have her back, and that it's okay for her to be even sharply critical of the subtle and overt racism that happens in our field, in our workplace--in my actions. She calls me on stuff, I get defensive and then realize she's probably right. And I call her on homophobia. And I think she knows now that I will do whatever I can from what power I have, even when its scary, even when it might cause me trouble, to do what I can to change the way my workplace works.
Of course I might not have become as close to just any black woman. I love her and we have a great bond. But I'd never have become this close to her if I hadn't actively noticed the unconscious, almost invisible (to me) racist structures that have shaped me, and actively worked against them.
Of course categories like "black" are a product of racist structures. But pretending not to notice these categories is not any way to end their power in our cultures.
[ 16-03-2002: Message edited by: alas ] |
