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I find Dr. Peggy McIntosh's article "White People Facing Race: Uncovering the Myths that keep Racism in Place" very helpful in understanding how racism and white privilege are both denied and perpetuated. The five myths she discusses are: 1. "The Myth of Meritocracy is the myth that the individual is the only unit of society, and that whatever a person ends up with must be what he or she individually wanted, worked for, earned and deserved." 2. "The Myth of Manifest Destiny includes the i…
Myth #3 is the one that floors me. Many discussions with decent, intelligent people who think this way. My approach is to ask "how in the world do you make decisions then?" They generally ask what do I mean. "How do you know what kind of music you like, or what clothes to wear when? How do you know what foods to eat, or what kind of store to shop at? What to call your mother and father? How to carry a child? When it is appropriate to walk into a neighbor's house without knocking? How to…
Myth #3 is a good explanatory as to why white people are the only power structure that are racist. Because they “invented” the power structure and have never felt the effects of the affect they created. One cannot accuse a person of color as being racist. It’s a bit mind blowing. When I wrapped my head around it, it shut me up for awhile and got me listening a whole lot more.
"Myth #3 is a good explanatory as to why white people are the only power structure that are racist..." Really??? I must be misunderstanding what this seems to assert because this white who has lived in another culture that is not white, indeed has seen and experienced a racist power structure. Racism is not unique to the Caucasian race.
This is true. In multi-cultural San Francisco, people seek out preschools that represent their culture and beliefs. In this city that is probably representative of every nationality, race and culture, I still saw groups of preschool children walking along the street consisting of only one race/nationality. People still choose to voluntarily segregate themselves by culture/race, and this applies to people of other nationalities and color, who prefer not to be with whites.
I agree with your thought re: culture/race and I’d add language and values. I find this true in may own life. I will not practice zen by sitting in an Asian temple, because it is culturally foreign to me. The most segregated time of one’s life in America is “Sunday mornings”, or the time of celebrating the spirit, which of course is universal. I’ve celebrated mass at a Mexican church, BUT without knowledge of Spanish and customs, I and my wife felt as outsiders. AND, I can empathize with ethnic families not wanting their child to be immersed with American children, especially young boys. My judgement here is that young American males adopt aggressive behavior of their male role models.
The desire to feel comfortable and safe is archetypal. We are tribal creatures.