Rootsie

I figured that I'd post an intro here as this is the general forum.

It is good to read of white rasta who are talking about white privelege. Although I am not rasta, I have been attracted to the liberation aspects of rasta and the focus on living without vanity. I cannot claim it though, but do respect it!

As someone who was attracted to the teachings of the Buddha because of its focus on the interconnectedness of all things, compassion, loving kindness,  direct experience, my own practice includes exploring the fact that as a white female, with "Western" upbringing, mindfulness and compassion mean speaking out against and educating on white privelege to other white people.

Now my identity is slightly complicated by my being of Jewish descent, and the fact that my students frequently assume I'm either a light skinned Latina or from southern Europe. In fact it hurts, but I have to tell them, "No, soy solamente gringa." It definitely feels good that by the way I act my context as a light skinned human is seen as somewhat non-white. But I know that I have a lot of work to do, and this cannot be entirely claimed by me, even if I had racial attacks on me in my grade school years done by white anti-semites.

It is good to see other people with both European descent and non-European descent, like myself, who are seen as white and socialized as white, sawing away at the chains of whiteness and supporting our African brothers and sisters in the struggle through educating other white people.

It is easy to stay in the place of being "cool white people" and patting ourselves on the back for how much we hate injustice and how non-white we seem. It is more difficult to get back on the path, with all our weaknesses, and all the terrible history that caused us to have this relationship with the earth and with other humans.

Knowing about our privelege is only the first step.

It is good to have found your site Rootsie.

hugz

-L

Thanks and welcome.

I am an educator too. Please give your thoughts about  telling the children the truth.

Rootsie

All but maybe 2 of my students are of color, and they are all immigrants to the US (or on a rare occasion temporary visitors). The largest language group is Spanish followed by Amharic and then French/Creole.

In having to teach them U.S. History (from old textbooks no less) I simply do not lie. I try to draw parallels betwen the U.S.'s behavior and that of the countries that colonized their own country. I try to show them that the U.S. only really cares about what it can get and none of the ideals it says it cares about. Though individuals might care, of course.

The problem is that a lot of them don't even know their own history, so I have to tell them that too, at least the part I know, and encourage them to read more.

The citizenship test for the US is a test with whiteness as the lense. So far none have asked to take it, but if they do, I will tell them in no uncertain terms that what is said on the test may be true but a parallel world existed that time of enslaved people. This country was built on the backs of enslaved Africans.

Otherwise, I talk about things as they come up, because I have a lot of material to cover and really the same factors are present in throughout U.S. History.

I am in the midst of my student teaching right now, and my mentor is amenable to telling the students the truth, so that they might be empowered. I don't think she exactly analyzes it as whiteness, but she definitely thinks about self-determination, so that's cool by me!

hugz

-L

the trilogy Memory of Fire by Eduardo Galeano is the best source of American (the whole hemisphere) history I have found. It's composed of a series of vignettes for every year from 1492-1992. I have used it in my classrooms a lot. It is beautifully written and everyone's voice is included. Some of the srticles on the website might be useful to you also. The 'Potosi' article draws a lot from Galeano, and in the story of that place is the BIG story of the past 500 years.  His book Upside Down and Open Veins of Latin America are also excellent.  Galeano is perfect for reading aloud, and he is from Uruguay, so there are also Spanish editions.  

Rootsie

Cool I'll get that one when I pick up some Diop  :).

hugz

-L