Unlearning racism

[Amina]

After being on this planet for several decades I have come to the conclusion that (in western Europe at least) white people are educated to be racist. We then have to do all we can to unlearn it; so we have to be constantly awake and aware that we are not hoodwinked by media and government into keeping racism alive. Until school history books are rewritten I don't see a lot of hope for this situation changing.
I have found this theory to be not very popular with other white people ;-)

[Jeff Hitchcock]

Amina, the theory you describe is not popular in the USA, for sure. However, there is some organizing going on here. It's been 40 years since black activists (Malcolm X, Bayard Rustin, and Stokley Carmichael aka Kwame Ture) challenged white Americans to go into our own communities and educate our people. Today many white people are actually doing this. It is still a very small movement, but it is growing.

[Amina]

40 years... yes we've taken our time! I 'grew up with' these people, the Panthers, Angela Davis, George Jackson. For many years I've been a literary agent and trying to sell translation rights for e.g. John A Williams (The Man who cried I Am) and several childrens' authors. It's so disappointing to see that for adult writers if it's 'fashionable' to publish Black writers then it's ok - they are not considered simply writers - and for children's authors European publishers whine that there are not enough Black parents buying books for their children to publish books illustrated with Black children. Meanwhile, the Black children in Europe have to continue to read books illustrated with white kids and are supposed to lump it.

[Lauryn]

How would you encourage people (of all races) to buy books illustrated with blacks and other non-whites?

[Amina]

hmmmm that's a really good question. I'm based in Europe and I suppose I'd try to get some children's tv programmes to give the books to children on a show and hope the results are positive. Or have someone read the books to children... also readings in libraries (which probably already do things like that). When it comes down to it you have to convince the parents to buy or borrow the books. Perhaps more public discussion would help the penny to drop in white brains that some people hardly ever get to see themselves in books - or on tv as alive and not criminal or the police...
I believe this is what they call a steep learning curve that is in its infancy after 400 years or so :-(

[Rebecca Groebner]

I think that the first step is to put a list of books together. I am raising a 3-year old white son, and I have had a huge difficulty in finding books that have POC as main characters that do not concentrate on the color of their skin. I have never seen a book with a white main character that was about the color of their skin (though perhaps that is a good idea too). I know that antiracistparent.com has a couple of posts and comments that have started listing some good sources already...but certainly, one way to encourage people to do anything is to make it easy for them.

Finding movies for children with POC as main characters is seeming next to impossible. I was trying to work on a list for that this week and keep coming up with nill. However, I think that movies are also an important place in which the white-as-main-character mentality is spread.

[Amina]

I was reading this thread again today. I have to recommend the books by Eloise Greenfield. She has written more than 40 books for children - many of which deal with the usual childhood questions - staying up late to wait for Daddy, buying a birthday present for Mommy, broken families etc - but illustrated with families of colour.
Many years ago I was trying to sell translation rights for these books in Europe, suggesting that it would be a nice change for white kids to see children in books that did not look like themselves... but publishers are chiefly interested in making money, not thought revolutions.
http://thebrownbookshelf.com/2008/02/18/eloise-greenfield/

[Dean Korsak]

I have expressed interest to an artist friend of mine to develop a book for children to learn respect for others, including a very colorful illustration of different racial and ethnic groups.

In fact, I already have an ISBN for the book, just no book!
Prevention is the best solution.
Maybe starting a children’s book now will prevent the need to unlearn racism in the future.

[Amina]

Sounds great - anything positive is a good idea. Keep us informed. An ISBN is a good start and in some cultures putting the cart before the horse is standard ;-)

[Heather Barr]

Dear Amina,

Indeed, an unpopular notion you have there, and so true!

It is interesting to hear a Western European perspective; I have wondered about the nature of white racist thought in Europe as opposed to that in my country, the USA.

White folks in the USA are particularly and peculiarly resistant to addressing the inadequacies of our education system as it relates to racism. As it is replete with racism, and our nation was built on the backs of black chattel slaves. Most white Americans are guilt ridden, while at the same time protesting "I didn't own slaves...that was a long time ago, time to get over it" and other comments that minimize the impact of multi-generational trauma and what Dr. Joy Leary calls "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome." Most white Americans like happy stories, and many enjoy an idealized "white-washed version of the events of the past 300+ years. Most white Americans consider themselves to be well intentioned and "not racist", and are very uncomfortable even talking about institutionalized or structural racism, let alone their own personal prejudices and racist behaviors, but the majority of white Americans do not mix with people of other races, and fewer still have personal relationships with people of other races. Most white Americans are blissfully unaware of the governmentally sanctioned practices and policies that have targeted black Americans and held them in a state of disadvantage. Laws regarding land ownership ( e.g. red lining, "sundown towns", banishment, unfair lending practices, most recently sub-prime lending, VA home loans that excluded blacks post WWII) have resulted in hardships on blacks and a racially legislated disadvantage when it comes to accumulation of wealth, property ownership being the hallmark of wealth accumulation.
You will not find most of this in any American high school history book; the bit that acknowledges slavery is usually minimal at best, and the majority of teachers are not comfortable talking about race, either. Recently a colleague of mine tendered this comment: "the worst thing that can happen to a person working in the Health Department is to be called racist, or even for someone to insinuate that you might be racist. It makes me afraid to have the discussion at all." I opine differently. The comment stings only because it holds truth. To rid oneself of the useless hindrance of guilt, one must own the past, admit the benefits we as privileged whites (and I believe that means all whites, even economically disadvantaged whites) have enjoyed as a result of living in a racist society that unfairly bestows an equal or greater measure of DIS advantage on those we have historically exploited and excluded. Call racism what it is, a social construct created and maintained by White Privilege. This is not as painful as most suggest. It is just acknowledging the truth, it does not mean white people are inherently bad, but we did benefit from racist practices. you are spot on with what you said "We have to do all we can to unlearn it". We cannot afford to wait for the school system, which is one of the systems marked by systemic racism to take up the slack, we all need to get busy re-educating ourselves and each other. Education and example are the only anti-racist vaccines we have to offer our children. We need to wake up and recommit to this WORK every day.
Now the next step might involve some actions that some will find painful: correction of an historical wrong. Reparations, anyone? What would reparations look like? (please don't suggest 40acres and a mule! Seriously, with Brown v. the board of education done and gone, what could be done to "level the playing field?" After all, if we are not a part of the solution.....

[Amina]

Thanks for this Heather. I don't really have an answer, but more or less in response to your contribution I posted a poem - not here as I didn't want to be annoying! I put it as my blog and it's visible to everyone. It's more or less about racism in Europe and how insidious it is. Some of the lines refer to real events, but they work in a more general context just as well.
I totally agree that we need to re-commit every single day. It' really a drag that people can't face up to feeling uncomfortable (though they have no problem in telling others they may have made to feel uncomfortable to 'get over it')
I really recommend that the members of this network try the tests on the website of Project Implicit. Whatever you may think you feel about yourself could just possibly get challenged when you do these! https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/

[Heather Barr]

I read your poem, very lovely and harsh -in a good way. And yes, those tests on implicit are really interesting. I did two of them. I am a lousy shot, i found out, i let a lot of real villains get by me. I will not be buying any guns...you can do that here in the USA. But I turned out to have a fairly strong positive reaction to people with darker skin tones in another test.
I love what you said about discomfort. I read somewhere that as we progress in our anti-racist evolution, there comes a point where we are only comfortable when we are at least slightly UNcomfortable
If you would be so kind, please have a look at
http://www.shelfari.com
and check out my book group on white privilege (anti-racists committed to de-constructing white privilege) and one on the prison industrial complex. It is a lovely site, and a good way to peruse lots of books without having to buy them all!