WORK : Whites Overcoming Racism through Knowledge
It's time to get to WORK.
A New Direction
I have an idea that I think could put all of us to work in our own communities.
Last week I had a meeting with Kimmy from the board and she and I discussed a lot of things. We decided that one of the ways WORK could be used is to give white folks a visual remind of the privilege they benefit from.
A majority of white people don't know what white privilege is, and those who do know (even the most conscious of us) sometimes forget that there are things we benefit from every day that people from other ethnic backgrounds don't.
Peggy McIntosh does an awesome job of pointing out a few of the things white privilege includes in her paper Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, which can be found here: http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf
While Kimmy and I were talking she mentioned that the popular video game Guitar Hero only had white characters. This is a pretty modern example of white privilege. White folks can choose a character that resembles them, but people of color aren't even given that option.
So I think it's time that white folks are given a visual reminder of their privilege.
Yes, yes, it's time for a guerrilla art campaign.
Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting images and documents that you can use to remind the white folks in your own community of their own privilege.
I plan on doing a lot of things, and I hope some of you will join me in creating them.
The documents that I plan on creating will be booklets, posters, stencils, stickers, images, and cards that bring different aspects of white privilege to the viewers/readers attention. For instance. I may take some of the information from Peggy McIntosh's essay and then turn it into a poster that you could tape to a lamp post, with tear-away slips at the bottom with a link to whiteprivilege.com, along with other websites that have more information. Or even just a card that says something a long the lines of "Why are the peach crayons named 'Flesh tone' while the brown crayons are called 'burnt sienna'?" Then on the back there would be a website. For this example I'd put a link to damali ayo's flesh tone series, found here: http://damaliayo.com/pages/fleshtone.htm
These documents can be printed out at home, and then you can tape them to lampposts, community billboards, or even hide them in best selling books at your local bookstore. Whatever suits your fancy. Just be sure to place them in high traffic areas where someone will eventually find them.
Most of you have the skills to make something like this, so I encourage you to also make posters, booklets, stickers, fact sheets, cards, or even just post phrases that could help us all remind white people of the privilege they benefit from daily.
What do you all think?
If you have any essays, or other sources if information you'd like to be included in this project don't be afraid to post them.
Oh yes, and we need a very strongly worded defintion of white privilege that we can use for these documents. If you all could help me come up with one (I've really been struggling to put it to words) that'd be grand.
Once we have a strong defintion to go from, then we all can start creating documents and images to scatter across our communities as visual reminders.
What do you think?
Last week I had a meeting with Kimmy from the board and she and I discussed a lot of things. We decided that one of the ways WORK could be used is to give white folks a visual remind of the privilege they benefit from.
A majority of white people don't know what white privilege is, and those who do know (even the most conscious of us) sometimes forget that there are things we benefit from every day that people from other ethnic backgrounds don't.
Peggy McIntosh does an awesome job of pointing out a few of the things white privilege includes in her paper Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, which can be found here: http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf
While Kimmy and I were talking she mentioned that the popular video game Guitar Hero only had white characters. This is a pretty modern example of white privilege. White folks can choose a character that resembles them, but people of color aren't even given that option.
So I think it's time that white folks are given a visual reminder of their privilege.
Yes, yes, it's time for a guerrilla art campaign.
Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting images and documents that you can use to remind the white folks in your own community of their own privilege.
I plan on doing a lot of things, and I hope some of you will join me in creating them.
The documents that I plan on creating will be booklets, posters, stencils, stickers, images, and cards that bring different aspects of white privilege to the viewers/readers attention. For instance. I may take some of the information from Peggy McIntosh's essay and then turn it into a poster that you could tape to a lamp post, with tear-away slips at the bottom with a link to whiteprivilege.com, along with other websites that have more information. Or even just a card that says something a long the lines of "Why are the peach crayons named 'Flesh tone' while the brown crayons are called 'burnt sienna'?" Then on the back there would be a website. For this example I'd put a link to damali ayo's flesh tone series, found here: http://damaliayo.com/pages/fleshtone.htm
These documents can be printed out at home, and then you can tape them to lampposts, community billboards, or even hide them in best selling books at your local bookstore. Whatever suits your fancy. Just be sure to place them in high traffic areas where someone will eventually find them.
Most of you have the skills to make something like this, so I encourage you to also make posters, booklets, stickers, fact sheets, cards, or even just post phrases that could help us all remind white people of the privilege they benefit from daily.
What do you all think?
If you have any essays, or other sources if information you'd like to be included in this project don't be afraid to post them.
Oh yes, and we need a very strongly worded defintion of white privilege that we can use for these documents. If you all could help me come up with one (I've really been struggling to put it to words) that'd be grand.
Once we have a strong defintion to go from, then we all can start creating documents and images to scatter across our communities as visual reminders.
What do you think?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kimmy Kunkle on -
Thanks for posting this Brittany! Maybe we can have a work party with some of us in the Portland area to get going on all this stuff? I am in the area until August 13 when I'll be moving to NYC.
I've been bustin my brain about a concise and powerful definition for white privilege too so other's input would be much appreciated.
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