As the protests fade from the first stories that we heard on the evening news, now what do we do?  If we want the terrible actions against people of color to stop, what do we need to do?

 

Why haven’t things changed? 
 

These questions and others like them occupy my thoughts. I listen to a lot of books (I have over 1,500 books in my Audible.com account), so I looked for books to help me understand more about the issue. The book, White Fragility - Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, was at the top of so many lists of current “best sellers”.  So, I purchased it along with a couple others. 
 

What is white fragility? 

 

It is the defensive reaction white people have when the topic of racism is raised. We start explaining why we are not racist, but the reality is we are all swimming in the water of our culture.  Racism isn’t just intentional acts committed by mean people.  Social scientists understand racism as a multidimensional system that ensures an unequal allocation of resources between racial groups.

 

We have been socialized into racist systems affecting education, healthcare, criminal justice, banking, economics, etc.
You might already be feeling uncomfortable with this topic – that is white fragility.  We will need to work through our discomfort.  Robin DeAngelo, the author, says we need to start by asking:

“What does it mean to be white? How has being white shaped my life?”

Educate yourself by reading, watching and listening to works by people of color
 

Practice humility - ongoing practice that must be integrated into your life
 

The author maintains there will be no change if we are just “really nice…smile at people of color… go to lunch together on occasion”.  

 

We must go much deeper – we must get uncomfortable.
 

In fact, Steve Van Ostran, ABCRM’s Executive Minister, recently challenged the Region to join together to make the work of eliminating institutional socialized racism as one of ABCRM’s core function. I hope you will join with us. 
 

Karen Van