The Wrecking Ball of White Ignorance

I had the honor of being asked to be on a panel for The Eikenberg Academy for Social Justice’s Saturday Series on Race a few weeks ago. The session was titled, “Helping white folks heal; Whose job is it anyway?.” Dr. Ken Hardy, who moderates the sessions, asked the four panelists where we were in our own racial healing. I sat with that for a few minutes as I thought about what healing looked like to me. What I realized is that I am beginning to heal because a few years ago, I wouldn’t have even known I was broken or that I had anything to heal from. I think that many of us white folks focus only on the harm we cause BIPOC but not on the harm that white supremacy has caused us. Once we understand this, we have to actually want to heal and commit to continuing even when it gets really hard, feels really bad and shines a light on things we’d rather not look at. This is the real work.

I said that there was a point in the early part of my awareness where I felt like I was toxic to BIPOC. Dr. Hardy asked me if I could explain what I meant by toxic. It took me a minute or two to come up with the words to express what I was feeling and what came up for me was a metaphor. I said I felt like a wrecking ball, swinging around aimlessly causing harm to BIPOC. That is not a pretty picture but it felt true. I recognize that I am healing because I no longer feel like that all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I know that I still cause harm, YET, I also know that I cause less harm than in the past. The more I work on my own healing and racial awareness the less destructive and harmful I become. It's a process and it's not always linear.  As I have heard many people who are committed to dismantling racism say, “It is a marathon, not a sprint.” If we really want to dismantle racism, we need to start with ourselves so lace up and get going. It is a lifetime journey and I hope to see you on it!

-Robin

PISAB: workshop in your area: https://pisab.org/workshops-in-your-area/

  • Affinity Spaces for white folks: European Dissent: (ED) is an Affinity Group of The People's Institute of Survival and Beyond. ED is a group of people of European descent who "dissent" from the ideology of white supremacy and organize together with other whites and people of color to undo racism.  If you would like to join our NYC meetings, contact me at: robin.schlenger@gmail.com and I will add you to our list serv. We meet the second Monday of every month (virtually) from 6:30-8:30 PM.

  • Social Workers of European Decent Against Racism (SWEDAR) is a collective of white social workers/mental health professionals/educators who meet to better understand and expose white supremacy in the systems in which we work as well as in our personal lives. This Committee grew out of the Coalition on Race, Diversity, and Intersectionality (CRDI) and utilizes the shared lens of “race and racism as a social construct with power and great systemic impact.” We are committed to regularly process how racism disconnects us from our humanity and to take the needed steps to move toward a better understanding of our role as gatekeepers in our agencies and hold ourselves, and the structures we are a part of, more accountable in order to better serve our clients. SWEDAR meets separately from other multi-racial groups in order to better position ourselves to organize more effectively with those groups and with other social workers of Color by not overshadowing other voices nor remaining silent.

    • Contacts:

      • McKay Sharpe: mckaywsharpe@gmail.com

      • Justion Lioi: justinlioi@gmail.com

How to Talk About Racial Inequality, Combat Racism & Become Anti-Racist - Dr. Eleonora Bartoli and Dr. Ali Michael chat with Mike Delgado about Our Problem, Our Path: https://www.mikedelgado.org/podcast/racial-inequality/

Robin Schlenger