Yes, I write motivational content about overcoming fears and setbacks. However it’s important to acknowledge that I had the colour of my skin on my side.
As an example, White people are more likely to own land and receive inheritance funds from family. I hadn’t given much thought to the inheritances I had received, since they spanned over 15 years and were a mere $23,000CAD in total. However when i learned this stat, I recognized that the first inheritance went towards my college education, and the second one I used to extract myself from a relationship that had gone sour.
This realization – not just the inheritance part specifically – but the overall recognition of white privilege and the systemically racist system upon which our existing government and corporate business models are formed… well it became all I wanted to talk about. I shifted my friend group to prioritize people with whom I could discuss this topic. But not everyone was, or is ready. I wrote an article about recognizing our white privilege on Medium. It’s designed to be that first conversation broaching white privilege so you can share it with someone to plant a seed and help break their ignorance.
It was written between June – September 2020. After the riots at the American capitol, the article started to get views again on medium. It feels important to share it here, on the front page of my white girl website.
In short, I summarize the stages as:
- Ignorance
- Disbelief
- Realization
- F*cked up
- Action
Read more about the stages in the long form article here. Lots of links at the bottom to Black educators that I am learning from.