Reviewing all these, we were reminded to be alert to the ally of denial, distancing. That is, the trick of saying, “Well, that was then, or that was there,” to say, “Not now, and not here.”

The “homework” from last week was to identify the (few) things that resonated with each of the group in the first six chapters. Many comments and insights as well as personal stories were shared. Here are a few (quotes are not exact and any emphasis shown is mine):

“The impact on me – asking myself – how does this fit with my understanding?”

To throw up ones hands in frustration and say, “I’m done with this,” as in “I can’t stand to think about this [racism] any longer,” is a measure of white privilege.

“Racism is a system; it’s more than personal prejudice or bigotry.”

“I find myself feeling the pressure of the history of my own family’s role in the construction of our racist society.”

“My education has been horribly neglected; I am ignorant, and I am grateful for this group.”

“We [the United States] are not nearly as progressive as we kid ourselves.”

“When I’m telling a story, can I resist not “naming” people when it is irrelevant to the story. Example: ‘I was talking to this Asian lady in the store’… or ‘I met this gay guy yesterday on the golf course’…”

“I didn’t catch the whole ‘White Savior’ bit in ‘The Blindside’.” [a Sandra Bullock movie; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Side_(film)]

The example of “The canary in the cage” [see Chapter 2, page 23]

“We Shall Overcome” was pretty simplistic; it is all so much more complicated than that.

“The concept of the United States as a ‘melting pot’ was propaganda.”

An opening question was asked, but the response was delayed:

How does racism affect white people?

As racism is a system, white people may realize that they (we) are a part of this system.

As a closing exercise we reviewed “Common Patterns of Whites” found here: https://robindiangelo.com/resources/

For the next meeting, we will step away from the text for a week to discuss “The Case for Reparations.”

Reading: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

— Duncan Taylor

Kelly Ospina

February 12, 2020

Building Bridges, February 5, 2020

Kelly Ospina

February 12, 2020

Ten participants

Karen Buys leading

No chapters were specifically reviewed today, at least at first; there was just general discussion around some leading statements or questions [Not all of these came from Karen.] Here is a sampling of those.

How does one respond to the statement, “White people gain nothing by diversity.” Or, “What is lost in Whiteness?” White society teaches, “Nothing is lost the whiter your community/company/social scene.”

Responses:

Diversity expands a person’s humanity.
Diversity helps to break down stereotypes.
Exposure to diversity can raise contradictions to upbringing.
Exposure to diversity can address fears and misconceptions.
Diversity enables an escape from a “flat world” – it can change a world view.

How do you present the concept of flavor to someone who can’t taste?

However, it was noted that Diversity can be used as a “cover” from Integration: it is not enough to tolerate those who are “other,” they must be appreciated.

White people like feeling superior. It is taught by the culture, even if it is not ever explicitly stated.

Chapter 3: “White people don’t know the racial history of the US”

If White people don’t know it, we are complicit. White people can continue in their thoughts of “supremacy.”

It’s not just white history that is taught in our schools, it is a positive (slanted) white history. Are white people ignorant of the negative aspects of their history in this country? Or are they in denial of their negative role? Or is there actually malicious intent in suppressing education about that role? Again the difference in textbooks between Texas and California was brought up.

In this day and age, with all the resources available, ignorance of the racial history of the US is impossible – it is willful.

The idea of America is great; the reality is it is not.

Some additional resources were noted:

“Wilmington’s Lie:: A review

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/08/wilmingtons-lie-review-david-zucchino

“Lies My Teacher Told Me”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies_My_Teacher_Told_Me

Homework for next week (February 12): What one (or more) things/thoughts/concepts in the first six chapters really resonated with you?

— Duncan Taylor

Kelly Ospina

January 27, 2020

Building Bridges - January 22, 2020

Kelly Ospina

January 27, 2020

Karen Buys leading, 13 participants

“White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” - Foreword, Introduction, Chapter “The Challenges of Talking to White People about Racism"

I liked this cover note on the book by Claudia Rankine (poet, author, playwright) - “A necessary book for all people invested in societal change”

The positives and negatives of “Identity Politics” were discussed. Karen provided a very long, and complicated, definition for this. [see the Author’s Note]

Karen asked, “How is institutional racism upheld by individual racism?”

Our homework was to assess our reactions and respond to the question, “What does discomfort do for you?"

On Thursday after our meeting, Karen sent out this note:

I saw this article today and it’s a helpful look at just how many “microaggressions” teenagers face on a daily basis. I put the term in quotation marks because while the incidents are generally small, the effect they have is anything but small.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/racism-african-americans-quiz.html?te=1&nl=well-family&emc=edit_ml_20200124?campaign_id=16&instance_id=15394&segment_id=20595&user_id=5015cef5abbc3a840131814ee0de4f58&regi_id=6779633120200124

Peace,

— Duncan Taylor

Kelly Ospina

January 27, 2020

Building Bridges Discussion Group Schedule

Kelly Ospina

January 27, 2020

Karen Buys leading; 11 participants at the Flemington Presbyterian Church

There was no reading required for this first meeting of the new year. A schedule was handed out.

All meetings are on Wednesdays from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, and readings are from “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo

January 15 FPC No readings

January 22 FJCC Foreword, Introduction, Chapter 1

January 29 FPC Chapters 2 - 4

February 5 FJCC Chapters 5 - 7

February 12 FPC Chapters 8 - 10

February 19 FJCC Chapters 11 - 12

February 26 FPC TBA

March 4 FJCC TBA

March 11 FPC TBA

March 18 FJCC TBA

FPC: Flemington Presbyterian Church Parish House, 10 E Main St.

FJCC: Flemington Jewish Community Center library, 5 Sergeantsville Rd.

This first meeting was to review and reflect on our previous discussions and what we had thought about over our hiatus. What had struck us a meaningful or challenging over the interim.

Karen mentioned an interesting thought; I can’t find a reference for it, but when I googled it, I was corrected.

“White men think people was to hear what they think; white women think people want to hear what they feel.”

I would recommend that anyone interested google the phrase; you will see many articles of interest; here’s the top one:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/magazine/white-men-privilege.html

After our meeting, Karen sent out a summary of what we did during the meeting, and I can’t think of a way to improve on it, so I’ll just include it here.

This is a quick rundown of what we discussed yesterday for those who missed the class and a link to the implicit bias test we talked about.

We spent some time talking over last fall’s class, and what stood out for us, and how the class helped us. A number of people talked about seeing what was around them with new eyes, being more aware of the inequalities and racism and paying more attention to that.

We watched the 6th of the Levar Burton short videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwW1nSlZVJA) which brought up a discussion of how minorities feel isolated in groups of white people. It also brought up the issues of not speaking up when witnessing a racist attack and how that affects the victim. We neglected to talk about the effect of not speaking up on the bystanders - how that impacts their humanity.

We watched a 15 minute video on the history of housing discrimination in the US (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_sCS2E8k5g), with particular emphasis on the FHA/VA loans, and how that has affected the racial wealth gap. If you did not get to see this, I would highly recommend it as it discussing what has been affirmative action for whites for decades by the government.

Finally, here is the link to the implicit bias test - https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/. It can be surprising to see how you score on the various tests, and it can be very helpful in making you more aware of what your unconscious brain is doing to your decisions and actions.

Next Week: “White Fragility"

Peace,

— Duncan Taylor