Pam’s Comments (group member since Dec 29, 2016)

Pam’s comments from the Our Shared Shelf group.

In Chapter 4; Oluo talks about Privilege. Privilege has been a buzz word in the social justice corners in the past few years with the statement "Check your privilege" as a closing statement against those who don't realize that their experiences in life are not the same experiences shared by everyone else.

Oluo states "Privilege, in the social justice context, is an advantage or a set of advantages that you have that others do not.

... When somebody asks you to “check your privilege” they are asking you to pause and consider how the advantages you’ve had in life are contributing to your opinions and actions, and how the lack of disadvantages in certain areas is keeping you from fully understanding the struggles others are facing and may in fact be contributing to those struggles. It is a big ask, to check your privilege. It is hard and often painful, but it’s not nearly as painful as living with the pain caused by the unexamined privilege of others.

Questions to the Group:
- What did you realize about privilege from this chapter?

- Oluo argues that privilege does not invalidate disadvantages nor your own hard work. Instead, she says, it's important to understand one can be privileged in some areas and under privileged in others. What ways can we be more aware of our own privileges in life?

- What aspects does privilege blind you from seeing. Whose work do we need to follow to learn more about those who are underprivileged in these aspects?

- It's now October... BLM and the emotional responses are fading from memory. How do we continue to move the conversation forward?

Races cannot be good or evil as "race" is a made up term used to categorize people. And it's made up of individuals. I.e. white people are not one singular mind and therefore cannot be a singular good or bad. White people can be seen as bad, but an entire race cannot be.

Hello Sameet, Abhishek,

Thank you for your comments. But we're not looking for a definition of racism, more of a discussion about how our perspectives about being called a racist may change.

Let me ask you this... can someone who is a person of color be racist?

Sameet Zahoor wrote: "What's Emma's speech about?"

Hello Sameet,

I believe TK was referencing Emma Watson's UN speech about gender equality. You can see it by following this link here:

https://youtu.be/gkjW9PZBRfk

Thanks,

Pam

Sameet Zahoor wrote: "I mean Olou"

Hello Sameet!

You can edit your previous post by clicking on the "edit" in the bottom right corner. This way, you don't need to spam the board with your post corrections.

Thank you,
-Pam

Many of us were taught that we should not "see" color. But good intentions often create poor results as this way of framing the race topic eventually led polite society to stop talking about race all together with the belief that bringing it up would be rude.

And as we mentioned in the first chapter, this is a privilege. PoC people could not see race as much as they couldn't open their eyes and look in a mirror. By ignoring it, we created a society that ignored issues effecting people of color.

Oluo shares her personal story about growing up in a mixed family with a mother who would never know what her black children experienced. And that her role as a mother of black children oftenes blinded her to hearing what black people were sharing


- What has been your own experience "not seeing color"

- What has been your experience with family and friends about not seeing color?

- The last chapter discussed how different perspectives led to indivisible defining race differently. For example, white people are often offended with being called racist as they "have black friends or hired black people. That they're not Klan members, so how could they be racist?" Or other such justifications. What are your thoughts on these ideas about how people define racist actions and how does that work with the concept of not seeing color?

In Chapter 2 Oluo sets out to help everyone to understand the scope of racism. She also goes into how we as a society perceive and determine how racist an action of a person can be.

Oluo argues that racism doesn't start with lynching. That like an iceberg, there are more actions that are racist than what white people tend to realize.

Discussion Topics

What did you think about this chapter?
How did your perception of racial issues change after reading it?

In the first chapter, Oluo discusses how we cannot remove race from the conversation around "larger" topics like classicism or feminism or other issues.

This taps into the intersectionality of people of color. They cannot separate their skin color from their class, gender, etc. But instead have all of these aspects to contend with.

To paraphrase Oluo: Black people live in a world where having a black sounding name means they are less likely to receive a job interview, will they equally benefit from raising minimum wages if they cannot get a job? Or how black neighborhoods are considered riskier investments by banks. Will black people receive equal treatment when they receive higher mortgage rates from the bank for the neighborhood they live in?

Discussion Topics:
How have you seen race effect class or gender?

What ways have you seen institutional systems work against people of color negatively or white people positively?

One of the complaints against the current issues facing the US is that it's not all about race. Oluo argues the opposite. What issues aroud race are effecting your countries and are they tied with other issues too (class, gender, religion)

Sameet Zahoor wrote: "What are you talking about?"

Sameet, Valentina is talking about feminism in her country of Italy.

I ask that you add to the conversation instead of merely commenting on it. If you have questions, feel free to send me a private message (PM).

-Pam

Vandana wrote: "Does it make any sense? It is such a sensitive subject that the more frankly it is discussed the better will be our understanding."

That was well put and touches on some of the reasons why we don't talk about race that often. Thank you Vandana.

This book will be able to help begin (or continue) our journey of understanding and self discovery. And maybe, maybe, help us to learn how to approach, discuss, call out, or question racist practices that we see in the future.

Hello Sameet and Anya. What is the question?

No. I was giving credit where credit was due. But we are reading an anti-racism book for the next two months

I'll start.

I live in the state that saw John Crawford, Tamir Rice, and countless others killed by racist institutions and biased actions. I am appalled by the likes of Amy Cooper and her causal display of racism. And I fought with a woc on goodreads about whether or not Hidden Figures was a good book or if it was sanitized white savior story.

I want to learn how to best shut up and listen. And to stop believing that that my opinion is the right opinion.

From Emma Watson's Instagram post 6/4/2020


The Wretched of the Earth


We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy


Between the World and Me


Black and British: A Forgotten History


Girl, Woman, Other


White Privilege: The Myth of a Post-Racial Society


I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying: Essays


Heart Of The Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain


The Good Immigrant

From Our Poll:

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot (US Based)

(UK based)
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor


I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness


When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir (US Based)


The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-lynching Crusader


We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom


Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color

You finished "So You Want to Talk About Race" and want to learn more about the topics involved, below is a sizable list to help get you started.

Feel free to add more below!

- Monday marked 150 days since Breonna Taylor was shot in the States
- Tuesday held the announcement that Kamala Harris was named as the Democratic Vice President Nominee.
- In the UK Black British professionals have penned an open letter calling for a 24-hour boycott of the BBC over its use of the N-word
- And the UN released a report about the “serious concerns of structural racial discrimination against non-nationals” in Qatar.

This is but a small sampling of racial headlines in the news this week. And you can be sure that there are countless other stories that weren’t reported. For this to change, we need to talk about it.

Our next OSS book was chosen by our members to continue our antiracism understanding. It is a quick read that deftly introduces the kaleidoscope of interconnected personal anecdotes and institutional problems that perpetuate racism in our communities.

Please join OSS for the next two months as we read Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race.” Each week we will go over another chapter and discuss our own stories and affiliation with the topic therein.

We look forward to hearing from you all.

- The OSS Mod Team

(This post originally came from the AntiRacism Book Club posted by Olivia. Check them out for further reading! )

In the Discussion Guide, Basic Guidelines (listed in the back of the book or online), the author recommends asking attendees to ask what they hope to get out of the book and out of the group discussion. She says that by everyone verbalizing their intentions, everyone has a better chance of reaching aligned goals.

Discussion Topics:

What are you hoping to get from this book?
What are you looking forward to gaining from this discussion?
Where are you on your journey to becoming anti-racist?

Let's use this thread to coordinate book borrowing between members! Hopefully everyone who wants to is able to read So You Want to Talk About Race

Please use this thread ONLY for offers of and requests for Paying It Forward. All other comments about the book and where you got it from can be posted in other relevant topics, such as the book announcement at the top of the discussion board.

Our Pay It Forward initiative is strictly with regards to LEGAL methods of book sharing (for example, sharing hard copies or Kindle sharing). Any posts regarding illegal scans/PDFs/file sharing will be deleted without warning

What did you think of So You Want to Talk About Race

What did you think of the book and of Oluo's perspective? What are you walking away with after reading this book? What was the most memorable aspect?