Definitions

[Bob]

I have to admit this book is getting tough to swallow. Chapter 2 speaks of Dueling Consciousness. If I am brutally honest, I probably have a tendency towards assimilation. (If you worked harder, tried harder etc. you could rise above your circumstances). Again I always thought I was not being a racist but more just being neutral and saying it is not really systemic or policy related. I have to say I am still waiting to see how he unpacks the idea that there are no non racist policies (Chapter 1)

So lets hear from you. Look at the three definitions in Chapter 2; Assimilationist, Segregationist, Antiracsit, Is one of them a primary trait you catch yourself in, or do you sometimes vacillate between 2 or all 3?

[Matthew]

If I'm honest, I lean Assimilationist, though I am pursuing being antiracist.

I loved his quote:

“The good news is that racist and antiracist are not fixed identities. We can be a racist one minute and an antiracist the next. What we say about race, what we do about race, in each moment, determines what -- not who -- we are.”

Where our actions, thoughts, or ideas are racist, we are racist. Where they are antiracist, we are antiracist.

I agree with him: there is no middle ground.

[Bob]

It is a great point that we can flip flop between racist/antiracist. I appreciate that he seems to differentiate between racist behavior and being a racist.