When I read the essay I’ve linked below, I remembered a conversation about race I had several years ago with a black coworker, a man who I respected and who was a friend, and a safe person to discuss such things…I knew he would not be offended by my questions and would be honest in his answers. He commented that he knew that many white women were uneasy around him when they encountered him on the street. He told me he noticed the women in their cars as he walked by, the expressions on their faces as they looked to make sure their doors were locked. I thought to myself, “I do that too when I’m in my car.”
It opened my eyes to the insidious racism that infects my thinking. When I catch myself, I take conscious effort to root it out. It is a continuous effort.
At least I am aware that it exists. Awareness at least challenges me to be better, to do better, to confront these thoughts.
In the last several months , I have been confronted with the concept of “white privilege.” I’m not sure I fully comprehend yet what it means to me as a white woman, how I need to acknowledge it, and what actions I need to take in my own life to root it out, but I am trying.
“It isn’t Richard Spencer calling the cops on me for farming while Black. It’s nervous White women in yoga pants with ‘I’m with Her’ and ‘Coexist’ stickers on their German SUVs.”
A message to Charlotteville from a black farmer
