How can it already be December? I’m not the only one asking this…I have been hearing it from others as well. Here in Oregon it snowed the week of Thanksgiving and shocked us with cold temperatures. I am keeping warm by reading theology about racial justice and white privilege. It gets my temperature up.

I was honored to attend a workshop given by Buddhist teacher Arinna Weisman on “Uncovering our Hearts: Working with Our White Skin Privilege & Inner Diversity” in early November. Later that month I led my first sacred conversation about race and privilege with a small group of women at our Wisdom’s Feast women’s spirituality conference. Since my practicum this summer I’ve continued to experience shifts within me, both physical and spiritual, with regard to how I’ve lived my life and what I see.

Asking us to notice if we believe in human goodness is not a philosophical question. We will either retreat or move closer together, depending on what we believe about each other. Courageous acts aren’t done by people who believe in human badness. Why risk anything if we don’t believe in each other? Why stand up for anyone if we don’t believe they’re worth saving? Who I think you are will determine what I’m willing to do on your behalf. If I believe you’re not as good or important as me, I won’t even notice you.
– Meg Wheatley, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future

As the fear I felt about facing my own racism has begun to recede, I am moving out in hope. I know I will make mistakes. But I can apologize for those mistakes and keep on working, stumbling at times, sure, but still working for justice. To not risk is to remain blind, and that is simply not an option for me any longer. The costs of avoidance are just too high.

Racial difference and racial hierarchy, like gender hierarchy, are built into our spiritual values, our national identity, our language, our visual imagery, our sense of who we are. There are spiritual costs, our moral integrity is damaged when we witness racism and don’t intervene.
- Paul Kivel, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice

Posted on December 3rd, 2010 by Liz
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