I posted the following response on another blog. It was in response to the question directed at me: “What is your definition of racist?” I think it is more than an appropriate topic to post here. As people who are involved in education I believe that we need to constantly look at ourselves and our own biases, so that our teaching and content can be accessible as possible. Plus, I believe that to be honorable members of society we need to understand our own biases. Many of us don’t intentionally oppress others with our language and actions, but because of the world that we’ve grown up with we often do and we don’t even know that we are doing it. In fact, I would bet that most people would be disappointed with themselves to know that they have been oppressive.

Here’s my response to the question:

I am racist because I notice that someone is black. I am racist because I notice that someone is brown.
I am racist because I notice that I am white.

Race is a part of how we view society. Because I am a highly educated white woman I have advantages that that a highly educated black woman has. Our default in this society is white.

I don’t think its a matter of looking at who has oppressed who in the past, for me it is a matter of acknowledging that racism still exists, and as white person I still get benefits because of the colour of my skin.

To illustrate, from a wonderful book written by a man by the name of Paul Kivel, it is called ‘Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice’, some statements from his White Benefits checklist (and comments about my own experience):

• I live in a school district or metropolitan area where more money is spent on schools that white children attend than on those that children of colour attend. (Yes, this is the case in Eugene, Oregon. I don’t know enough about Logan, UT yet to make a similar statement)
• I work in a job, career, or profession or in an agency or organization in which there are few people of colour. (Yes. In my lab there is one person of colour (out of 26 of us), and out of 8 faculty members, there are 2 people of colour)
• I can always vote for candidates who represent my race. (YES! YES! YES!)
• I see people who look like me in a variety of roles on television and in movies. (Yep)

and on and on and on..

The work that I believe we must do is first and foremost on our own hearts. We have got to recognize our own racial biases. We have got to recognize how we benefit, or not, from being the race we are.

Then we have to change things. We have to become aware of our behavior and the behavior of organizations we participate in. When we hear racist comments we have to stand up to them. We have to be willing to be allies. Then we have to be willing to learn how to recognize, and then give up, our own privilege we carry because of our race. And if our race is not a benefit, I believe we still need to stand up to racist comments and do whatever we can to be allies for ourselves.