Burning Walls, Building Bridges: Native Americans

In honor of Thanksgiving next Thursday, I thought I would dedicate today's blog post to Native Americans and the racism they face today. I am starting it off with a short video highlighting a lot of the misinformation we are taught about the holiday. I'm not anti-Thanksgiving, in fact, it's one of my favorite holidays of the year. But I would encourage people to educate themselves about it, and all holidays, and learn the meaning of all the elements of the rituals we partake in, and the history behind them. If the historical element of Thanksgiving is important to you, then you must do the work of educating yourself about the truth of not only how the original event took place, but how the holiday came to be a holiday. It means educating yourself about the tribes involved over the years, and learning that not all tribes were the same or had the same cultural traits. The information is out there, you have only to take the time and effort to glean it.

And just for fun, one of my favorite clips from the only Buffy the Vampire Slayer Thanksgiving episode, breaking down Thanksgiving, and showing how white guilt plays into all of it. For a little context, Spike, the one tied to the chair, is a vampire, and has been around for a couple hundred years. He's seen things...What I like about this clip, is that it masterfully shows how ultimately white guilt plays into white privilege. We're so busy sitting around feeling guilty about what we did or whether or not to enjoy a meal, that we're ignoring what's going on around us. We debate it endlessly, while doing nothing in the meantime. We're making it about ourselves, and our feelings, yet again. I think a certain level of white guilt is necessary to get us our of our own mindset and spurs us to action and change, and that's vital. But too much is just debilitating and ends up perpetuating the issues at hand, instead of fixing them.

I learned a new word this week: Aporia. It basically means living in the state of confusion that comes from an issue or concept that can't be easily summed up or decided upon. Something that has so many facets to it, and none are necessarily right or wrong, but all must be acknowledged, that it leaves us feeling uncertain about all of it. I think Thanksgiving is a perfect example of aporia. We can't just put it into a single category or box and say, that's it, this is what it is! We all have to decide for ourselves how we're going to deal with it. It's ok to be confused and uncomfortable about something. It might not be fun, but it's ok.

For me, holidays become what I make of them. What I decide to participate in or not, and the meaning it has for me and my life. And, spoiler alert: You might not think so, but so do you. We all do this. For me, I choose to look at Thanksgiving as a celebration of the harvest and taking stock in the positive elements of our lives. I tend to leave history out of it entirely.

And now, as you can see, I have done a great job of making a blog post about Native Americans and the racist issues they face today, into a post about my white feelings and opinions. This has been a great example of white privilege. Real time racism...I could rewrite this blog post so as to keep it on target, but I think it's a great example of how white people deal with stuff, so I'm not going to alter it, in fact, I am highlighting it. So, now, to get back to the topic at hand...

I think we tend to look at issues regarding Native Americans and the indigenous people of this continent as something that happened a long time ago. It sucked, colonizers were terrible people, but what's done is done and it cannot be undone or dealt with in any way or it would put our legitimacy into question, and we just can't do that, so let's just move on, all right?...But there have always been acts of racism against Native Americans, and even some quite recently that I am going to highlight here. History is full of examples, and as I have shown in one of my earlier posts, there are plenty of Supreme Court cases you can study about that show just how the highest court in the land really thinks about these people.

First up is an article about voter suppression in North Dakota just last month. You may or may not have heard about the state's new voter "protection" law passed to help ensure against voter fraud. This new law stated that a person had to have a physical address, not just a PO Box, in order to be allowed to vote. For many Native Americans living on reservations, a physical address is impossible to obtain. Thousands of people in the state were disenfranchised just before the election. Here's a handy tip: Any time you hear people talking about passing laws to protect against "voter fraud," know that that phrase is code for "minorities voting". Voter fraud discussions are always, always about disenfranchising people of color, who tend to vote Democrat. It's why so many of the people fighting for these laws tend to be Republicans.

Just out this week, a short report about Native women in Seattle and Tacoma. These two cities have the largest amount of missing, kidnapped, and murdered Native women, in the entire nation. What is it about this city, that claims to be liberal and fighting for all, that is named after a Native American chief, that makes us a hotbed for this issue and do we care enough to do anything about it?

Here is another article regarding that issue. I have come to believe that we, as a nation, have chosen not to do anything to help our indigenous brothers and sisters because it would put our legitimacy as a nation into question. It would make us start to question, and as we know, questions are dangerous. Because they demand answers. And we don't always like the answers, because it might end up with us losing our claim to power. We all bought into Manifest Destiny at one point, so that would make us actually complicit in what happened and continues to happen to these people. So, it's better to not even ask the questions in the first place. Any sort of apology or attempt at restitution would be viewed as admitting we were wrong and that we took this land unfairly and that we are acknowledging that. So we must continue to ignore it, no matter how many more people become victims.

Did you know that Native Americans have a life expectancy 20 years shorter than the average non-Native American? Lack of access to healthcare, clean water, healthy food, and jobs, among other things, has led to this. This is the legacy our policies have left with these people. This is a slow genocide.

This interesting opinion piece explores whether or not the term "person/people of color" is appropriate for Native Americans. It has some really great points. But as it is up to each group to determine how they wish to be referred, it's not on me to have an opinion, it's on me to respect their wishes when a consensus has been reached.

And also just this week, news of First Nations women in Canada having to endure forced sterilizations in order to be allowed to see their children, made the rounds. This is another example of institutional racism and how it's sadly being enforced even now. Just imagine the outrage we'd be experiencing if this had been middle class white women. The fact that you either didn't hear about this yet, or maybe saw the title in scrolling through FB or Twitter, but didn't have time to read the article yet, is an example of how we all help perpetuate institutional racism in this country. We might not harbor anger or hatred for these people, but neither do we do that much to help them, either. This makes us all complicit in their suffering. This is another example of how we are racist. Of how I am racist. Because I, and we, all can and must do better.

In December, a library in Boston with a "surplus" of Pacific Northwest Native American artifacts will be auctioning them off. Native Americans are protesting this and working hard to stop this auction and get the artifacts back to the people from whom they came.

And finally, Standing Rock was two years ago, and the next phase of building the pipe is upon us. Stay tuned as the next set of tribes will ultimately be railroaded in the name of progress. The fight will be valiant and noble, but past is prologue, and we all know how it will end...

Again, I would encourage people to research different tribes and know that not all Native Americans are the same. They do not all have the same cultural traits or beliefs, just like any other group of people. I would also encourage you to look skeptically when you run across social media posts and memes talking about "The Native American Ten Commandments" or anything that would lump all tribes into one set of beliefs. This isn't helping anybody.

There is so much information out there about the topics I wrote about today, there really is no more excuse for us to say we didn't know. So yes, go out there and enjoy the turkey or tofurkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, but also spend some time reading the articles I shared today, and do further research, and then more importantly, start telling others about it. Start caring about it, and ask that the people in your life, care about it too.

Burning Walls, Building Bridges: Antisemitism

Ever since starting this blog project, I have wondered where antisemitism fit in with it, or if it fit in at all. Is it racism? Is it institutional racism? I am not Jewish, and there isn't a large Jewish community where I am, so it's not something I've really had to think about or deal with before. It's not like I have have an issue with Jewish people. I respect the religion, culture, history, and cultural aspects like the food and holidays. I mean, I know antisemitism is a thing that happens, I don't disbelieve it. I see it on tv and hear about it all the time. I've just never seen it up close before. I think here in Seattle, we think of it as something that happens "over there". "Over there" probably meaning the East Coast. We're more laid back over here. We don't care about things that divide us like that over here. People are just people. I mean, of course we have racial divisions, and segregated neighborhoods, but in our minds, Jewish people are mostly white, so they're white people. Plain and simple, right? That's what I thought, until discussing it with an online friend who is Jewish and has white skin, but doesn't identify as white. This was very confusing to me and I didn't really understand it at all. But then I read things online from nationalist groups and other racist hate groups who say things like "Jews aren't white" and that made me think that must be what it's about. But how can white people not be white? Why the big distinction? And then last Saturday, there was a shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and eleven people were killed. I felt awful, I felt helpless, and all these questions I've been pondering recently came to a head and I knew I had to write about it for this project.

I am ashamed that I've lived this much of my life without really ever thinking deeply about this before. I don't know if I've been an idiot or just woefully naive about this, but I am making up for lost time and educating myself on this subject. I just wish it hadn't taken the lives of eleven people to spur me on.

The following are links for anybody looking to learn more about antisemitism. I would encourage people who haven't ever experienced antisemitism to study up on this. In order to not accidentally contribute to it, we need to be fully educated on it.

First up, a brief explanation on the proper spelling and punctuation of the term "antisemitism." "Anti-Semitism" or "antisemitism"? Which is correct? The article is a few years old, and I just tested it on a blank doc file and Microsoft has fixed the issue since this article was published.

This is a great source of answers to basic questions about Judaism and all things Jewish. I highly recommend this one!

Here is the Anti-Defamation League's definition and explanation of what antisemitism is.

This is has good information on racially-based antisemitism. This plays into the idea of antisemitism as racism.

One of the things that confused me, is the idea of how white privilege works with being Jewish. There is an ongoing debate in the Jewish community of how much white privilege affects or doesn't affect white Jewish people. Ultimately, it's not up to me to make a decision on that or even to have an opinion on it. Definitions of "the thing" are to be made by the people affected by "the thing," not by people on the outside or those inflicting "the thing" on others.

I think one thing I need to work on to make sure I don't contribute to more confusion or antisemitism of my own, is to remember that while a lot of Jewish people are white, a lot of them are not. Assuming Jewish=white is racist. And that while white Jewish people have white privilege in some situations, it is negated in others. It's sort of a "gray" area, if you'll forgive the pun. I will try to do better with that from now on.

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg has an excellent Twitter thread on the topic of white privilege within the Jewish community.

This opinion piece from The Jerusalem Post explores the idea of antisemitism being racism, whether or not it is institutional, and also speaks to white privilege.

There is good news and bad news about antisemitism. The bad news first-It's still very much a thing, as last week's shooting shows. The good news? We no longer live in a world where information is hard to find and share. There is so much information out there about this issue that there really is no longer an excuse not to become educated about it. And as knowledge is power, the more we know about it, the more aware we'll be, the more we'll be able to see it, and hopefully, the braver we'll be to stand up against it. We just have to hope and pray that the people fighting against it far outweigh the people perpetrating it. So, go out there and learn all you can about this! If not for yourself, then for these people:

Source

Burning Walls, Building Bridges: Book Review

Today’s post is dedicated to the book, “when they call you a terrorist, a black lives matter memoir,” by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele.

Like the title says, this is a memoir, written by one of the three women who started the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013. This book was published in January of this year, so it’s very up-to-date, and timely. Purchase here. I chose this book because the title really stood out to me. Imagine being a person fighting for civil rights, human rights, in this country and being branded a terrorist for it. By people who are actually the terrorists. It is just so frustrating and unfair and wrong, and the worst of it is, it doesn’t have to be like this. We all could band together as a people, and stop it. But we don’t, because we're too busy choosing not to see it.

This book is a must-read for everybody, but particularly for white readers. If you are like me, trying to actively learn more about how white privilege and institutional racism works in this country and in ourselves, you absolutely have to read this book. And if you are not simultaneously inspired and outraged by the time you finish reading it, then you need to read it again until you do.

“when they call you a terrorist” is extraordinarily well-written. The memoir focuses on Patrisse's life, and her family growing up in California. Interaction with the police was nearly constant and began at a very young age. Prison was an ever-present element of life. The double standard we place on people of color and then pretend is equality is impossible to ignore. 

You can see everybody described in this book so well, even though their looks aren’t really described. Their auras shine through the pages and they are so alive. Because they are. Sometimes you have to stop for a while when reading this, to remember that this is all real. This is the reality for so many poor black and brown people in this country. And the most frustrating and upsetting part of it is, that it doesn’t have to be this way. We could all help change this, but it’s so easy as white people, not to see it. We really do have to be reminded, every day, that Black lives matter. And maybe, one day, we’ll all start remembering that and acting like it.

I couldn't help thinking about how I would have felt if I had been in Patrisse's shoes. If my life had been like her life. I saw elements of my own family in hers and it was a huge reminder of how much more alike we all are to each other in this giant human family of ours than we are different. So why wasn't my life like hers? Why wasn't her life like mine? And you can't help but feel how stupid and arbitrary white privilege is. It's outrageous and outraging.

This book left me feeling ashamed for not caring about the #BlackLivesMatter movement sooner. For not researching it and promoting it sooner. I care about people and want to help make the world a better place for everybody, but even so, my white privilege shielded me from seeing something that needed attention. Reading this has made me want to do more. It’s not much, but I intend to purchase a copy of this book and will make the effort to buy it from a Black-owned bookstore. If I believe that Black lives matter, then Black-owned businesses matter as well. It’s one small thing I can do.

I was inspired by the passage about protesting in Rodeo Drive. White people need to hear this message the most, and as a white person, I am in a position to use my voice and privilege to talk to other white people about this. I don’t have a unique perspective, I have not lived this life, but I can still share it with other white people. I can also make sure that I support candidates and vote for people who fight for this. People who believe that Black lives matter. My role in this is not to have a unique voice or a place in the actual movement, but to support it from behind and beneath. To just be a body in the crowd.

I am in awe of Patrisse and her journey. I am angry that we allowed what happened to her and her family and community without caring or listening, all the while proclaiming that we loved all people. I am inspired by what she, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi have accomplished by starting a movement that is shaping a generation and reshaping the entire country. I hope that one day we will not need organizations like this, because our actions will truly match our words. When we claim to be colorblind people who love everyone equally, one day, maybe we will look up #BlackLivesMatter in history books and read about how it all started there. The questions we must all ask ourselves is: What did we do to help? What did we do to make sure that Black lives mattered? And how much better are we all, as a nation, now that we live like they do?

Open Letter to White DNA Test Takers

By now, most of you are probably trying your best to ignore anything coming out of the Elizabeth Warren-Donald Trump camps regarding Warren's newly-released DNA test results showing a small percentage of Native American DNA in her admixture. I would like to encourage everybody to stop paying any attention to that, whatsoever, and return their attention to the very real issues of voter disenfranchisement in North Dakota and recently a judge in Texas struck down a law that aimed at keeping Native American children in their own communities by disallowing white people from adopting them. These very real, very in-the-moment issues affecting Native Americans today and for many tomorrows to come, need our attention and action far more than the latest nonsense those two white politicians are lobbing at one another.

But in the meantime, since you're here, I would also like to take a moment to share my thoughts on the Warren-post-DNA-test-result-sharing fallout. I think a lot of us, probably most of us, can see that it hasn't gone exactly how she'd planned it to go. Her motives are being highly scrutinized, and rightly so. But she's not the only one who has taken a DNA test and had interesting results. A lot of us are taking tests, and some of us, like myself, are finding small amounts of non-European DNA in our results. This leaves us with a lot of questions and emotions and nobody to talk to. It's a lonely, isolating experience, and there are no rules of etiquette for how to handle this. DNA tests are still very new and the amount of white people finding themselves in this situation, is relatively small. Of that amount, only a small percentage are even willing to acknowledge it and want to embrace it. Those people need some guidance, and I would like to offer it to them. As a white person who has been navigating through this new situation for a couple years now, I have gleaned some knowledge that I will share now, in the form of an open letter.

Dear White Person,

So, you took a DNA test and just got the results and found out that you have a small amount of non-European DNA in your admixture. And you don't really know where to go from here. You may or may not have expected or anticipated these results, but here you are. You might be thrilled and excited, or disappointed and apprehensive. I cannot help those feeling the latter, but for those of you in the former category, might I offer you some advice as to how to begin your journey of learning your full past and incorporating it into who you thought you were?

First and Foremost: You were white before you took the test, and you are still white. Your white privilege is very much still intact. You do not get to claim yourself as (Fill in the blank) American. You are a white person with (Fill in the blank) ancestry. This is the distinction you need to make. Basically, don't start changing how you fill out the census or applications, etc.

Things that are OK for you to do:
*Learn the history of POC in your family tree, what they endured, and the history those people have in this country.
*Find ways to honor those ancestors by acknowledging them in your own personal life. I have researched my family history and the history of the countries that showed up on my tests. I have learned about how these people came to the United States, and about their history once they arrived. I have incorporated certain elements into my life that I feel honors them. I will not share them here, they are private. It's my own way, and you must find your way.
*Continue to honor your ancestors by working to dismantle racism in this country and in yourself by actively working to rid yourself of white privilege.
*Educate yourself about POC in this country and what they go through today. It isn't their job to educate us. The information is out there, you only have to use google and a library to seek it.
*Once you are educated enough to begin, use your voice, knowledge, and desire to honor your ancestors to speak out to other white people. You have a voice they will listen to, so use it. Go to white spaces and amplify the words of POC by sharing them with others. Your job is not to take a space in a community of color, but to work in white communities from the inside.
*Educate yourself on the concepts of cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation and do your best not to appropriate what isn't yours. But don't beat yourself up if you mess up sometimes. Just keep trying to do better next time.

Things that are not OK for you to do:
*Jokingly or seriously inquiring about how to gain from this discovery. No questions or jokes about qualifying for scholarships, etc.
*Do not try to worm your way into communities of color. You are not Rachel Dolezal. However your family's history happened, is yours to explore and embrace, but the now you live in is a now in the white community, with full white privilege. There is no place for you in a community of color.
*Trying to gain anything from this knowledge about your family's history. Politically, socially, economically, just don't. Seriously, don't. There's really no way this doesn't qualify as cultural appropriation, no matter how you try to justify it.

Things to look out for:
*Who and why you reveal this knowledge to. Are you excited about it? Trying to get pity/attention/sympathy/cool points for it? Denying your heritage is wrong, but acknowledging it must also be done in a balanced way, and your motive must always be considered. Personally, I reveal it when it is relevant to the discussion. Talking about DNA tests, for example, when others want to know how they work, if they really work, etc. Discussions about genealogy. Or if I am explaining to somebody how I became involved in educating myself and working to dismantle my white privilege. Most white people aren't interested in this, so it does stand out sometimes. These are appropriate times to discuss it. It is never appropriate to use it as a way to compare yourself to a person of color or their life experiences. You have never, and never will, know what it is like to be a person of color in this country, so stop pretending that this is some type of leveling measure.
*Understand that it's not wrong to acknowledge this information about yourself, but sometimes, keeping it to yourself is ok, and it's enough. It's ok to keep this to yourself if you know that you will come across as self-serving otherwise.

Be Prepared For:
*Everybody to question your motives. These questions are not rhetorical. Be fully prepared to answer them. This means that you have to fully question yourself and your motives, first. Nobody should question your motives more than you question them yourself. Always take a moment to consider the outcome of revealing this information, before you make a final decision to or not to.
*There will not be a consensus of the situation you find yourself in now. Each person, regardless of their race, will have a unique take on it and will react accordingly. You must learn to roll with the punches.
*I have been navigating my way in the world for a couple years now since finding out about my small amount of non-white DNA. I have researched my family history and done what I could to track down my ancestors of color, with only a small success so far. If you research your family history, depending on where your ancestors of color came from, you may have more or less success in tracking them down. Be patient and know that this might take a lifetime to figure out. If you ever do manage to figure it out at all. Keep in mind that for a lot of people of color, this frustration and inability to track down ancestors, is for their entire family tree, and not just one or two isolated ancestors. Keep it in perspective.

Well, I think that's enough to get you started. I wish you luck as you try to figure all of this out. One day down the road, maybe there will be an official set of rules for people like us to follow, but until then, hopefully this can help.

Signed,
Somebody Who Knows Exactly How You Feel Right Now

Burning Walls, Building Bridges: Voter Disenfranchisement

I normally do these posts every other week, but with the news this past week of various voter disenfranchisement coming to light in places like North Dakota and Georgia, I thought I would do a "special edition." Or maybe it's more of an "emergency edition." With the election less than a month away, we all need to know as much as we can about voter disenfranchisement and what is has to do with racism in this country.

Changing the rules to ensure that only one group of people (white Republicans) can vote and remain in power, is the very literal definition of institutional racism. Add to this, when other white people choose not to fight against it, they are aiding in the maintaining of institutional racism. Sorry if that sound harsh or guilt-trippy, but it's the truth. Even if white people are good, kind people, they can and usually are, racist in the sense that they don't mind living in a racist system. It works for us. I don't have to worry about my vote being purged from the system. I'm a white Democrat voter in Seattle. We're all pretty much white Democrats here, so it's all good. But the entire nation isn't comprised like that. Much of the country is comprise of white Republicans, and as the discussion is ongoing since the Weepy McDrunkface Kavanaugh confirmation, Republicans seem to be fans of using cheating, bending the rules, or doing literally anything it takes to remain in power, while the Democrats are debating what level of "dirty" fighting we should engage in to combat it.

Maybe this is how I "fight dirty". I call out people on things I would normally hold myself back on. It's not polite to tell somebody they're racist or a bad person for trying to cheat the system to remain in power, right? I might hurt somebody's feelings, and they're probably generally a good person as long as you ignore the racism part. But compared to the cheater, is it really all that rude? Isn't it rude of me not to point it out? It's definitely helping to maintain a racist system not to...So, no more sitting back and thinking, wow that sucks, but what can I do? I might not be able to fix the country and make it more fair for everybody, but I can at least use my words to put together a blog post to express my fury over the situation.

I have two thoughts for how to combat voter disenfranchisement, but no way to enact them. First: I think all states should move to a mail-in ballot system like my state has. It makes it stupid easy to vote, and voting should be stupid easy to do. This of course is probably why some states don't want to do this. It makes it more difficult to find ways to disenfranchise voters when you don't have the chance to turn them away at the polling places and can see what color their skin is. Second: I think activists need to organize a system where we can donate money to give to people in places with ID laws. When a person would otherwise lose their ability to vote because they can't afford an ID or the time it takes to get it or the transportation to get to the DMV, then this organization would provide money to pay for it. And/or help arrange for transport for the person as well. If we have to play the cheaters' game while we work on legal means to undo their unethical laws, then I think we should. If anybody out there knows how to make this happen, please do so!

I don't really know how to make the voting system more fair for everybody. I don't know how to make people care about others enough to get them to do the right thing. All I can do is help amplify people who have studied this more than I have or have been victimized by it. So that's what I'm going to do today. I am going to put links to articles that explain all of this better than I can.

Article 1
This ACLU article from last month gives information on the disenfranchisement in Georgia that we heard so much about this past week. Read about the tactics the state is using to "follow" the rules while working to maximize the people disenfranchised.

Article 2
A two-year old article from The Root explains various forms of voter suppression and how to combat them. Sadly, the article is still completely relevant today.

Article 3
Here's an article from July of this year with even more ideas on how to fight voter suppression.

Article 4
Here's one from the Washington Post in 2014 with ideas on how to reduce voter fraud while increasing voter participation as well. I'm not sure I agree with the premise of this article and I think it comes from a very white-privileged place, but there are some good ideas in it, regardless. Just go into it knowing it's coming from a privileged place.

Article 5
This has good information for people who have been disenfranchised to be able to vote next month. If you or somebody you know is dealing with this, please share this information with them.

Article 6
This is a very old article, but it's still relevant today. Disenfranchisement of felons in this country might not be racially-motivated in a technical sense, but the people convicted of felonies in this country is definitely racially-motivated. It's time to change the rules.

Article 7
Another article about felony disenfranchisement from May of this year. There are some very compelling reasons listed as to why we should reconsider this practice and reinstate these people's right to vote.

I think one thing that's important to remember is that since there are so many people who will be unable to vote in this next election, those of us who have not been disenfranchised have an obligation to exercise our right to vote. Vote for the people who aren't allowed to. Vote so that the right people can be elected who will do something about this. And we continue to protest and speak out and talk about it. We demand that our elected officials care enough to do something about it. We expect our elected officials to create laws to protect voters and if they refuse, then they no longer get our votes. We fight, however we can so that one day, we really can be a democracy in this country.

Burning Walls, Building Bridges: The Supreme Court

In light of the Weepy McDrunkface Kavanaugh confirmation yesterday, I thought I would take a look at the Supreme Court and its role in either upholding or dismantling racism in this country. I am not a lawyer and I have no expertise at all in the subject of the law, so everything I write is just my personal interpretation of the cases. I stayed up until 12:30am today reading through all the different Supreme Court cases from the era of the Civil War, until present day. I focused on cases that pertained to people of color and/or civil rights specifically. There are actually a huge amount of cases from over the centuries, and I read through all of them.

There have been a lot of landmark cases that we know about from over the years, but I think we either forget or just don't know how many cases they weigh in on in the course of a year. Some of them are isolated cases. Some pertain to a particular city or state. But almost all of them can be used as a precedent for future cases. Some lost relevance when another case came along that overrode a previous ruling.

A refresher on how the Supreme Court functions. The Supreme Court is one of the three branches of government. Laws are created in a few different ways in this country. Cities and states can pass their own laws. For laws on the federal level, they are created and passed by Congress, another of the three branches of government. The Supreme Court's function is to interpret laws. Justices are nominated by the President, the third branch of government, and confirmed by the Senate. Justices hear cases not just on a federal level, but on a local and state level as well. Their main aim is to determine whether or not a law is within the confines of the Constitution. Generally-speaking, they don't rule based on the ethics/morals of an issue, which is why there are plenty of examples of them upholding laws that most of us would find reprehensible.

Theoretically, Supreme Court justices are impartial. They interpret the law as it pertains to the Constitution and use only their knowledge and intellect. The problem though, is that Supreme Court justices are humans who interpret the law based on their own life experiences and opinions. They have feelings and those play a part in their decision-making. This is why we see conservative-leaning and liberal-leaning judges and why a balanced group would be considered ideal. When the Court leans one way over the other, the rulings tend to follow whatever the majority is.

My research of the rulings regarding people of color and civil rights showed two distinct patterns. For black, Latinx, Asian, and Arab Americans, the Supreme Court rulings have largely been a case of "two steps forward, one step back." But they have ultimately, pressed forward, towards greater equality for all Americans. It has been a "slow but steady" pace, but it has moved forward, thus far.

Yick Wo v. Hopkins
In this case from 1886, we have a case where institutional racism on a local level(San Francisco), was challenged and successfully dismantled by the Supreme Court. San Francisco had passed a law about the need for people running laundry businesses in wooden buildings to have a license to be in business legally. Then in order to exclude Chinese Americans from running the businesses, the city refused to issue licenses to them, thus allowing the city to shut them down for running illegal businesses. The Supreme Court ruled that it was a violation of the 14th Amendment for such a practice by the city, and San Francisco was forced to stop. This is a great example of something seemingly race-neutral, the need for licenses, being enforced in a racist manner, and adversely affecting one group of people over another.

United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind
In 1923, an Indian man sued the United States in order to become a naturalized citizen. Based on an act from 1906, only white people and people of African decent could qualify to become naturalized citizens of the United States. Thind argued that as a person of Aryan decent, he was in fact, white. The Supreme Court ruled that although he was Aryan, he wasn't Caucasian, and that was what truly determined whiteness in this nation. Therefore, Thind was not white and did not qualify for naturalization.

Smith v. Allwright
This 1944 case deals with voter disenfranchisement in the state of Texas for voters of color. The Democratic party had long ruled the state of Texas and had determined themselves to be a private organization who could make their own rules of who was allowed or not allowed to participate in the primaries. Because of other forms of disenfranchisement, the Democratic primary was the only one available to voters of color. The Supreme Court ruled that this was in fact discrimination based on race and the Democratic party was forced to open the primaries to all voters.

The above are examples of the give and take of fairness and movement forward for most people of color in the United States. For Native Americans, however, with a very few small exceptions, the Supreme Court has been used to further oppress and marginalize them. One could even say that it's been weaponized to inflict maximum harm to them. My personal theory is that in order to continue justifying our presence here and what we did in order to take over this land, laws and their interpretation have always erred on the side of the United States. To give too many rights to Native Americans would have been seen as de-legitimizing our presence here.

Elk v. Wilkins
This case from 1884 declared that Native Americans could not be considered citizens of the United States because they lived on reservations and were therefore loyal only to their tribes. The citizenship of Native Americans would be permanently decided by other means, but it is still technically on the books as the only ruling the Supreme Court has ever made regarding citizenship of Native Americans.

Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States
A 1955 case determined that a subtribe of the Tlingit people of Alaska had no right to financial compensation from the materials taken from their land by white people, because they weren't a tribe of their own.

Menominee Tribe v. United States
In a rare victory in 1968, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a tribe even though they were no longer legally recognized by the federal government.

Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones
This case from 1973 was a bit of a draw. The Court concluded that the federal government had the right to tax forms of business on tribal land, but that they could not tax the actual land itself.

Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe
In what I could consider an extremely dangerous precedent set in 1978 in this case, the Supreme Court ruled that tribes were not allowed to prosecute non-tribal members on reservations, regardless of whatever crimes they may have committed on the reservation. This has effectively given non-Native people carte blanche to go onto reservations and commit whatever crimes they desire, without facing prosecution. When we hear stories of Native women being murdered or disappearing from their land, we can most likely thank this ruling for why it happened and why, if a person is ever caught, very little is bound to be done about it.

Though the Supreme Court hasn't made as many civil-rights-related rulings in the last couple of decades compared to the 1950's and 60's, there are still some being made. There will most likely always be race-based cases to be heard, sadly. Just last year, the Supreme Court upheld Trump's ban on several predominantly Muslim nations. While Muslims are not a race of people, the fact that all of the nations on the list are largely non-white nations, I am including it as an example. The Supreme Court voted along their liberal/conservative leanings to uphold the majority of Trump's ban.

With the retirement of one liberal justice and the confirmation of a conservative justice in his place, the court now leans conservative. This doesn't bode well for people of color hoping to find justice in the highest court in the land. Of course, only time will tell how all of this plays out. From what I read of the cases, so much of it depended not on the actual rightness or wrongness of the case, but in how well the case was presented. People fighting for civil rights will have to make sure to present air-tight cases that leave little to refute.

This brief look at the Supreme Court and some of their rulings over the centuries has made a couple points stand out to me. First: While the president is an important figure in this nation, who we elect to the Senate is just as important, if not even more important, in the long run. Congress is often a balancing act for the POTUS so that the Supreme Court doesn't even have to get involved for most of it. Electing people who will confirm the best candidates to the highest court in the land is vital to our nation. Second: The people making the laws will always make them so they work out in their own favor. This means that it's also extremely important for people of color to be a part of every decision-making process in this nation. From city councils all the way up to the Supreme Court.

I know people talk about destroying this system, and I understand to an extent. But I don't think it's the system that's broken. I think it's the people in the system that need to be switched out for better people. People who use the system the way it was set up, instead of finding ways to cheat it. If the system was actually used the way it was supposed to be used, it would be as revolutionary as burning it to the ground. We have to keep fighting to make that happen.

Burning Walls, Building Bridges: White Fragility

Purchase book here.

Today's post is dedicated to this book, which I got from the library and read in less than two weeks,(which is fast for me) and promptly ordered a copy of my own because I found it so helpful in my quest to rid myself of my white privilege and the racism in which I partake. It's a very well-written, easy-to-read book and I recommend it to anybody who is trying to do the same thing. I particularly recommend it to any white person who isn't trying to come to terms with their white privilege and don't want to dismantle institutional racism.

So, what is white fragility? White people are used to being the default. We are used to being what is considered "normal" and everybody else is measured against us. It's why people of color are looked at as "fill in country/continent of origin"-Americans, and white people are just "Americans". We are also used to being looked at as individuals with our own thoughts and ideas, not part of a collective. For example, when a crime happens by an individual from a marginalized group, the media often portrays their entire community as guilty of or inclined to participate in such activities. You will see individuals from that community speak out and condemn the person and distance the rest of the community from that person. When a white person does the exact same crime, the media portrays that person as a "lone wolf" or a "disturbed individual". Rarely do you see other white people speaking out to distance the rest of white people from that individual, because we know that they don't represent the rest of us. We're all individuals, after all. White fragility is the knee-jerk reaction we all have when we hear white people being talked about as white people. It's that moment of indignation we have when we are referred to as a collective, instead of as an individual. If you have ever responded with something along the lines of "Not all white people," "I don't see color," or "But we all experience racism," then you have responded with white fragility. It is the part inside all white people that demands to be looked at as not racist and as an individual, outside a collective. The truth is, however, that we are both of these. We are racists and we are a part of a collective. Becoming more comfortable with these uncomfortable truths is the key to dismantling our white fragility which will put us farther along on the path to dismantling the racism in ourselves and in our institutions.

The author, Robin DiAngelo has a lot of good points in her book and I took notes on some of them that I will share here. 

The first point is that the concept of disabling racism begins with ourselves. It is by nature a solitary and self-centered endeavor. This might feel selfish at first, but it's important for two reasons. One-It keeps us from falling into the self-righteous trap of pointing out how much worse other racist white people are, so we, by default, seem less bad. This just reinforces our white fragility. We must stop pointing out how much worse other white people are, because it only continues to make us feel like individuals instead of part of the larger collective of white people. Two-This also keeps us from becoming white saviors. We do not need to "save" people of color. We just need to get ourselves right and then turn the fight outward and upward to dismantle or revamp institutions that reinforce our racist system. When the systems and our attitudes are adjusted properly, things will fall into place for everybody. It's a simple concept, but far more difficult to do than we'd ever care to admit.

Another point I gleaned from the book is this: addressing our white fragility and working to move past it, is not about being looked at as amazing or "woke". It isn't about being seen as one of the good people or better than other white people. It's about doing the right thing, because it's the right thing to do. If we hope for or expect accolades or respect, then we're in it for the wrong reason. 

The book talks about a "good/bad binary" which I found really helpful in explaining racism in white people. We tend to look at racists as "bad" and if we know ourselves to be "good" people, then logically, we cannot be racist. But that's not how it works. Racism is deeper than our goodness or badness. It's our default. It's the default of the world we have created. We can still be good people who are racist. It's up to all of us to decide how we deal with this.

Another concept the book talks about is how we are willing to accept criticism. I haven't personally experienced this because nobody has called me on my racism, but I imagine I would be able to check off the entire list the author gives of just how and where and when white people will accept criticism from people of color about our racism. I'm sure I could totally handle it, as long as the person doing it is nice to me, and apologetic while doing so. As long as they don't yell at me or act angry towards me, I'm sure I'd be fine. Because of course, I didn't mean anything by it, and of course I'd never say something hurtful on purpose. Shouldn't they know that about me? As long as it's done on my terms, I'm sure I would be totally fine with being called out on my racism. I might not even cry or react with my white fragility as a default. If that sounds like you too, you definitely want to read this book.

One of the most important things this book did, was make me look at my life now and in the past, to see where I am racist. How do I benefit from living in a racist system, and what exactly am I willing to do to dismantle said system when it works so well for me? Because admitting we have a problem is the first step to recovering from it, I am going to willingly place myself in a vulnerable place. I am going to go first, and tell the world, how I am a racist who benefits from living in a racist system.

I live in Seattle. While we have the reputation of being a very liberal city, on closer look, it is a highly segregated city. I grew up and still live in the northern part of the city, which is largely white. The vast majority of my teachers and fellow students, were white. Everybody in my neighborhood and all of my friends growing up, were white. I didn't dislike people of color, it's just that there weren't any in the places I inhabited. We didn't visit places where people of color lived, because they were both too far away and too "dangerous" as neighborhoods. Everybody knew that South Seattle, the Central District, and the International District, were unsafe places to live or visit. The news told us so all the time, and what motive did they have to lie to us? My family never had any reason to go to those places, so we didn't. But it wasn't because of hate. It was just one of those things.

Because I grew up in a largely white world, race didn't exist for us. It was never a problem for us. We knew it was a problem "out there" for other people, but it wasn't our fault and it wasn't our issue. Sure it was unfair, but what are you going to do? It's really sad that the world is so cruel and unfair, but it's just the way it was. 

Growing up in the 80's and 90's, most of the things I watched on tv or in movies, were filled with white people who looked like me. Except the commercials, which were filled with images of starving naked African children, dying for goodness knows what reason. We learned very early on that Africa was filled with starving people that we Americans needed to take care of, because they were clearly unable to take care of themselves. Everybody knew that it was totally corrupt "over there" and that the governments just looked out for themselves. Not like here, of course. There was no history lesson attached to these commercials explaining just how this had come to be. Colonialism...that was back when the Revolutionary War was, right? But we hoped for the best for those poor people from Africa. We even wrote a Christmas song about it and how there would be no snow in Africa this Christmas. We sung about how we were the world, and the people, and all the money earned probably went somewhere to help somebody, and we felt so good about caring about others. We were really proud of ourselves.

There were shows on tv that I did enjoy growing up. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, A Different World, The Cosby Show, and Living Single all stood out to me as great examples of tv shows focusing on a group other than myself. There were no shows about Asian Americans, Native Americans, or Latinx Americans, but I did enjoy those shows. But they were always looked at as standing out from the mix of shows I watched as a kid. They were "black" shows and I knew full well that they were. They were outside my experience, but I still enjoyed them. For white people to enjoy these shows, it showed how not racist we were. Even as young people, we knew it was better to be viewed as not racist. But this isn't the same thing as being not racist. 

And they were hardly an equal amount of shows compared to shows geared towards a white audience. According to Wikipedia, there were approximately 1900 tv series from the 80's and 90's. Out of a 20 year time span, I listed 4 tv series as the ones I watched, and in my mind, must have summed up what it meant to be a person of color then. 4/1900 can hardly be considered a comprehensive example. There were other shows of course, but I didn't watch them as much.

As I grew up and went to college and entered the workforce, I never had to wonder if my skin color would be a barrier to me. Because I knew it wouldn't. My schools and workplaces were mostly white, and when I worked in the restaurant industry, most of the people of color were the bussers or dishwashers, who spoke little-to-no English. Or they grew and picked our food or cleaned our hotel rooms. And since everybody knew they may or may not have been in this country legally, these were the only types of positions available to them in the workforce food chain. But what could you do about it, really? It's just the way it was.  

As an adult, I still don't go to certain neighborhoods because they are too far away or too "unsafe". Or because I don't know anybody there or am afraid I'll be unwelcome. So, I stay in my "safe" white neighborhood, were I interact with mostly white people, work at jobs with mostly white coworkers and clients. I stay in my white bubble, privilege well intact. I don't tend to challenge it or question it or try to change it, because what's to fix? I'm a good person and I don't have hate in my heart because I was taught to love all people. I live a relatively easy life, in which my whiteness is never named and is never a problem. I know that other people experience racism, but I never actually witness it. They live in parts of Seattle I don't go to, because they're too far away and unsafe. And when I am around people of color, I make extra sure to monitor whatever I say or do, in order to not offend anybody or upset anybody. I smile, I'm very polite, nice, and helpful, just so they'll know for sure that I harbor no hatred in my heart towards them. I don't want to be accused of being a racist, after all. Because that's simply not the case.

I fight for things I feel are the right thing to do, but always it comes from a place of privileged perspective. I never consider that people might have different needs or different ways to resolve issues. It just never occurred to me, because everybody else around me, is just like me. (Note: white people can use being part of a collective to our advantage, whenever it works in our favor to. Otherwise, we do ask that you look at us only as individuals. We like to work the system both ways whenever it would work out in our best interest to.)

Sometimes I still find myself thinking that if we all just got along and loved each other, there would be no more racism and everything would be just fine. What a perfect world that would be. One day, we might get there, but until then I'll just keep waiting and hoping for the best. Because, what else can I do? The system is too big and I'm just one person. What's the point of even trying?

And that is how I am a racist. How are you a racist?

Burning Walls, Building Bridges: Colin Kaepernick

Burning Walls, Building Bridges: My journey to learning about what institutional racism is, and how to help dismantle it.

Welcome to the first of a new series on combating institutional racism in the United States! I hope this will be a good chance for all of us who are hoping to help make a change in this country, to figure out the best way to go about it. Since this is the intro post, I will explain what I think is the most helpful way to engage in this issue, and also tell you a little bit about myself. My hope is that this will spark a dialog about the issues that we can all come away from a little more enlightened about.

The "Rules": Obviously any and all people are welcome to read and participate in this, but I am assuming that most people reading this will be white. As a white person living in this country, I can see how segregated we still are in our lives and acknowledge that most of the people in my life, who will have access to this blog, are also white. Because of this, we all come from a place of privilege but may be in different places of realizing and acknowledging it. My hope is to create a safe place for people to ask questions or comment on things without having to worry about being judged for it. One of the things white people who are further along on their journey of dismantling racism in their lives tend to do is rely on self righteousness to make sure they feel better about themselves. "I'm woke, so I'm good, but look at what that white person just said! Let's destroy him so that I can keep showing others just how woke I am." It becomes the "I'm the most non racist person" contest and it doesn't resolve anything. If anything, it makes the problem worse and it plays into our own insecurities. We stop growing when all we do is accuse others of being worse than we are. So, that stops here! No more of that! Unless you make a comment that is blatantly and unapologetically racist, I will do my best to never attack you or respond in anger and I ask anybody else following this blog and commenting, to do the same.

The Format: I will try to do a post every other weekend or so, depending on where I am in reading books and articles on this subject. I would like this project to be sustained over time and I have to tendency to do too much too soon and get burned out. 

About Me: I am a liberal woman from Seattle. I'm 40 years old. I don't post where I work online so I won't be sharing that information here, but it is a place that works for the public in a non-profit setting. I identify as "whitish". What in the world is that, you are probably asking me right now. I am white, that is how I look, that is how society sees me. I have been granted full white privilege. However, I actually have a small (2.5%) amount of African DNA in the two DNA tests I have taken. This confirmed what I had suspected based on my research over the past several years. While I acknowledge that I have no place in today's black communities in this country, and I would never try to worm my way into them(see Rachel Dolezal for an example), I know that I have black ancestry in my history. I have chosen, unlike other white people who choose to ignore it, to embrace it. I do not share a present with today's black communities, but I do share part of a past. And because of that, things like white privilege stand out a lot to me. The arbitrary nature of how it's assigned, I feel that very sharply. How can I not? And certain issues hit me on a more personal level now than they did before, even if they still don't actually affect me or my life. So, I decided that instead of ignoring my history, I could embrace it and use my white privilege to reach out to other white people in hopes of helping us as a community to move forward in how we handle racism.

And now, a definition: Racism. We prickle at this word when it comes up in conversation or is used in relation to us. We don't hate anybody! We don't even see color! We're colorblind. We don't actively try to keep anybody else down, so how can I be racist? Not all white people are racist!-Which translates to, other white people might be racist, but I'm not, so make sure to acknowledge that when you talk about racism in this country. I am exempt. The problem is, racism doesn't mean what we think it means. Even though the dictionary defines racism as more of the hatred and active oppression of people, the meaning has changed to now mean a person who benefits from living within a system meant to benefit one group of people over another group of people. What we think of as racism would really fall under the category of prejudice.

Here's a good article about the definition of racism. And I would highly encourage you to read the comments on this article to see the kinds of things people of color have to deal with in order to point out racism to white people. White people can be incredibly angry and defensive when they are told that they benefit from a racist system. It isn't the job of people of color to teach white people about their racism, and most of those who do take the time to point it out, get attacked. This is one way we can take on fighting all levels of racism, by taking on those hostile white people ourselves.

This Week's Topic: Colin Kaepernick's Thwarted Message
Because I'm just starting out and I haven't read any books yet, my topic is something that has been in the hearts and minds of a lot of Americans since it started in 2016 and had resurfaced when Kaepernick teamed up with Nike for an ad campaign that began last week.

(Source)

Here is a timeline of Kaepernick's first year of protesting police brutality and racial inequity in this nation's justice system, and people's reactions to it. When it first started, nobody really knew what to make of it, but when he started gaining national attention, people began finding reasons to disagree with it. The one that stuck, though, was the idea that sitting during the anthem, or even taking a knee, was somehow disrespectful to the military. Conservatives and conservative news sources latched onto this idea and used it to change the conversation from police brutality and inequity in the justice system, to one of who has the right to protest and under what conditions protesting was considered acceptable. As liberals and liberal news sources fought back, they further continued the discussion of protesting and how it should be done. The message Kaepernick was trying to promote, was buried and the status quo of inequity has continued unchallenged. The conservatives won this battle, with help from us. White privilege is still very much intact and we can go about our day not worrying about what happens if we get pulled over by the cops or have to go to court for something. Too bad for the people who do have to worry about those things, but we had to stand up for the right to protest, right?

I am not going to debate the merits of Colin Kaepernick and whether or not he is "good enough" of a person or a citizen to be the conveyor of this message. I tend to look at all those arguments as continuing to take away from the discussion of racial inequity in the justice system(notice I'm using that phrase a lot? That's because I'm trying to put the focus back on the message, not the debate on protesting. This is a simple tactic we can use to help move the argument back to where it needs to be.) This issue is something very important to Kaepernick and he has the ability to use his current position to bring awareness to something very wrong in this country, and he is doing it. And since nobody else is really standing up for it, he's the man. He's the one, and he is not standing down. The moment we bog ourselves down in "But he doesn't do this or he did do that, and that makes him not a good enough person to convey this message," we are ending the message. We are saying that we will only support this issue if the person talking about it fits our narrative. We're saying that we're waiting for a more ideal or "model" minority to convey this message and until that happens, we won't have anything to do with whatever the message is. This is what is known as "gatekeeping". It makes the white people who do believe in the message, but don't want to align themselves with the messenger, upholders of the racist status quo. This undoes everything we claim to stand for and only works to make us feel more superior than others.

Here's one thing to keep in mind about him, if you are having issues accepting him as the face and voice of this movement: Do you think he's really happy that he has to be taking this stand at all? Do you think it excites him that his football career has been decimated and that he himself is in danger any time he is pulled over by the cops? That he has to see his own community torn apart by the inequity in this country? I highly doubt it. He probably hates this just as much as the people who hate him for standing up to it. 

So, going forward, if you believe in Colin Kaepernick's message of racial inequity in terms of the police and the justice system in this country, the easiest thing you can do when you hear others talking about it, or see them online, is change the conversation back to that message. When we hear the debate going on about protesting and taking a knee during the anthem and being respectful towards the military, take it back to the original message. Don't fall for those red herrings. We're only upholding a racist system by doing do.

Does anybody have any thoughts or questions about this? If you have suggestions on books or articles I should read about institutional racism, please share them with me. And if you have any thoughts on a particular institution or industry that we should explore in depth to see how racism affects it, please let me know those too. I have a list going but I'm sure it's hardly comprehensive. I am currently reading a book that I hope to finish and talk about in the next post. So, until then, keep fighting the fight for equity!
-Summer