#2. i at least tried to note the behavior of ppl more experienced (if not necessarily older) w/o assuming i automatically Knew Best

[frankierohugejorts]

i love when ppl use buzzwords to moralize their dislike of something. i just saw someone unironically call following a band's tour/going to multiple dates "stalking"

[a-finger-pointing-at-the-moon]

Some thoughts on decolonization for white ppl

I work for a place that discretely folds the concept of decolonization (esp of white ppl) into its work. It’s not a perfect process and it’s not equally accessible to everyone, but it’s definitely an active effort. There’s a lot I’d like to say to our customers to help them along, but I don’t interact with them in this particular capacity in my role. I’ll share some of those thoughts here--some answers to uncomfortable and unspoken/poorly spoken questions. (Questions not included. I tried, but I got the feeling I’d be excluding a lot of folks who simply may have asked it differently). (Also It occurs to me that it may be problematic or at least annoying to use the word “decolonize” for white people when decolonization for everyone else is so much more dangerous and opposed. It’s not my intent to steal or misuse a word. I’m not sure of a better word to use and feel strongly about turning the lens on whiteness for the healing and betterment of us all.)

1) Decolonization is a process of recovery from centuries (for some, over a millennium) of having our minds, bodies, and spirits colonized by the culture(s) of exploitative, dehumanizing oppressors. As it stands opposed to the foundations of the colonizer culture (and the basis of entire nations), it involves a lot of re-education and introspection. Colonizers are also colonized--so deeply and historically that we’ve absorbed the worldview, priorities, propaganda, and behaviors of our previous/ongoing colonizers. Colonizers in a colonized society do not see their conditions as “colonized” because they “match” the environment. It’s easier for us to go along with what’s happening, even if none of it’s good for us. This is what is meant by the privilege of not constantly being faced with one’s own race, for example. No one fully thrives under colonization, because no one can fully thrive while disconnected from the planet and from so many parts of themselves, or while facing the many other toxic results of an exploitative worldview. Like any other form of healing, decolonization serves everyone but is done by the individual on/within themselves.

2) All white people have racist prejudices as a result of living in a white supremacist culture. Not all white people are full-blown racists. A behavior may be racist, but an entire person is a collection of many behaviors over time. Focus on your behaviors/patterns, and assume there’s a great deal you don’t see.

3) The race of someone with a racial prejudice affects whether or not the behavior is racist. Racism arises at the intersection of racial prejudice and systemic power. Without systemic power, a racial prejudice is not inherently oppressive, although still harmful. Remember, “race” is a concept created by Europeans (the earliest records I’ve read about were in Portugal and Spain) to simplify the grouping of ethnicities in order to excuse human atrocities and exploitation. Carl Linnaeus (Sweden) played a role in formalizing the races we still reference today, placing “Europeanus” (later, white) people at the top and “Africanus” (later, black) people at the bottom, with “Americanus” (later, red) and “Asiaticus” (later, yellow) people somewhere in-between (important note here, racism is not equally experienced amongst people of the global majority).

4) “Racist” is not a permanent term. People change. Also, living in a racist world makes this a lifelong process. That’s okay. Colonization has been occurring for many centuries, will take generations of recovery, and that process will not be a straight line or totally forward path. Better to do it imperfectly than not to do it at all. Time, evolution, and healing are not linear.

5) The grief and pain that come with the process of a white person’s decolonization relate to the extremes and longevity of the colonization of others (among other things). The longer it takes to rectify, the worse it feels to face. It helps to think of the challenge as a sign of progress, but it doesn’t help to think of the pain as “deserved.” It may be an acceptable part of a process, just as the pain of setting a broken bone is required before it can properly heal. There’s a difference between wanting someone to hurt, and accepting that change can be painful. Also, the grief/pain of white people is only white people’s responsibility. Everyone else is already dealing with white supremacy on top of their own decolonization.

7) Stepping into decolonization doesn’t guarantee trust or acceptance. That’s okay. You’ll still have friends and loved ones. Besides, real recovery is actually less isolating, especially when you take the wider living planet into consideration. Some folks get real militant about it, some folks become very humble, some folks get burned and turn bitter, some folks get tossed around after becoming attached to new identities and then finding those ones aren’t always right, either. In fact I imagine these are just common stages in the process. Just remember that no one’s perfect and be willing to ease up on identities, whether or not anyone else is.

8) Due to a lack of healthy cultural roots, a white person in a white supremacist culture is at risk of being lured down all sorts of toxic avenues when trying to decouple from whiteness. Fear of abandonment/isolation isn’t the healthiest basis for organizing a new identity. I see the solution to this as a meeting point between reconnecting with pre-colonial, Earth-honoring (i.e. “connected”) ancestors on the one hand, and mindfully choosing new, adaptive patterns on the other. The point of reconnection is not to find ways to be like other indigenous cultures, but to find healthy aspects of our own humanity to relate to, and to find non-appropriative sources of pre-colonial and pre-Christian wisdom/culture that also simplify our lives/identities. Likewise, the point of developing new patterns is not to recreate the wheel or enforce a new ideal, but to always be intentional and adaptive about what we create and perpetuate (and we definitely need to be proactively intentional and adaptive right now).

9) We are not responsible for the choices of our ancestors, but we are responsible for how we interact with the results of their past choices in the present. We are the forward-most face of the overall body of our ancestors. Our responsibility, healing, and intentionality affect the “averaging” of our ancestral body -- the gradual unraveling of “white karma.” 10) Decoupling from whiteness is not the same thing as denying it in ourselves. Even permanent amnesia wouldn’t negate the preferential treatment of white people (and white-passing people, and to lesser and lesser degrees, lighter-skinned people of color). Giving up white identify doesn’t mean denying where you exist in the world. It just means no longer defending or aligning with something so toxic. It means learning, expanding, and aligning with other aspects of ourselves. (It can mean doing something different with that privilege, too.)

There’s so much more that could be said (and probably way better), but this is what I can organize into words for now. Remember, there are no comfortable paths forward anymore, so it’s better to accept the discomfort of growth, and to remember that “growth” stretches across future lives. And remember that this isn’t the only thing that’s happening. We’re all more than just this. Decolonization allows us to be more of ourselves, which makes it safer for others to be themselves, too.