Since I can be as long-winded as you, Kevin, I decided to respond with a blog post too. Never done it this way before, but it seems fun! Sorry if my writing style's a little messy today.
The original piece
Kevin's first and second post
I love what you said in both articles. I think you articulated well what I was still trying to form in my own head - about how race and culture are separate entities, but their frequent correlation causes many to assume they are the same; and that "whiteness" is the dominant culture and people (colored or not) only really succeed if they can function fluently within that plane.
Yea... pretty much my answer to all of those questions in your blog post sequel is "never." Those things don't happen to me. I don't hear about those things happening to others like me. And because of the paths my life has gone, I have not, until recently, even become aware that stuff like that still happens.
Denying the existence of white privilege is like denying the existence of South America. Just because you've never been there doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
What has become clear to me that needs to be the next step is that I learn to understand and appreciate the various cultures that I encounter daily. I'm already in the process of doing that but still have a long way to go. There may be one dominant American culture, but it is not the only valid one. We can all join hands and say, "Everyone's the same! It doesn't matter what color your skin is," but that's bullshit and deliberately ignores qualities and experiences that make people who they are and form their identity.
My sexual identity is important to me. It doesn't make me better than anyone else, but it sure does differentiate me from a woman or a gay man. If someone was going to set me up on a blind date, I'd hope that they would take my gender identity into consideration. We should treat people for who they are, mindful of the things that make them unique and beautiful. Life is so much richer if we can appreciate the variety within our population.
I have spent the last two years serving in a church plant made up of people whose culture and customs are different from what I'm used to, where I'm the ethnic minority, where I'm often not entirely sure how to fit in. I AM the ethnic diversity at a mostly black church plant. We grew up within a stone's throw of each other, but the culture and language are so different, we could have been continents away and still been more similar. Experiencing that kind of discomfort has given me a little glimpse into experiences I had never known before, but which are many others' daily reality.
Why should anyone feel bad for the privileges imparted upon them at birth? Like you said, Kevin, there's no reason to. I have the advantages of being white, of being male, of being tall (6'3"), of being low-voiced, of a harmonious household to grow up in with parents who still love each other, of education, of being free of birth-defects or major handicaps or disfigurement, of good economic status, of springing from a college-educated family tree. I have suffered in my life and I have experienced injustice; but for every injustice I've experienced, almost anyone else has had something equal or worse. I'm extremely privileged, but I am not responsible for either the noble or the shameful things done in the past that allowed me to be born into such privilege.
Some people will assert that those things damnable traits. I don't waste emotional energy getting upset about it. Things far worse than being a non-racist white American accused of racism include being any other color besides white, living in America. If I experience a little bit of racial discrimination, I just get to share a teeny-tiny piece of what many others experience an unjust amount of. It's not a due I pay for my whiteness or karma getting back at me for my privilege: it's being human, but maybe those experiences help me connect better with the experiences of others.
I'm white. I like being white. I don't even want to try tanning. I think that the extremely white ginger skin is beautiful on me. But even if I didn't like it, I can't change it. It's me. On the scale of severity of racism, though, with 0 = "not racist at all" and 10 = "totally racist," I'm WAY closer to zero than I am to ten, but I'm not at zero. It is in my nature to judge people I don't know and I do it often. I know I'm not the only one who does it, but that doesn't excuse my behavior. So I work to love every person the best that I can because that is my mission in life.
I hate that racism is still an issue in a country that has already come so far, but it is what it is. We still see racism in our culture. Even if the systematic violence is extinct (and I'm not saying that it is), we still try to segregate. There's nothing wrong with black communities, Mexican communities, Jewish communities, Chinese communities, Dutch communities, etc... : the familiarity can keep us grounded with our identities. To assimilate all people into one universal American culture would be tragic. Likewise, forcing longtime residents to assimilate the cultures of immigrants is stupid as well.
I'm not learning how to be more black at my church. Don't expect to hear me speaking Ebonics anytime soon. I'm "the white boy" and am singled out as such (not in a bad way), but I know that we love each other and I am learning to be comfortable as an alien. After all, this world is not my home: my citizenship is in Heaven. Being Christian in a workplace that is mostly non-Christian doesn't make me less Christian. Likewise, learning to relate to and embrace people from other backgrounds doesn't water down anyone's individuality. Rather, it enhances it.
The only thing I can do to truly combat racism is to strive toward seeing every person the way God sees them: fearfully and wonderfully made; formed in God's image; worth dying for; someone upon which God looks with longing, pride, and admiration. I truly don't believe that racism can stop existing if people don't understand the love of God.
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