Right?
I don’t like to put labels on others or have them put on me. A person is so much more than any label they wear, and labels have different meanings to different people. I hate being defined by other people who wear the same label as me. Labels generate assumptions and are packed with ore conceived notions.
Right now we don’t even know how to feel about wearing the basic label connected to our skin color. It used to be just a description of our external appearance, and white was white. But now white is being labeled as so many different things, I just want to shake them all off in order to figure out who I am as a white person.
Unfortunately, it has always been that way for black Americans, and as a white person, I’m just getting a small taste of how it feels to have my skin color define me in a negative way.
My choice for today is to turn it around and embrace the label that is the most uncomfortable for me. It doesn’t feel to me like I have been infected with white supremacy, but I’m going to start assuming I have. I’m not doing it because I’m supposed to. I’m doing it because I want to make the most of this opportunity to explore what’s really going on inside of me and root out anything that keeps me from fully valuing myself and my fellow humans. I want to be someone who creates safety for people who can’t feel safe with me because of my skin color.
I am not ashamed of being white I just want to learn how to wear it better. I think step one for me in the long game is to put myself under that label and feel it.
I am embracing the adventure because I am ready to enjoy more of the untapped potential in my human relationships.
I am also embracing you and your journey, ready to let you be a different kind of white than me right now. This is a life long adventure that offers us all more, as we seek to be better people to our fellow humans who happen to be black.
What is step one for you?
Mentioned in this Episode
If We Matter Episode 33: We are not powerless!
If We Matter Episode 31: I can see myself in you
Resources
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