What have you begun to see and understand about your personal complicity in white supremacy that you were not able to see or understand before you began this work?
I have become intimately more aware of how silent and detracted from racism I was prior to this past week. It is much easier now to face instances of privilege, fragility, tone policing, etc... and I am much more aware of them in not just personal interactions. "Dear White People" has been a powerful series on Netflix so far where it at least identifies concepts that have been laid out in "Me and White Supremacy." I hope if I can more easily identify these concepts on a show, that will spill over into scenarios in real life.
I have had the privilege to not have to think about things other than progressing my own or my families way of life. I have been concerned with progressing my career, optimizing my salary, digesting material regarding financial independence and following the market, reading books like "Thinking Fast and Slow" to try and mitigate cognitive biases and logical fallacies in my everyday thoughts and actions.... all of this has been possible because of privilege. All of this has been possible because I haven't had to put energy into trying to provide basic human rights for a group of people that haven't had it.
The first few writing prompts when slow. My fingers hesitantly tapped brushed the keys, trying to encourage words and thoughts I haven't surfaced before. Now my fingers are flying. Aggressively attacking the keyboard with a sense of urgency.
I have seen that I am given the benefit of the doubt. I have been made aware that not everyone is given the benefit of the doubt. This process has invigorated me to become more antiracist, and not just "not actively being racist." I think my language will evolve. I believe my actions will evolve. I hope to wrangle the implicit biases that have found their way into my life can be stifled by becoming better informed.
Here's to week one.