I Haven't Arrived Yet
Hey mama,
This past week has felt heavy and hard. I don't pretend that as a woman with white privilege that I have any answers or that I'm an expert on being anti-racist. I'm sure I'll say and do things that are wrong, but I'd rather say something than nothing. Silence brought us to where we are today and won't work going forward.
It's impossible to silence the truth about the intersectionality of marginal identities. Race, gender, religion, size, sexuality and disability all affect our experience with discrimination. To truly fight oppression and discrimination, we must first understand where we sit in society. Without doing this, we will never fully appreciate the inequities woven into our society and too many will continue being compromised. Here's where I won't compromise....
I know that I'm learning to be anti-racist.
I know that I'm for equality.
I know that I'm learning to be anti-diet.
I know that I'm for ending oppression.
I know that one week of reading and listening and talking and learning and sitting with discomfort doesn't mean that I've arrived. It's just the start of a life-long journey of being anti-racist.
This is also true for our anti-diet work together. When you live in a world that is so indoctrinated with inequality and unfair treatment based on appearance, you're going to continue to be challenged in taking a stand against widespread beliefs. You'll need to draw on what you know is true so you don't get sucked back into practices that rob you of your time, money and energy. We all need our precious energy to fight for justice and expose the truth.
The truth is that Black Lives Matter.
The truth that white privilege, thin privilege, able-bodied privilege and heterosexual privilege are real.
The truth is that none of us are free until all of us are free.
The truth that today we all can do better, need to do better and will do better.
The truth that tomorrow (November), our vote matters more than ever.
If you're looking for a list of places to learn, donate and advocate, I've rounded up some favorites:
Book List
Kid's Books and this show was great
This podcast about race and body and this TedTalk
This NPR Podcast
Brene Brown interview with Ibram X. Kendi
Trevor Noah's thoughts
With so much love,
Andrea
