A Blog Posting by Tish O’Dell of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from February 25, 2017.
It’s Black History Month. And I’m a white woman community organizer working in mostly white communities for a white organization that recognizes we live in an unjust, racist, misogynist, eco-suicidal western world.
I have a lot to learn about my white privilege. So do the people around me.
It’s tricky, being white and wanting to say something about race and Black History Month. No matter what I say – is my privilege revealing itself? (Of course it is.) Am I going to say the wrong thing? (Probably.) Will I offend people? (Not intentionally.) These are hard conversations to cover in a blog, email, Facebook, or in person. We have to have them anyway, if we hope to make real change.
And so, I humbly share some of my story and speak out about not what keeps us apart, but instead what may help inspire us to come together. MORE…