7, 8, 9, and 10---Rounding Out Wendy Jane's Primer On Race Conversations
Last week I posted If You're White Get It Right: Wendy Jane's Primer For White People On How To Have Conversations On Race. It was met with a lot of support and sharing on Facebook and my newly crossed frontier: twitter. I am always so touched by the connections I make here, and was especially glad to find new like-minded friends who desire to create space for inclusion and the betterment of race relations.If you read the post, you might remember my list included six points, bits of advice for us white people when it comes to having conversations on race. I said I wanted your advice and tips to add to the list, so here it goes, Tips 7 - 10 from you, WJSS readers. Thanks for taking the time to respond.7. From Kels: Don’t bury your head in the sand and pretend that just because race doesn’t matter to YOU that it doesn’t matter.8. From KLH: My suggestion is for white folks to stop saying they’re color blind. I say we should all embrace colour not ignore it.9. From Kathy H: I’d like to suggest that the biggest contribution any of us can make to better relations between the races, is to quit thinking in stereotypes. That is true for people of any race for we all have a tendency to do it. It may be a simple way of thinking, but life isn’t simple.Black people think, do, say, or have (fill in stereotype). White people think, do, say, or have (fill in stereotype). Odds are that, once in awhile, you’ll be correct. But you’ll also get it wrong much of the time. People really aren’t that different when it comes right down to it. We’re all influenced by our environments. ...Don’t think in stereotypes. Not for yourself and not for anyone else. We’re all in this together.10. Wait....I still need number 10! Please help us get to 10 and beyond, by leaving a piece of advice below, and then we can all feel complete, or at least like we have a full set of tools for that next talk we have about race that I just know we all are going to do, right? Photo credit: http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2013/jun/26/putting-toe-water-race-conversation/