Writer and activist Rachel Cargle has a number of really interesting articles that I would recommend, but today we’ll start with this one, on how white people use a variety of strategies to silence people of color. Link here.
What I particularly like about this piece is that it’s a great reminder for those of us who have privilege to check ourselves. We have a tendency to center our own discomfort in any situation. If we hear something that makes us uncomfortable, or we don’t like the way that it’s been said, we use it as an excuse to disconnect from the underlying message. But people from marginalized communities don’t get that choice. They don’t have the opportunity to opt out of discomfort. So if we truly care about doing the work, we have to learn to walk through our discomfort, and truly listen to the message.