Letters to the Editor Reflecting on racism as a white woman
If I, as a white woman, take issue with the statement that a Black person’s life and family are as worthy of respect and consideration as my own, that is racism.
I, a white woman, was taught a certain fanciful version of American history, and it informs my worldview more than almost anything else.
So, I can choose to dismiss, disbelieve or distort any facts that run counter to that view. The more facts I dismiss, distort and disbelieve, the crazier the world around me seems to be.
It’s a choice I make.
If I choose to hear the other guy out, to suspend, for just a moment, my ingrained attitude of superiority and actually hear what a (person of color) has to say about his life in my community, I will be likely to learn something. His experience of my community is, after all, different from mine.
If it weren’t, I wouldn’t believe that his experience didn’t matter.
JH (Joyce) Batten,
Camas
