Tim Wise, the anti-racist author and acivist, came to the University of Maine campus to speak. With the credentials of being one of the people who helped to bring down the campaign of the white racist David Duke, his talk let me see for myself a white person with the strength and knowledge to talk about racism from the perspective a white person.
The main point of his remarks is that white culture is the dominant racial culture in the United States. It was this culture that created the racist climate in this country and it is this climate that can change it. Many whites think that it isn't their responsibility to change the racist climate of the counrty. That someones elses job, meaning black, brown, yellow and red people are the ones that have to do it. By saying this, white people can let themselves off the hook and not deal with this county racist legacy, one that affects everyone, including white people.
His book, White Like Me, takes us into his life as a white man growing up in the last quarter of the 20th century, looking at himself and society through the eyes of person who grew up in a country that gave him priviliges and advantages that were never asked for. Without apology, he explains why it is so hard for white people to look at and acknowledge race, especially when they grow up thinking that they are not a race. This is the experience of every white person who starts down this road; opening their eyes to the reality that is race and how race affects them and everyone around them.
If you haven't heard him speak or read any of his books, I suggest that you do.
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