Who is being centered, here?
A life-long friend often calls me on her early commute to work. When I answered the phone on Wednesday, I could hear hesitation and concern in her voice as she described listening to an NPR podcast focused on race in America. As a white woman who runs her own business, she's a seeker and grower who leans into the discomfort of hard conversations. She explained the commentator had said something that left her unsettled, exposing a bias she needed to wrestle through.
"Black women should be central to politics and business . . ." This was the line that bugged her. In order for black women to be centered, she worried she would end up marginalized. Because her initial reaction was defensiveness, she paused long enough to get curious and ask her virtual assistant a quick question. "Hey, Siri. How do you define the word central?
The definition disarmed her defenses, and she immediately reframed centeredness as a synonym for equity. Language and words allowed her to process her irrational fears, and it opened space for deeper dialogue about how whiteness has been centered in this country for so long, we don't even recognize it.
We chatted a bit longer, and I told her about a new audiobook I'd just started listening to titled, The Sum of Us. Heather McGhee explains that zero-sum thinking on race and wealth fuels white resentment and keeps our society mired in a past full of inequity, pain, and dehumanization. The adjective, central, triggered an insidious side-effect of racism which tells us that in order for others to get more, we must get less. And white folks sure don't like to get less.
As I continued to contemplate our conversation, I thought about why certain parts of speech influence how a word lands. She'd been triggered by an adjective. Yet when I'd first encountered the question, "Who is being centered, here?" the powerful verb knocked the edges off my thinking. I work to carry this question into every educational discussion I engage in, and I practice filtering every book selection I make through this lens.
It is not lost on me that two white women are being centered in this blog. I imagine this is problematic, but in my study of antiracist, antibiased work, affinity spaces continue to be important. I recognize the larger #SOL21 community includes BIPOC folks, and I hope to amplify and center their voices. I also know this community includes a whole lot of white women since almost 80% of teachers are white females. The racial reckoning of this last year has shifted something deep inside of me. I want to continue studying, learning, and acting my way into right thinking. The racists air we've breathed our whole lives no longer serves any of us, and it's high time we center the voices of BIPOC.
Wow. I absolutely love this post and there is so much that I can relate to here as a White woman working for equity and antiracism in my life and education. I immediately bought the audiobook and deeply appreciate the exploration of examining the "centering". Thank you so much for this thoughtful reflection.
ReplyDeleteTenille, I deeply appreciated so much of this reflection. Not only because you're doing the hard work and the intense study, but because your contemplative nature and commitment to continue working is evident. TY for the book recommendation. TY for this thought partnership. TY for pushing the thinking of everyone around you, too. XX, Nawal
ReplyDeleteThank you! I am going to purchase the audio book as well. I loved your question - Who is being centered here? It drew me to this post. Lots to think about!
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