Valinda

“I am often asked if I think the younger generation is less racist. No, I don't. In some ways, racism's adaptations over time are more sinister than concrete rules such as Jim Crow.”
― Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

“They assume my status is binary: either I'm a joyous triumph, or I'm a miserable wretch. They recognize no spectrum, only two states of being: happy and unhappy. But I've never felt 'happy.' I've felt joy. I've felt bliss. But those feelings are ephemeral. Being 'happy' implies permanence. It implies you completed all the prerequisites. And now you get to sit atop of your giant pile of happy, forever.”
― The Oatmeal, How to Be Perfectly Unhappy

“I was co-leading a workshop with an African American man. A white participant said to him, "I don't see race; I don't see you as black." My co-trainer's response was, "Then how will you see racism?" He then explained to her that he was black, he was confident that she could see this, and that his race meant that he had a very different experience in life than she did. If she were ever going to understand or challenge racism, she would need to acknowledge this difference. Pretending that she did not noticed that he was black was not helpful to him in any way, as it denied his reality - indeed, it refused his reality - and kept hers insular and unchallenged. This pretense that she did not notice his race assumed that he was "just like her," and in so doing, she projected her reality onto him. For example, I feel welcome at work so you must too; I have never felt that my race mattered, so you must feel that yours doesn't either. But of course, we do see the race of other people, and race holds deep social meaning for us.”
― Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

“The problem with 'happy' is a lot like the problem with Pluto. Several years ago, Pluto lost its designation as a planet, which caused a lot of uproar. But Pluto itself was never the problem. It's our definition of 'planet' that was the problem. 'Planet' comes from a Greek word, meaning 'wanderer,' and was used to describe bodies that move in the sky against a fixed background of stars. It was a vague way of describing a complex thing. Does a planet move in a fixed orbit around the sun? Does it clear a path within that orbit? Does it have moons? Does it have to be a certain size? These were questions that arose when we clarified our definition of 'planet.' THese were the smart questions that got Pluto downgraded. Pluto is no longer a planet because our definition of planet wasn't very good. I'm not 'happy' because our definition of happy isn't very good.”
― The Oatmeal