Facebook Publication Date: 1/7/2022 12:01

I sat for this article in Vox (more accurately, because of Covid, I had an email exchange) and am gratified with how well the piece holds up.

In re-reading, I am also sobered with how much the issues discussed are still extant.

In sharing this with you all again in the early days of the first month of 2022, I want to highlight some things I feel are worth pondering, though by all means(!) if you find other things you want to discuss as well, I am absolutely here for it.

Looking at it with fresh 2022 eyes as I was pulling quotes for Vicki to make into graphics, there were some that stopped me in my tracks. So much so that we are going to make a series from them! Every month we will delve deeply into the different themes and principles gleaned from the article.

For now though, I want to point out one in particular:

“[L]istening and heeding the needs and pain of Black people is literally the least any white person can do.”

This feels basic, and on one level it could well be. But there are two parts of this; one one element of which dominant culture is better than the other. That is not to say that dominant culture is particularly proficient with the first part (listening), but they certainly think that they are.

It’s the second part–the heeding–that dominant culture pretty much refuses to even touch–and, because dominant culture largely drives and sets the terms of the racial justice conversation (I said what I said), this is something that is discouraging, frustrating, and re-traumatizing (we will get to that later; it’s in the article).

In the almost four years I have been serving as Lace on Race, I have been oftimes struck at just how little dominant culture has been willing to do in service to racial justice, as well as for how short a time they are willing to devote to the principles and practices of the same.

This is a big deal. There is no way that first downs can be made and needles moved by people who insist that they are ‘100%ers’ or ‘ride or die’, but who also, at the exact same time, strive, not for durable and meaningful change, but rather to see just how little they can get away with.

Believe me, it’s noticed.

Selective listening and partial heeding, on terms and conditions that benefit you–it’s noticed.

So listening and heeding yes–but most of us do neither.

Some of it is how we have been conditioned by the soup. Most of us are not taught how to fully listen; far fewer know how to heed without negotiation or counteroffer. Most of the time, even before conversation–meeting–even happens, we already have a narrative in our heads, along with what we are willing to do.

Are you gleaning what exactly that means?

It means that most times, it can be a fool’s errand to even attempt dialog–meeting–because it’s a given it will fall on deaf ears. It’s a futile exercise to clearly state need when it’s (rightly) assumed it will fall on deaf ears.

This has been proven out over the years, decades, centuries of racial justice work: left to themselves dominant culture will never go as far as DC needs to go to truly effect the world they say they want, and it’s because of this reason that the least is done.

It’s like the college student who wants to know, at a granular level, how little they need to do to coast to a B-, but who also wants credit for the sloppy coffee stained essay they knocked out in the dining hall 20 minutes before class.

Listening fully and heeding mindfully is truly the least white people who say that they care about racial justice can do.
But if you are part of the community of LoR, in however deep or superficial a way; however committed or intermittent or ambivalent, more is required.

Queries:

What might it look like *for you* to do more than the minimum?

Why is it hard to listen to the voices of Black and brown people?

Why is doing what is asked of you by either individuals or groups or organizations in service to your stated values so often conditional/provisional?

I look forward to robust conversation and responses.

ARTICLE: https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21278165/george-floyd-protests-social-media-blackouttuesday-lace-watkins-on-race-interview

VIDEO 3/25/21: https://youtu.be/UQqYH1xpVIw

Permalink: https://www.facebook.com/laceonrace/posts/pfbid02BArV5CN3Tc23cg8jUCAtMjcahPP49du97bT2jdgTCU5bbQSvFw8veqVyWKdTf2ysl

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