Privilege and The Other (unabridged)
Description:
This is the unabridged text of a shorter article published in the September/October 2021 issue of Western Friend.
Keywords:
This is the unabridged text of a shorter article published in the September/October 2021 issue of Western Friend.
A poem reflecting on race and inequity.
I was in my last semester of grad school, sitting in a café, repressing a broken heart, and working on my thesis. After several hours of non-stop reading and writing, I started to feel a deep sense of despair. My head spun. My breath became heavier. I paused and took a step back from myself.
“There’s nothing wrong with dating a black guy,” blonde-haired, blue-eyed Julie Boyle said to her friends in our seventh-grade classroom. “My cousin is dating one, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
The first time I was confronted with my identity as a “Brown Woman” was my first trip to North Pacific Yearly Meeting (NPYM). I had never experienced such a direct external approach to my skin color before. My family celebrated my adoption day as a family holiday.
Notes from a conversation among Friends on August 10, 2017, considering race and other otherness.
Recording of portions of a conversation among Friends on August 10, 2017, considering race and other otherness.
This collection of quotations provides points for reflection for Friends considering the influences of racism within the Religious Society of Friends.
