A Confession for Recovering Racists
We acknowledge…. We repent… We have committed…. The journey of the recovering racist is a journey of love. From “Recovering Racists: Dismantling White Supremacy and Reclaiming Our Humanity” by Idelette McVicker
Idelette McVicker
Self-indulgent desire for relief
“Unsolicited confessions [from white people to Black people] inspired by a sense of guilt are often poured over Black bodies in search of their own relief,” says Austin Channing Brown in I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. Brown experienced this “self-indulgent desire for relief” after an MLK Day celebration at …
This was a liberating Jesus
When I left South Africa, I didn’t want anything to do with a Jesus who endorsed colonialism, the slaughter of Zulu people, and the whole system of apartheid. I didn’t leave the true Jesus in South Africa – just white Jesus In Taiwan I discovered that Jesus was alive and well, especially around a table …
Like moving to Taiwan
Leaving whiteness and entering an anti-racist world were, for me, like moving to Taiwan. I didn’t know the lay of the land. I didn’t know how to get around. I didn’t know the language. I was a newcomer. This is exactly where recovery from our internalized racism happens. Squamish author and designer Ta7taliya Nahanee created …