[Peace-discuss] AWARE Minutes for 8 October 2006

[Karen Medina]

John,

Yes, I agree that trying to convince racists that racism is wrong is like speaking to a stone wall. And that positive experiences with the "other" does work wonders.

But remaining silent resembles agreement. So you might see me speaking to stone walls anyway.

-karen medina


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John W. wrote:
>None of the above.  What is foolish is the idea that white people can somehow convince other, racist white people, through the power of reason alone, that their racism is incorrect or undesirable.  Racism does not operate on the rational plane at all.  The ONLY thing that can "cure" racism in an individual (or a society, for that matter) is having positive experiences with the "other", such that we come to see that the "other" is not in fact "other", but is just like us in every essential way.
>
>
>You're free to disagree with my assertion, of course.  But I've been trying to convince white people not to be racist ever since I had my own "epiphany" almost 40 years ago.  And it hasn't worked worth a damn.  If a person is predisposed to be racist, no amount of factual evidence that "race" itself is a construct is sufficient.  My own mother, when I dared to have an intimate relationship with an African-American woman, disowned me, thus choosing a dead and irrational ideology over the love of her only living child.  I spent two years trying to convince her that her racism was not based on anything logical or reasonable, and it was like talking to a stone wall.