Words of Wisdom: Ruby Sales, TED Talk 2019
Today's 'Words of Wisdom" come from Activist, Ruby Sales. She provides a unique perspective regarding the radical empathy that is needed to bring healing to our most persistent challenges.
“The challenge is not easy … Often we use technologies to perpetuate the very values of racism that we indulge in every day.” Ruby Sales.
I recently used this TED Talk when teaching a class on Womanist Theology & Ethics. We were exploring the racial implications of womanist thought. Ruby Sales provided a tremendous entree into some of the ways that Black women have been forced to navigate the treacherous terrain of racial violence. Many of my students were impressed that she specified the issue is not "White people," but "White culture." (For additional thoughts on "White Culture," consider this blog, Dissecting Whiteness. The article, "What is White Culture" and "A Divine Being in a White Body" could prove helpful.)
While most of the students appreciated the distinction, some of them wrestled with the term "White culture" and saw it as something they wanted to protect. They didn't want to be "ashamed" of their "White culture." This sounds very similar to the notion that American history cannot be told honestly, because White students would be ashamed of the enslavers who were White. (Here's an interesting thesis on the topic, "Slavery in the White Psyche," by Ryan Nelson Parker.
However, why would students not align themselves with the abolitionists? Why would they automatically need to be aligned with and ashamed of the enslavers?
But is Whiteness an actual culture?
We then had to understand culture through the lens of being French, Greek, Kenyan, Irish, Cuban, etc. But, as James Baldwin said, "White" is a metaphor for power.
To become acculturated to support that power structure is to fight for the continued benefit for a racialized hierarchy. "Whiteness," as a social construct, or a technology of power, forces one to obviate the need for culture. This is why in, The Price of the Ticket, Baldwin indicates that, in order to be White, one had make concessions to be rid of one's own cultural heritage.
The Polish, for example, would drop "ski" from the ends of their names in order to become White. While there are some sources explain that names were truncated to make it easier to pronounce their names, the assumptions made about Polish immigrants in the US challenges this theory. Rather, I think Baldwin is more accurate in stating that this move was part of an assimilation into both American culture and evolving "White" power structures.
Here's the question: Is this the world that you want - where you collapse the idea of culture into a unfair and unjust power? Or, would you rather have a world which appreciates the equity that comes from recognizing and respecting all cultures?
As you listen to her moving talk, consider what it means to be acculturated into a racialized power structure. Consider what she means by "White culture."
Dr. CL Nash for The Misogynoir to Mishpat (M2M) Research Network (c) 2023