Reflection 10: Story of Collaboration
Allies during the early days of racism has help slaves with escaping with their skin color, but still feel the grief of whiteness from past actions of early racism. The relationship between the black and white have been a controversial thought with the backstory of slavery being the main reason.
It's a deep rooted issue that will never be overlooked, especially with some White people trying to do right thing for Black Americans. White anti racist activist reflect upon the past and use the knowledge to understand which translates to the 21st century.
In the 21st century, White allies have been seen supporting Black Americans in protesting against racial marginalization by different oppressors. Police brutality, voting, and Black Americans getting the same opportunities as their White allies.
Although they support Black Americans, White people themselves are marginalized for covering up their own shame of their people's history by being an ally.
The article, "Why Are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversation About Race," have talk about the perspective of the positive side of white identity and hope of searching for a white allies. The author of the article, Daniel Tatum, sheds a positive aspect to white allies reflecting on their own identity and create a bond with other White people who are also struggling.
"The White person who has made a significant effort to work through his or her own racial identity process will have a deepened understanding of racism and an appreciation and respect for the identity struggles of people of color. When we see strong, mutually respectful relationships between people of color and Whites, we are usually looking at the tangible results of both people’s identity processes," Tatum said.
"If we want to promote positive cross-group relations, we need to help young White people engage in the kind of dialogue that precipitates this kind of identity development, just as we need to help youth of color achieve an empowered sense of group identity."
Oakland University students believe Tatum's belief of reflecting upon past history from watching the movie "An American Story: Race Amity and The Other Tradition" about learning about past white allies from the past like interracial couples in the slavery time to white allies supporting racial marginalization. A senior from O.U., Tony Dombrowski, said about the documentary, "The documentary was really fascinating to me. The whole idea of collaboration and allies caught my interest.
Especially regarding racism, it will take a team effort to try and fight against racism. We saw last summer—and even during the election—what we are capable of when working together on these issues."
Collaborating together is key from the documentary when overcoming the obstacle of racism and important for people to be a team if their is diversity of racial identity. The second O.U. student, Cienna Buchan said, "I thought it was really refreshing to see a doc about allies throughout history instead of one about enemies for a change. I think there should be more media content from this perspective."
Another O.U. student, Emily Morris, believe in learning about allies is helpful with having many meaning to the common term. "Especially following increased visibility of the Black Lives Matter movement, ally has become a common term. I think many people have heard definitions of an ally or created their own meanings, but learning about the history of allies can give better context."
Growth is another key aspect from the documentary which Morris said, "understanding social justice collaborations throughout history can help allies see how they can continue to grow. Personally, I found it helpful to see a collection of example of allies so hopefully, I can use those examples as a blueprint in my life."
Overall, understanding white identity, white allies, collaboration, and growth all have an important piece in creating possibilities of a social change to the community of America.
"
Comments