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In reply to the discussion: Two Black Women Walk Into The Grocery Store . . . [View all]Mister Ed
(5,930 posts)This woman's tale reminds me very much of a story I heard from a black woman at a small, informal community meeting I attended in my South Minneapolis neighborhood almost twenty years ago.
The woman's name was Cassandra, if I recall correctly. She was there with her landlady, a white woman with whom she had developed a close friendship. Cassandra told us that when she and her children had first moved into their new apartment in their new neighborhood, she had strongly sensed suspicion and mistrust all around them. Her landlady quickly took the situation in hand, and shepherded Cassandra all around the apartment building and the surrounding neighborhood to introduce her to everyone. The neighbors warmed up to her quickly after that.
Although Cassandra spoke warmly of this, I felt an icy knot in my stomach as I listened to her. I was imagining how I would feel in her shoes, and the feeling was infuriating. I was imagining how humiliating it must feel to her to not be deemed valid and worthy until and unless she had a white person to vouch for her. I cold barely stomach that tiny little imagined taste of what Cassandra and my other black neighbors must have had to stomach for real, every day.
So yes, I guess it's always best for white folks to use the power of their white privilege to correct racism when they can. But it sure doesn't set things right. As long as that privilege exists, and as long as there's a need for it to be used that way, then things are very, very far from right.