design constraints

Responding to
this.

I like this idea, and I think making the white-folks part of it work well might be more even challenging than it seems. For me, as someone with white skin privilege, I often feel the pressure to have an answer NOW. I see this all around me in white folks who are coming to terms with their privilege - it's as if decisive action now can make up for a lifetime of collusion.

But it can't, of course. As someone marked as white, and male in particular, I'm supposed to know what to do, to take action and fix the situation to be how I think it should be. And white folks taking action to re-make the world according to their ideas of justice just can't address the basic problem of white supremacy: a global pattern of white folks taking action to re-make the world in their ideas of justice, i.e. just us.

One thing white folks need to do is to learn to appreciate (if that's the right word) being in a space where it's clear that they DON'T know what to do, and to learn to live with that tension. I think that it's useful for us to do this so that we can pursue a larger project of looking to communities of color for leadership, influence, direction, and accountability. A five-item list seems like it lends itself to actions, not long term projects, but I would welcome the attempt to defy that expectation. In fact, a to-do list for white folks that specifically frustrates our desires for do-it-now answers might be really useful, come to think of it. Go for it!