Dear White People — Come to the Edge

I read two separate social media posts today that sparked this thought in me. What happens when worlds collide? Both of the people who posted were talking to the ongoing conversation around the anti-racism movement, and how this conversation is making them wake up to things that were present in their own lives, that they never noticed — and in both cases it was a homogeneous friend group, business, even life.

I am going to be honest, I have thought about this a lot as I have watched people discover the ways in which they were unaware of White supremacy. They want to start on their anti-racism journey. They are suddenly realizing that they have only ever had White guests on their podcast or in their summits, only read White authors, and that the only Black people they follow in social media are Beyonce and ….. (quickly gets out their phone and double checks to see if this is really true).

So they go out to buy the books (White Fragility by Robin Diangelo — check. I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown — definitely — I mean its good enough for Reese Witherspoon then it’s good enough for me…) and ask their friends who are the good Anti-racism teachers whose courses they can purchase (and hopefully take and learn from).

These are good steps. I encourage those of you who are waking up to this — stop reading (or listening) to this immediately, and go and do those things, and then you can come back to read the rest of this.

You’re back? Excellent. Now, I want to talk to you about something I heard about on one of my favourite podcasts — The Hidden Brain. There was an episode some time ago that spoke about The Edge Effect. This is an ecological term that has been applied in the mainstream. It is defined as “the point in which 2 ecosystems meet — like the forest and the savanna — and … in ecology the edge effect is where the most new life forms are created.”

The episode was about how diversity and creativity go hand in hand. But the part of the definition that spoke to me was “New Life”. The truth is — once you have woken up to the reality of what the systems in this world are built to uphold, and you are committed to doing your own anti-racism work, you are about to be living a whole new life.

Many of the things that were solid to you before, that you took for granted, will be called into question. Many things that were invisible to you before are about to become visible. I wrote about my own feelings about the anti-racism movement (link will be at the end of this article) and that post was largely driven by a concern that people might desire to fight the systems, but not necessarily embrace Black people. That it might be about optics, about being a good anti-racist instead of being an ally, and of seeing those who you perceive to be different as being equal, and being willing to build bridges here. And I question — can these systems be torn down if people remain in their Whitewashed environments? If they see Black people as their anti-racism professional, but could never see them as a friend?

Come to the edge. Be changed. Let new life grow

Now I am certainly not telling you to go out and get a token Black or Brown friend (although — I have a few slots open, and I like birthday gifts that are sparkly and come in small packages, greeting cards, and long deep conversations over cups of tea. I’ll send you an application form if you are interested). This is where you have to be clear about what your values are, and what you are committing to.

I heard Austin Channing Brown put it so well on Brene Brown’s podcast — Unlocking Us. “Having Black friends is not doing the work”. And it is not a replacement for doing your own work, and unlearning what you have learned. But I also want you to ask yourself — can you truly be committed to social justice while living in a White homogeneous bubble? Can you truly fight wholeheartedly for it without understanding who we are as people? Can this movement really last and grow and gain power if people remain segregated and in their own spaces?

Having the token Black person on your podcast or summit (or even people) will fizzle out if your network, friendship group and everything else in your life remains homogeneous. It might last for the next few weeks, and then you’ll be less intentional about it, and sure enough this time next year you’ll see Blackout Tuesday pop up in your Facebook memory and be like “oh yeah!! I remember that” But you don’t really. The truth is — if this movement is going to be sustainable and lead to lasting change, we need to continually breathe new life into it. We need to be changed.

Come to the edge.

That is why I advocate not just for reading Black authors who write about anti-racism, but I love it when people read ALL stories by Black authors — love stories, personal development, devotionals, history books, science fiction. That is why I love sharing the accounts for the Black runners, coaches, musicians and entrepreneurs that I know. Because you’ll be a hell of a lot more pissed off about the systems that uphold White Supremacy if you feel like you know and truly SEE the people who are being oppressed by those systems.

If they feel like people who could be your friends, neighbours, Godchildren.

If they didn’t appear to be distant faces on the TV who you aren’t really sure if what is happening is injustice or if “they must have done something bad because why else would these things be happening to them.”

If you felt like this could be your child’s friend, or classmate. I think that this is more important than the optics of anti-racism, for the long term future of the movement. You need to get out of your all white spaces. You need to come to the edge.

Come to the edge

And realize that when you do this, your summits will no longer be all White, and neither will your social media feed or your podcast list. You won’t need to put out a call for People of Colour to be on your podcast. It will be easier to understand your own behaviour and how it might be harmful, and you will continue to take the actions that collectively can lead to change.

So my question to you today is — are you willing to come to the edge? Are you willing to come out of the homogeneous space that you occupy, to the place where the two worlds collide? Are you ready to be changed? Are you ready for new life?

I send you big love from a small island.