I just
recently returned from a Women of Color Yoga Retreat™. Janni, before I get into
how and why my experience relates to our conversation on “post-racalism”,
please allow me to say, this was a wonderful retreat. The yoga was fantastic,
the women, spanning generations, races and ethnicities, and all walks of life,
were inspiring and the presenters were the right touch of thoughtful, tough,
encouraging and supportive. I came away with so much to think about and yes to
do. Now back to this topic of “post-racialism”
On the
last day of the retreat, after a number of intense sessions, we had an
opportunity to celebrate and simply breath—like we weren’t breathing the entire
time. But this was a different type of breathing. Someone brought out the music
and the line dancing began. And in walked in an Euro American woman. Mind you,
the sign on the door clearly labeled the room as “Yoga Retreat for Women of
Color”. For the time we were there, this room was our sacred space. We laughed,
cried, got angry, and we were soothed, and nurtured.
In walks
this woman. I was standing in the back of the room having a conversation with a
young Asian American woman. We were really into our conversation, although we
were in the midst of a dance party. She approached us, and without a word of
excuse said, “Oh, is this a private dance party?” The young lady replied, “Yes
it is”. “Oh, can I be a party crasher.” I said, “I don’t thinkthat is
appropriate as we are part of a group. However, you should speak to the
leader.” I then pointed her to the lady that was in charge. She looked at us
both and declared, “Oh, I’ll just be a party crasher. I love a good party!” She
then walked away, took her jacket off, and started to dance.
Needless
to say, we were dumfounded. Our conversation immediately stopped. Hard as we
tried, we simply could not move beyond the break. Now it’s easy to say that
this woman was obnoxious and simply rude. Yes, she was all of the above;
however, her behavior exemplifies more than simply being rude.
Simply
put, in the words of the young woman I was conversing with, the only way to
explain her behavior is via the lens of “White privilege”. In a nuanced
racialized society, White privilege and its intimate relationship to racism is
easily ignored. To ignore how, this woman, operating from a place of
privilege could recognize that her actions were “wrong” but decide to go ahead
and crash the party captures the dynamic that we saw/see in response to the
“mixed-raced” Cheerios commercial and even in the actions of the (in)famous Paula Deen (I'll have to blog about
this another time since thre's so much to discuss). White privilege, in
part, is an ideology that allows some to determine what society should look
like and who should have access to some goods and resources.
Sometimes
the manifestation of White privilege is blatant, as is the case of the latter
two recent racialized events. At other times, it’s a bit more subtle and leaves
one to ponder (and at times dismiss) the functioning of race. I don’t really
want to spend too much time on the racist actions of these individuals, but
more on how do we as women of color respond—and I don’t mean directly to these
individuals (although sometimes that’s what we ought to do).
How do we
respond to subtle forms of racism that sometimes present themselves as rude
behavior? How do we (re)claim our space and vibe? The young lady and I stood
for a few minutes simply looking at each other. Eventually, I spoke with the
leader of the retreat and she in turn spoke with the party crasher. But was
there something more we could have done? Some of us are well aware that the
ideal of post-racialism is a tool used across various ideologies to avoid
having some conversations. It’s a tool used to justify a type of nostalgia for
the past. "Post racism" is also used to suggest that American
society has achieved equality. However, it’s like putting your dirty clothes
under the bed. They are a) still dirty and b) your room will still stink
although they are out of sight. So how do we respond to party crashers? How
do we respond to racial conservatives and racial liberals who desire to “move”
beyond race while enjoying the benefits of their race?
