A very interesting read!

I think it definitely takes a while for White people to reach this point of awareness when it comes to issues of race. It’s good that you were able to call yourself out and have enough awareness to be able to reflect on those feelings. It can definitely be a hard pill to swallow.

In my experience, it seems that — more often than not — the resistance and defense I see in White women on these topics do come from a place of emotion. An old coworker got on me about my distaste for music acts like Iggy Azalea and Miley Cyrus — I called them out for their appropriating behaviors. She accused me of being anti-feminist (don’t know how that came into play at all). I explained to her that they’re just biting off of Black culture and there’s nothing from them that I haven’t already seen from (better) Black artists. She said I was wrong when it came to the world loving Black culture while simultaneously hating Black people and went on to “explain” to me that the world actually loves Black women, otherwise Beyonce wouldn’t be worshipped by the whole planet (eye roll). This same coworker didn’t see the problem of her wanting to get her hair done in “cornrows” (she pointed to a photo of micro braids).

When people feel that they are being ‘falsely’ accused of a wrong, their first instinct is to go into defense mode. And when you’re on the defense, you’re no longer seeking to understand the other person, you’re seeking for the other person to understand you. And then we get nowhere.

Thanks for sharing!