White Supremacy at Work: Use Your Vocal Privilege

It's Monday in America and last week, white supremacists took over our nation's Capitol and led a violent Insurrection to overthrow American democracy. To Black, Indigenous, and people of color in this country who are continually threatened, I'm sorry that you have to live in such danger and fear. To white Americans, our responsibility is not to look at last Wednesday and point out the white supremacy at the Capitol. It's to look throughout our lives and see white supremacy at work everywhere.

This is white exceptionalism, right? We're reading about this as we learn about anti-racism and how to be better to our Black and brown American siblings. We can start this week in our Zoom rooms. This is where it lives and it is everywhere.

So look around your Zoom rooms this week. Who is speaking? Who is being heard? Who is not being heard? Who is not speaking up or who is not in the room and why?

Power and privilege, spatial and vocal, these are deeply intertwined. I believe firmly that if you have more power and privilege in any space (virtual or otherwise) that you have a great responsibility to make others with less power and privilege feel more comfortable. That is your job.

How do you do it? Observe tendencies to fill the space. Sometimes that extra effort feels necessary but it's actually getting in the way of other people being able to step forward, speak up and be heard. Observe who's speaking in these rooms and make space for voices that are less heard. Cede your power, give it up willingly, give it to those who have less power and privilege. 

This is our deepest responsibility as a nation and it has to start at work.

Leaders of this country (who are unfortunately disproportionately white), you have a job here to help others' voices be heard.

I'm sending love, solace, light and support to everyone who needs it right now, to marginalized voices who are being oppressed.