DAY 3: Give up ignoring why race was constructed and who benefits from it
As we talked about on Day 1, the purpose of racism is to disadvantage people of colour, and to privilege white people.
So most of the systems that we encounter on a day to day basis are designed to reinforce that outcome.
Redlining, a US-based term for a racist policy that denies access to home ownership and financing, is one of those outcomes. It’s simple from a privilege perspective. You buy a property based on your means to acquire it and maintain it. those rules were not true black people, asian people, indigenous people and others. Their means to acquire and maintain a property were not a consideration in laws that barred them property ownership in places of their own choosing.
SELF REFLECTION: If you struggle to believe, inquire, or accept this history, ask yourself why. Resistance to this truth rarely comes from absence of evidence, but from the fear of giving up one’s beliefs. There is a difference between skepticism and critical thinking. There are also different motivations that shape which of these we call on when thinking about race-based myths vs the realities.
RESOURCES: