Anti-Racism and Moving Forward
I became a rites of passage guide with EarthWays LLC 5 years ago. This is my first writing for EarthWays. It represents crossing the threshold into the unknown. At present, a seemingly vast and endless wilderness. If we’ve never met, I say greetings Earth lover. I look forward to meeting you when the time is right.
With upheaval on so many fronts in the USA, particularly the racial divide, I feel it is time to end this silence around racism and white privilege. I feel, for the first time, compelled to share this piece of my story with the EarthWays community at large. It is my first attempt at starting dialogue with the greater EarthWays community and beyond. My wish is that you will read this with an open heart and open mind.
Those who know me, know my daughters mean the world to me. I credit them, in large part, with my becoming the man I am today. I almost always talk about them in my check-ins. I also talk about my granddaughters and what a source of immeasurable pride they are for me. My oldest daughter is not my biological child. She is of mixed race, her biological father is of African American and Native American descent.
Raising a child of color opened my eyes to much of the racial injustice in America. I thought that because I was parenting a female child of color, along with the fact that my two older sisters have partnered with black men and have mixed race children; because I became an uncle to a mixed race niece while still in high school, that I knew something of what people of color experience day in and day out in this country. I thought that because I have had black people in my life since pre-school, that the elementary school I went to was well integrated racially, and because I had black friends over to my house and did sleepovers at my black friends’ houses, that I wasn’t racist. Because I am a jazz drummer and virtually all my musical heroes are black or brown people. Because I have spent most of my life learning about, and from, black and brown indigenous people. Having all of this contact had allowed me to develop a sense of being “in the know” with
regards to racism.
Having heard, read and seen so many stories of how racism has affected the lives of those I hold dear, I developed a false sense of being “anti-racist”, of being an “ally” to people of color. Over time, it became clear that my whiteness has afforded me this privilege- the privilege to cultivate an inaccurate sense of understanding and empathy. To side step acknowledging my own socialized racist training as a straight white male in this country, I remained silent when blatant racist speech or actions were used in my presence. Even within my own family, not to mention in the world at large, I used racist language and held racist beliefs I didn’t even realize I held. My privilege allowed me to remain silent. Silence is a primary instrument propelling the wheels of institutionalized racism in this country.
About two years ago, the impact of my privilege and how it allowed me NOT to do the deep inner work necessary to see clearly the world that my own daughter inhabits by virtue of her skin color came to an abrupt halt. Both my daughters told me they could no longer be a part of my life, due in large part to the lack of knowledge of my white privilege and the subsequent harm that it has caused them and others. This painful break in my relationship with my daughters began a deep dive into uncovering my white privilege-racist white supremacist training.
At the beginning of 2019 I participated in an all-white group called UNtraining- White Liberal Racism, Phase 1. This was undeniably a rite of passage for me. This group met once a month for 6 months, one 5 hour session each month that was challenging, exhausting, transformative, scary, saddening, infuriating, invigorating, and visceral. Perhaps most of all, it was revealing. We were given reading, writing, and guided meditation homework. We were paired with a “buddy”, who we met with regularly to help each other through learning about the messy, confusing labyrinth of this country’s and our own systemic racist training.
Family members and friends I told about the UNtraining were like, what? ‘You’re one of the most non-racist people I know.’ After that group ended I was like, okay, I’ve learned a little. But how do I talk about this with anyone? Especially with other white people who weren’t ready to look into that abyss.
That experience gave me a basic framework for how to begin the process of looking at racism and privilege, and how racism and privilege translate into white supremacy in ALL aspects of American culture. I learned that a white supremacist isn’t just a cop who murders black and people of color, then gets away with it. Or a skin head neo-Nazi, or a KKK member, or someone who actively goes out of the way to cause harm to people of color. Of course they are, but I also learned that white supremacy is nuanced and woven inextricably into our culture. It’s invisible, like air, and you can’t help breathe it in. It is everywhere.
For example, look at our public school system. Who are our teachers?
From a quick Google search – In 1988, 87 percent of public school teachers were white. By 2016, 80 percent were, according to federal data. Nonetheless, the racial gap between teachers and students has widened as more young people of color have enrolled each year. Dec 27, 2019
The education disparity continues through higher education. This has been well documented for decades.
Who are our Physicians?
Another quick Google search – 69.8% of Physicians & surgeons are White, making that the most common race or ethnicity in the occupation.
https://datausa.io/profile/soc/physicians-surgeons
Imagine you’re a person of color applying for a job?
https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/18/16307782/study-racism-jobs
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2019/12/05/478150/african-americans-face-systematic-obstacles-getting-good-jobs/
Who makes the laws? Look at the racial make-up of our government at all levels.
https://www.univision.com/noticias/politica/trumps-cabinet-is-far-from-reflecting-the-racial-diversity-of-theunited-states
Who enforces those laws? Look at the racial make-up of police forces nationwide.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/04/urban-areas-police-are-consistently-much-whiter-thanpeople-they-serve/?arc404=true
Look at our non-profits. Who leads them? The non-profit space where 87 percent of executive directors are white is no exception to the standard of whiteness—even in organizations that do philanthropic work within non-white communities.
Who are the predominant faces on magazine covers, actors in movies and on TV? We receive the unspoken message over and over that this is what normal looks like. This list goes on and on and only skims the surface of how systemic, pervasive, and unavoidable our white supremacist training is. A hard lesson to learn. Is this simply coincidence, or is this our nation’s social construct?
Accepting this was tremendously difficult. Full of shame and messy feelings we are trained we don’t need to look at it unless we decide we want to. In light of what my daughters had said to me before cutting me out of their lives, I had to accept this in order to truly begin the deep inner work of seeing what has culturally been made as invisible as air. I now see this will be a lifelong process of unlearning. Shame being another wheel that propels institutionalized racism in this country.
Below is a link to an interview I first heard back in 2015. An interview with an Aboriginal Canadian scientist regarding gene expression and epigenetics. I immediately resonated with epigenetics, which before this interview, I had never heard of. I thought, this is what my teachers have been saying all along, now science has finally caught up. Malidoma Some` told us we need to heal our ancestors. At first, I was like huh? I sat with this concept- the notion of healing ourselves and future generations by healing our bloodline backwards in time. Eventually it became clear to me this was a missing piece I needed on the path to becoming whole.
With regards to white supremacy and the racist construct we’ve created and uphold in this country, I now see healing our ancestors as a direct epigenetic link in the healing process we as a nation are on the threshold of. Therefore, a necessary step to bring about lasting change in our country.
The interview is only a few minutes, give it a listen.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-236-transgender-parenting-trauma-and-genetics-bobby-baun-gunlobbyists-vs-bill-c-51-more-1.3098757/can-trauma-have-genetic-effects-across-generations-1.3098819
The UNtraining Phase 2 takes the framework learned in Phase 1 and focuses it inward, as this is where healing and true change begins. Again, a deep exhausting, invigorating, revealing, healing dive into my own psyche and training, and how that training is projected outwards. Our cultural training cuts us off from, as well as harms, others who don’t look, talk or act the way we’ve been taught is THE acceptable way to act, talk and look.
The protests after George Floyd’s murder have brought on a sense of hope and simultaneously, a sense of skepticism for me. How amazing it would be if we as white people were really ready for this deep dive to make lasting change. Are we ready to step over the threshold into the unknown? Are we ready to examine our training and privilege? Or will this be forgotten in a few weeks or months when the next media blitz hits our attention deficit culture? How many of us are willing to examine our silence and shame, two of the necessary instruments of oppression?
As I begin to emerge with a renewed sense of purpose, I continue the process of examining and acknowledging my privilege. The privilege of taking people for extended time out in remote places. The privilege of doing inner work. The privilege of not doing inner work. The privilege of doing that inner work at my chosen time and place. The privilege of working with people of like minds and hearts, with people who see rites of passage work as absolutely paramount for our survival on this planet. For the very planet herself.
It is well known that rites of passage work in this country is predominantly led by white people, for white people. How can we change this? Is it our work as white people to change this? There are far more questions than answers to the complex issues of becoming anti-racist. It is being said very clearly by people of color that being non-racist is not enough, that we as white people need to become anti-racist. As I said earlier, I know that for me this will be a lifelong process.
For our ancestors, ourselves, future generations, and our Mother Earth, my prayer is that this is the beginning of real and lasting change.
With love and compassion,
O. Andrew Schreiber
A few links to get started
– Nature and Racism –
https://www.melaninbasecamp.com/trip-reports/2019/7/7/mbc-guide-to-outdoor-allyship
https://www.diversifyoutdoors.com/
Books, Film and Articles and Podcasts
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/books/review/me-and-white-supremacy-layla-saad.html
https://nationalseedproject.org/Key-SEED-Texts/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y5PHNXB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
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