In this episode, we explore the work of racial Identity, and our discussion reveals Desmond's resistance to this episode. Jesse shares a nutshell version of his racial autobiography as a white man. We are working not to get cookies for doing the right thing. We are doing this work to be more fully human.
The paradigm is shifting, balance is coming, and shame wants to stop us from the full embrace.
We all have a unique part to play in dismantling white body supremacy in our society, and enter into the discussion of what that can look like for us as educators.
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02:55 Quote: “The job isn’t to catch up to the status quo, the job is to invent the status quo.” Seth Godin
03:21 Jesse mentions the transformation of taking ownership of his racial identity started with Courageous Conversations when he worked for Step Up.
03:35 Jesse mentions the term White Body Supremacy. Look into Resmaa Menakem’s work.
03:54 Inciting incident for this episode: 1619. Desmond- “Race is construct, that has been invented to- among many things- to create free labor and justify the means for creating that free labor. Which was stealing human bodies from Africa.”
05:03 Ruth King- from her book Mindful of Race. Two truths doctrine: We all live in ultimate reality and relative reality. In relative reality we are some body, habituated, ego driven, relating to life through concept. Ultimate reality there is neither race nor reason to suffer, we’re formless, empty of self and eternal.
06:18 Jesse mentions Dismantling Racism Training.
07:26 Desmond- “Racism thrives in the shame. Shame thrives in the shadows.”
09:10 Desmond- “The policies and practices and things that have to change, have to start getting us to the point where we are dealing with the aspects of our own selves and identity that could commit the same atrocities if we were in the same positions.”
10:40 Desmond- “That practice of telling ourselves stories to get rid of the tension and discomfort is what allows us to be bystanders to oppression.”
11:01 Desmond- “As we start understanding what it really means to be human… its these fluctuations, its these cycles. Its while I’m doing my part to change the system, there are times when I am complicit with the harm that the system does. As I do the work to give myself grace in those moments I can come back to doing this work.”
12:02 Desmond- “I have many maps of who I am. But the terrain of who I am, I’m always exploring.”
12:21 Jesse asks “How does your understanding of racial identity….impact you as an educators and what you bring into the classroom?”
13:43 Desmond quotes KRS-One about identity being like putting on a jacket.
14:52 Jesse guides a 2 B.A.R.S. meditation. Breathe. Align. Relax. Shine. To absorb whatever is coming up for you.
17:00 Colleague clip: “Back home (in California) people knew that I was not only Indian, but that I was Punjabi, because there is such a huge community of us. People could tell the state I was from. The religion I was. There was enough diversity to have knowledge around that. Moving to Portland was the first time I learned that I identify as a person of color. I did not know that growing up. I really had no idea. Moving here was a huge culture shock.”
19:26 Referencing Resmaa Menakem again and his concept of clean...
