When a Loved One Holds Racist Beliefs – Another Perspective
CC: (In response to the comment, “I recognize I need help talking to white racists. I’m done talking when they vehemently deny the facts.”
“As an anti-racism instructor, I am going to ask that you please push past the intellectual. This is not about talking to racists. This is about you learning how to hug a racist. You aren’t trying to convince them of anything. You are trying to help them through their trauma response. Their fear is born from the idea that if black people and native people are in charge and have true power, that native people and black people are gonna do to white people what white people have done and are continuing to do to black and native people. You cannot talk to someone who has Planet of the Apes in their head out of Planet of the Apes.”)
How do you feel about this approach to navigating conversations with loved ones who may hold racist beliefs? Share with us in a comment below.
-Your Friends at Undoing Racism