Of course I've never thought about myself having a racial identity- understanding that and learning how it impacts my worldview and relations to others has been an awakening. Considering what I bring with me into a space, especially as a helping professional/campus professional when I am working with young women from racial and ethnic backgrounds different from my own, that's a constant self-check. And there's sometimes defensiveness internally- white feminism, white women's tears, white women help hold up white supremacy- and it gets me soul-searching and doubting myself and realizing I have the privilege to have the space to doubt myself...and knowing, yup, these things are true and I have to continually push myself to unlearn so much. When I learned about the concept of decolonization, I was like, I don't even think that would be possible for me. So, I have a couple of close white female friends that I can talk through these things with, so I can have my tears and whining shared with friends who can do the same for me so we can spare BIPOC friends and colleagues and students the chore.
And reflecting on the piece about white privilege & entitlement- I remember first learning these concepts ( maybe not quite in these exact words) and not being open to what I was hearing. Dr. Cornel West spoke at a first year forum at the college I attended and I remember thinking he was so angry and why was he angry at me? And I tuned most of it out. Glad to say my openness and attitudes shifted dramatically while I was in college.