As the woman in the video said, " I am a recovering racist " I was raised on a diet of white exceptionalism and was not exposed to people of other races until I began living and working in Chicago. This really opened me up. However, I am to this day very capable of having knee jerk rascist reactions, fortunately as thoughts rather than aloud, do I know even as I becone more involved in antiracist work. I continue to admit this and work on myself. Implicit bias runs deep.
Shame is paralyzing and I lived steeped in it for years. Now I want to help others break free of it. Guilt can motivate, but it can quickly become martyrdom which does much more damage than good. Letting go of both makes me more effective.
