show notes for episode 1:

Merrill Garbus from Tune-Yards

"Why can't we just have a conversation about this?" -Merrill Garbus

conversation recorded February 2018.

thank you for listening.

theme songs:

Instrumental versions of “Turn the World Around” and “The Story of My Morals” by Bunk (included in playlist below)

books mentioned throughout the conversation:

Against Purity by Alexis Shotwell

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown *

*since this conversation, this book and author have become very important to me, and I recommend also checking out brown’s newer book Pleasure Activism.

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo *

*for a shorter introduction on the topic, here’s DiAngelo’s essay on White Fragility.

Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart

Info on Merrill’s radio show C.L.A.W. (Collaborative Legions of Artful Womxn)

definitions:

Tokenism

(as defined by Oxford Dictionaries):

“The practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a workforce.”

(Read more here)

Cisgender

(as defined by Merriam-Webster):

“Of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth.”

(Read more here)

W.A.I.T. - Why Am I Talking?

Cultural Appropriation

(as defined by Oxford Reference):

“A term used to describe the taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another. It is in general used to describe Western appropriations of non‐Western or non‐white forms, and carries connotations of exploitation and dominance.”

White Fragility

(as defined by Robin DiAngelo):

“The smallest amount of racial stress is intolerable—the mere suggestion that being white has meaning often triggers a range of defensive responses. These include emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and withdrawal from the stress-inducing situation. These responses work to reinstate white equilibrium as they repel the challenge, return our racial comfort, and maintain our dominance within racial hierarchy.”

(Page 2 of White Fragility)

White Centrality

(as defined by Robin DiAngelo):

“Living in a white dominant context, we receive constant messages that we are better and more important than people of color. For example: our centrality in history textbooks, historical representations and perspectives; our centrality in media and advertising; our teachers, role-models, heroes and heroines; everyday discourse on ‘good’ neighborhoods and schools and who is in them; popular TV shows centered around friendship circles that are all white; religious iconography that depicts God, Adam and Eve, and other key figures as white. While one may explicitly reject the notion that one is inherently better than another, one cannot avoid internalizing the message of white superiority, as it is ubiquitous in mainstream culture. These privileges and the white fragility that results prevent us from listening to or comprehending the perspectives of people of color and bridging cross-racial divides. The antidote to white fragility is on-going and life-long, and includes sustained engagement, humility, and education.”