Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Diversity, Inclusion, Bias

[Lisa Kuntz (lisa.kuntz]

Thanks, Jude.

*White supremacy culture has been the water all of us swim in, the air we
breathe, and the ground upon which we have built this cohousing movement.
We couldn't help that.  And we are here, at this point, now.  So dive in,
if you wish.*

I wonder if there will be queries around your statement, *We couldn't help
that.*

 It  seems true to me that, *We are here, at this point, now. *

*Diving in, *to me means that we do our best to be fully present and listen
with humility.  It may mean something else to others.

I live in Portland, OR, where there are many, many opportunities to
experience first-hand the results of the  culture of white supremacy.  We
are have a active and powerful group of *memory-activists
<https://www.vanportmosaic.org/> *in our city that keep alive not only
memories of oppression and betrayal, but the richness of Black/POC culture.
It's another window into the struggles against systemic racism that is
immersive in a different way than all of the excellent resources we have.
The arts are another way to reach out and grab our heads and our hearts.

Lisa Kuntz
Daybreak Cohousing

On Mon, Feb 27, 2023 at 7:38 AM Jude Foster <foster.jude [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello all.
> In my community, Trillium Hollow in Portland Oregon, we began an
> Anti-Racism study group in August 2020, when Portland was in the midst of
> that fiery, infamous summer. It started as a big circle, and shrank over
> time, but we persevere. I cannot begin to write here about all that we’ve
> learned in the past 2.5 years - reading, talking, watching docs, attending
> talks and art productions by Portland's black community, marching with
> them, and listening to them. As an older white person, my humility is on
> the ground, where it belongs, learning, learning - black history since
> 1619, Asian-American history and experience, indigenous genocide and
> present brave rise, systemic racism….
>
> I know that many of you have been engaged in the same tough journey.
>
> Black people do not want to have to explain all this to us. It’s up to us
> to work toward our own understanding and evolution. It’s up to us to take
> our blinders off.
>
> Many lists are available out there, where to start, what to read, who to
> follow. A conversation here in this listserv can barely touch, much less
> understand, the dirty hem of the garment we wear as white Americans.
>
> So I just thought to throw out one potentially mind-shifting website for
> you to consider, if you wish, one that doesn’t reach most of those lists.
> Tena Okum, whose 1999 piece called “White Supremacy” was a ground-breaker,
> recently created her website to rescind some of and expand on her original
> piece. When I read the original article, a couple years ago, I was struck
> with how pointedly it described many characteristics of my community. White
> supremacy culture has been the water all of us swim in, the air we breathe,
> and the ground upon which we have built this cohousing movement. We
> couldn’t help that.  And we are here, at this point, now.  So dive in, if
> you wish.
>
> https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/
>
> May the dialogue continue, within our communities, and, hopefully, with
> all its limitations, here in this listserv. Thanks to the brave voices so
> far.
> Jude
>
>
>
>
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