Tuesday, June 23, 2015

SHE REFUSES TO SPREAD WHITE PRIVILEGE

Ali Michael, a writer for the Huffington Post, sometimes wishes she wasn't white. And she decided in her 20s that she would not "have biological children because I didn't want to propagate my privilege biologically."

In an article titled, "I Sometimes Don't Want to Be White Either," Ms. Michael details her feelings on being white and the Rachel Dolezal story.

Ms. Michael writes of Dolezal, "She is stuck in the immersion/emersion stage, in which White people, having learned extensively about the realities of racism, and the ugly history of White supremacy in the U.S., "immerse" themselves in trying to figure out how to be White in our society, and "emerge" with a new relationship to Whiteness."

She concludes, "her way of dealing with the pain of the reality of racism, was to deny her own Whiteness and to become Black."

Ms. Michael notes that Dolezal is not alone, however. In fact, she went through it herself and identifies with Dolezal.

"I definitely experienced this," she explains. "There was a time in my 20s when everything I learned about the history of racism made me hate myself, my Whiteness, my ancestors... and my descendants. I remember deciding that I couldn't have biological children because I didn't want to propagate my privilege biologically."

Thus, Ms. Michael details, she will never have children, but she may adopt.

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