(no subject)
Obama called the recent arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates inside his own home a "teachable moment" about the realities of race in this country. As a white person, I would like to impart my own teachable moment, perhaps the first time I came to recognize the phenomenon of white privilege.
When I was nine years old, my younger brother and I lived in Botswana, where my parents coordinated a Habitat for Humanity project. We traveled often, and over the Christmas holiday of 1995 we went to Zimbabwe and Malawi. We spent Christmas Day on the shores of Lake Malawi, eating fresh-caught fish and even going to to local Christian church. On the way back we stayed in a national park with lodging consisting of large tents with mattresses and mosquito nets. It was there that my father noticed he had a red mark on his wrist that seemed to be spreading up his arm. Fearing a spider bite containing venom that would travel to the heart, we located the nearest clinic and sought him medical attention. None of us were visibly panicked as we arrived at the clinic, which was in a rural area. Upon entering the clinic, we saw a long line of people sitting on the floor- haggard mothers with screaming and crying children looking extremely ill, waiting for treatment. A doctor sighted us and my parents explained the issue. He took my parents with him and my brother and I trailed behind, walking past the sick people, at least two dozen of them, looking at us the moment after the doctor had deemed my father's condition far worse than theirs. In the end Dad got a prescription for antibiotics and the doctor gave my parents the contact information of some American Peace Corps doctors who spoke better English than he did.
All was fine. No one in my family died as a result of this incident and the whiteness of my father's skin secured him his well-being.
Tim Wise recently wrote an article encouraging white people to tell these kinds of stories. Just as we must give credence to the stories of people of color clashing with white supremacist ideals, it's important for us white folks to notice when we are given unfair advantages and preferences.
When I was nine years old, my younger brother and I lived in Botswana, where my parents coordinated a Habitat for Humanity project. We traveled often, and over the Christmas holiday of 1995 we went to Zimbabwe and Malawi. We spent Christmas Day on the shores of Lake Malawi, eating fresh-caught fish and even going to to local Christian church. On the way back we stayed in a national park with lodging consisting of large tents with mattresses and mosquito nets. It was there that my father noticed he had a red mark on his wrist that seemed to be spreading up his arm. Fearing a spider bite containing venom that would travel to the heart, we located the nearest clinic and sought him medical attention. None of us were visibly panicked as we arrived at the clinic, which was in a rural area. Upon entering the clinic, we saw a long line of people sitting on the floor- haggard mothers with screaming and crying children looking extremely ill, waiting for treatment. A doctor sighted us and my parents explained the issue. He took my parents with him and my brother and I trailed behind, walking past the sick people, at least two dozen of them, looking at us the moment after the doctor had deemed my father's condition far worse than theirs. In the end Dad got a prescription for antibiotics and the doctor gave my parents the contact information of some American Peace Corps doctors who spoke better English than he did.
All was fine. No one in my family died as a result of this incident and the whiteness of my father's skin secured him his well-being.
Tim Wise recently wrote an article encouraging white people to tell these kinds of stories. Just as we must give credence to the stories of people of color clashing with white supremacist ideals, it's important for us white folks to notice when we are given unfair advantages and preferences.