While so many people, at least in the United States Settler Colony (we can talk about what I mean by that) don't actually think race and oppression are important and salient issues to address, so many of us are very clear that it is work that must be done, that must be validated and engaged and made more common and normalized.
More often than not, it seems that a lot of people recoil from and avoid frank and authentic (therefore, most probably more effective) conversations about race, racism, patriarchy and oppression. It is often said that that response is natural, given the difficult and uncomfortable nature of these kinds of conversations. Many times these conversations get undercut by people afraid of allowing strong emotions to be aired during the conversation. To many people, it is inevitable that strong emotions will arise - fear, shame, anger, embarrassment, self-loathing, indignation.
And if we are going to be serious about dealing with systemic oppression and ultimately toward dismantling racist and patriarchal systems and structures, we must be ready to deal honestly, directly and consistently to have profound, insightful and revelatory conversation toward actively and forthrightly creating the necessary changes in our communities, medical and health industries, the policing and justice systems along with housing, education, business and media and communications systems.
We must be motivated, committed and willing to be vulnerable, in our full integrity and to hold and move through difficulty, discomfort and heavy emotional embodiments. Doing the work effectively and substantively requires this principled commitment.
This is the nature of the work.
