White people need first to acknowledge our racism and then make a commitment to unlearning our racism. "Understanding racism as a system of advantage that structurally benefits Whites and disadvantages people of color on the basis of group membership threatens not only beliefs about society but also beliefs about one's own life accomplishments.... People usually think of racism as the prejudiced behaviors of individuals rather than as an institutionalized system of advantage benefiting Whites." Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria (Basic Books, 1997, Beverly Daniel Tatum)
Men need first to acknowledge sexism in themselves and them make a commitment to stopping it, unlearning it. Women have also internalized this oppression. We are all on a different part of the grid, no matter how hard we have worked on this. Sexism hurts men too. Tatum's quote about racism is true about sexism too, substituting gender for race.
Copyright © 2008 by Sheila Parks, Ed.D.
Permission to reprint or excerpt granted, with link to opednews.com and credit given to Sheila Parks.
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Sheila Parks, Ed.D.,is the Founder of the Center for Hand-Counted Paper Ballots. Parks is a researcher, writer, and fundraiser who lives in Belmont, MA. She is a long time feminist and peace & justice activist/organizer on many issues and has (
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