“So many people think that racism is not their problem. But white privilege is instrumental to racism” — Renni Eddo-Lodge, Why I’m no Longer Talking to White People About Race
I’m halfway through the book Why I’m no Longer Talking to White People About Race by Renni Eddo-Lodge, which I highly recommend. It’s making me reflect a lot on racism, white privilege, race and feminism, and my own implicit biases.
If you stop reading this article right now, at least check this book out. It’s something, I wish I’d read when it came out.
Practising Svadhyaya
In the 8 Limbs of Yoga, the fourth limb is called Svadhyaya which can be translated to mean Study of yoga texts and also self study. I know that this limb could be interpreted as being all about uncovering your own personal ‘stuff’.
But, whether you practice yoga or not, I encourage you right now, to learn more about racism, reflect on some of the areas that make you uncomfortable or defensive, and ask, how self aware am I really?
It’s too easy to think something doesn’t apply to you, but isn’t thinking in this way a big part of the problem?
Here’s a TED talk I recently watched
Implicit Bias — how it effects us and how we push through by Melanie Funchess
How self aware am I really?
A few months ago, I also listened to the Audible book Insight: The Power of Self Awareness in a Self Deluded World
This is important because it’s about your self awareness in the real physical world. It was another slightly uncomfortable read, as I questioned how self aware I actually was.
Vipassana meditation, might help you to explore your inner self awareness in greater depth, as you meditate inwardly in silence, and have no interaction with anyone.
But in this book, Eurich talks about a different self awareness — which is more about your relationship with others, and how you interact and come across in the world. It’s another book, I highly recommend.
Implicit biases
Finally, I’ve also been taking implicit bias tests through the Harvard website, on a whole range of things from race, to gender, sexuality, disability, weight, and more.
I haven’t read much about the validity of these tests and how accurate they are, so bear this in mind if you choose to do them.
However, the fact that these tests exist, and just looking at the different areas you can do tests on, has really got me to reflect on my own unconscious biases.
To finish, rather than just clicking away, I invite you to ask yourself, what can I do, read, learn or say right now to better educate myself, and challenge existing beliefs?
