Well, shit. I wrote a long response to this and then just accidentally went back on my browser and couldn't get to back to it. Long story short, my awareness of whiteness is pretty new to me. Most of my life I have been "colorblind" and didn't see white. I still mostly don't. I credit my partner in life, who is more aware than me, and my interaction with books and podcasts for any awareness I might have. I think that it is hard for me to look at the places where I fill an oppressor role in society and at the systems that uphold me in that role, because on some level I still believe I got everything based on my solely own merit.

In my circle of white friends many of us are trying to pull back the layers that hide whiteness from us. Many conversations and sharing of book and podcast recommendations.

I believe that whiteness was invented to prevent solidarity among people from upending the oppressive systems of society. Those oppressive systems are continuing to kill the planet and hurt just about everybody. If we don't uncover whiteness and get to a point of solidarity, we are in big trouble.

I am trying to dig in where I can and opt out. I teach (mostly white) middle schoolers and we have frank discussions about what it means to be white. They are ready. I write, both here and in my local paper. I use a monthly column about genealogy to examine my own whiteness. I know my awareness of whiteness is incomplete (the fog is thick!), so I continue to de-center whiteness in the books, podcasts, medium writers, and shows I consume. I could do more.

Happy Mothers Day!