Karen and Steve Mohr

February 2, 2020

Here are the notes from Steve's portion of the sharing:

Welcome to Black History month ... black history... or as our anti-racism group likes to say: -- “history.” White supremacists like to think black history began with slavery. This history is the forgotten ignored stolen forbidden history. This true history is removed from the schools and history books to make way for propaganda. The propaganda has said that black people are sexual perverts and thieves. The only thing they're good at is entertaining. They're also lazy even though they were the back bone of the development of the American economic superpower.

In order to bring this awareness to my own conscious I've done some work I'd like to share. What I've done is examine my every-day thinking to unwind the white supremacy from it. We all have it whether you're from Europe or Africa, whether you came over in this generation or many generations ago. My process is to take time throughout the day to review the meaning of my running tally of thoughts, decisions and conclusions. Each day our minds are at work parsing out meaning in the world and making rough, simple decisions on how to proceed, what to say. I take a little time here and there looking for the racism in my thinking. Racism is embedded there. It's been our lack of personal consciousness that has led to racism continuing through the centuries. We don't even know it's there. 

I'll give a simple example as I was listening to a Woody Guthrie song covered by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - "This land is my land." I love Woody Guthrie. He was a hero of mine growing up. He did amazing things in this country. But ...

Woody Guthrie was an unconscious white supremacist in his thinking -- we all have white supremacist thinking. He probably didn't imagine what it would be like to hear that song as a Native American. The ownership of the land in America is a major dispute of the centuries. For him to sing 'this land is my land' doesn't account for that painful memory for Native peoples. I understand his intent. I understand he was a good man. But this is a simple example that can help us examine the perpetuation of white supremacy in the lives of our every day. Maybe you don't agree with my assessment. The idea remains true. We have a blind spot in our Johari window[1] that is full of white supremacy thinking.

Part of our mission is to uncover those hidden aspects of our makeup. I use this awareness technique to help me. It's a technique that slow down my thinking in a way. It's a self-examination process. It's an attempt to become more aware of those parts of the Johari window that we normally are not conscious of. The phrase in the anti-racism movement is awake. Are you woke? 

Of course my personal state and your personal state only gives us something to work on. The system of racism still exists. The system needs to change like we hear about in Micah. The system has been in place for centuries. It's not a time to be patient. That's been one of the ploys of white supremacy to slow down the change as if black people can afford that. We have to take up the mantle for our melanated brothers and sisters. White people created an oppressive system like the people of Judah. We sacrificed our slaves to get economic redemption. We lost sight of humanity and created a great cover-up with our system of propaganda. 

I'll share another example. I know a black Hispanic man. He calls himself Hispanic and denies his African roots. He has all the African physical characteristics but clings only to his Latinx history. Ann asked me why I only talk about the oppression of black people. While we're not in an oppression Olympics, racism turns particularly on skin color. A dark-skinned Latinx or a dark-skinned Thai person experiences much more trauma from racism. A policeman doesn't know if they're Thai or Latinx, but — in white supremacy culture — people with dark skin have that mythological root of evil. That policeman will more likely harass, shoot and kill the darker skinned person over the white person. They don't stop to take an identity card to figure out if they person is a threat. Over and over again in the news we hear the results of this police violence

How do I bear this heavy burden that I talk about all the time? For decades I felt a burden of guilt and shame. It's been through working with anti-racism groups that I feel relief. We still have the system to cope with, but awareness brings the opportunity for change. The change brings with it conscious relief. We all seek that kind of relief. I would say the two most ignored problems in American society are the plight of the descendants of African slaves and the Native Americans. Our movement toward justice and equity in our own lives will help.


[1] The Johari window is a technique that helps people better understand their relationship with themselves and others. (Wikipedia)