White Privilege and Speciesism

A discussion today in a group I am involved with invited inquiry into the ripe topic of White Privilege. One group member asked whether we can expand the conversation to include the problem of oppression of animals. Here is a brief excerpt, concluding with my reply.



On Sat, Nov 28, 2020 at 10:33 AM X____ wrote:

I’d like to request that we broaden this self-inquiry to include the rest of the planet and most of the life on it? Why don’t we also, in addition…. please…. also look at our Human Privilege and its disregard for the Rights of Nature?

Y____ replied:

I would gently say that if we are not willing to center the idea of white privilege and supremacy in our inquiry, then we will never be able to dismantle our human centric ideas of being on this planet. White privilege, in this context, comes from a long rooted belief in the Doctrine of Discovery & Manifest Destiny which impacts all Westernized and Colonized countries. It is the fundamental idea of separation and domination.
 

If we, those who lack melanin and who have the most access to resources and power in this organization , are unable to do this fundamental inquiry and transformational work, then the rest is bypassing.

 

And I replied:

We have an opportunity here to look at related issues together, as each derives from a "fundamental idea of separation and domination," one involving race and the other involving species. At the core, the problem is the erroneous bias itself, no doubt learned and nurtured habit, which can be viewed and questioned in the light of honest self-inquiry and assessment. The outward expression of either can help to reveal both and thereby help to dismantle each other, rather than sequentially, one after another. We can ask ourselves how and why we feel separate from others, whether based on race or species, and more importantly, how we may behave in ways that oppress others in either and both categories.

Love,
Shivadam

May all beings be well and happy.