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.
