“Seeing systems of oppression cracks our hearts open to the plight of others. Seeing our place in those systems breaks our hearts open to the plight within.”

While many religious traditions come together in shared theological beliefs about the divine, our tradition calls us together in shared beliefs about how it is we will be together. We hold central a theology of wholeness. That wholeness requires we move beyond acceptance of diversity to an embracing of all people because of their diversity.

To achieve this in a world in which “othering” has occurred for centuries requires us to dismantle systems of oppression which give privilege to the mainstream white/Euro culture. To transform these systems, each of us is called to recognize and understand our place in the very system we must dismantle.

As a white woman living in suburban New England, I must not only recognize the realities of the privileges afforded me, I must also do so in relation to the realities of an African American woman living in urban Boston.

Our faith calls me to hear that just as I am able to take my race for granted throughout my day, my counterpart’s race is present constantly. Our faith calls me to step in more deeply until I can see that mine is present constantly as well, and that the privileges afforded me come at her expense.

Personal Story

Not too many years ago I was driving in the city and got lost after a meeting. It was before I had a GPS or a phone to “save” me. Hoping my sense of direction would lead me out of unfamiliar territory, I took several turns. Each turn took me deeper into an unfamiliar urban area that felt increasingly unsafe. I could feel myself get tense and fearful. Not only did the area look unlike anywhere I had lived, nobody looked like me. Every person I saw was of color. As I looked around I wondered who would help me find my way out.

Where would it be safe to stop and ask for help? What would happen if I ran out of gas? What if I got a flat tire? My anxiety grew and grew and then for some reason, I stopped. And then I really looked.

What I saw was not menacing people looking to prey upon a lost traveler. I saw an elderly woman with a brightly colored bag walking alongside a youngster. I saw two women walking quickly, as if to catch a bus. I saw two men talking outside of a store. Both were laughing at whatever they had shared. Three young girls walked by shoulder to shoulder in the way that school-girls cluster. An elderly man was pushing a double stroller with an infant and a toddler.

What I had perceived just moments before as a run-down, dangerous area included a gas station, two small stores, a school with colorful pictures in the windows and some other buildings. What I now saw clearly was a community. I began to cry.

Despite participation in many anti-racism, anti-oppression & multiculturalism trainings and leadership in others, I found myself once again in a puddle of privilege-based racist responses to my world. And it was in a piece of my world through which I had never driven, despite living in a nearby suburb for most of my childhood and adult life.

I cried.

And through the tears, called a friend. Not a friend who was good with maps and could talk me out of the neighborhood, but rather an anti-racist ally friend who was good with navigating white privilege and could talk me into the experience.

A Prayer

Help me see who I am
Love who I find
Use all I am
And work with all others
Building a better tomorrow

A Spiritual Practice

Journal in response to these questions each day for a week:

• When was I aware of my race today?
• Did I benefit because of my race today?
• Did I lose out in any manner today because of my race today? 

Truth awaits
Once tasted
The meal forever altered

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Wendy Von Zirpolo

Latest posts by Wendy Von Zirpolo (see all)

• Whiteness: Revelations on the Journey to Multicultural Community - November 18, 2011