Can You Be The Perfect Activist? A Learning Conversation w/ Colice Sanders
I had a question that was bothering me.
From episode one of this series (w/ Dr. Shyam Ranganathan) I have been asking and chatting about how we are holding our own activist and change-maker selves to perfectionist standards.
So decided to end this series with an expert here to answer that question.
Enter Colice Sanders to the chat. The covers so much about the history of white supremacy, why it matters, and brings up new things for us all to think about.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
*Langauge matters. I am a huge fan of defining terms, and Colice is too. Making sure you are precise in your definitions and terms can help communicate, clarify, and overall understanding. Colice defines a lot of terms for us in this podcast, so take note and use those terms wisely.
*White supremacy and white culture is something we rarely talk about. It manifests in our culture in things like individualism vs. collectivism, perfectionism, hoarding of power, and other ways. Colice goes over the whole list, and take a listen back and take notes.
*Awareness. We are aware. This is one of my favorite points she brings up. Often we justify being unkind to people, especially online, for the sake of awareness. Consider that awareness isn’t the issue, but our lack of focused and impactful action especially in our communities that is where we are truly missing the mark.
*Using perfectionism to police each other in yoga and social justice space is just the worst. If you have ever felt guilty or shamed for how you show up remember two things. 1. They aren’t the cops. And even if they are we don’t talk to cops. 2. Perhaps someone said something that you do need to think about, so don’t dismiss all critique out of hand, but take a few moments to separate what you need to learn from what made you feel bad.
You are not a bad person if you are learning, and the fact that you are learning also doesn’t give other people carte blanche to shame you into submission about your thoughts and feelings. Both of those things can be true at the same time.
*Colice’s example about social-justice-focused tourism and missionary work was so spot-on. We do this sort of travel and tourism in the yoga space, so let’s rethink our “good intentions” and consider giving people a meaning and purpose that extends beyond doing one thing for a short period and then going back to our regular lives. We can support people locally, be environmentally conscious at home, and support folks who are unhoused in our communities all the time–and yoga spaces can become hubs for those things to happen.
*Moral superiority seeps into a lot of our lives. How have *you* felt morally superior in ways that have been detrimental to your health and life? I have said 100 times this season that I love to be right, which is moral superiority’s younger cousin. It is worth a moment’s thought about what makes you feel superior—food? Movement? Spiritual calm? As good as any of those things can be, they can also take a turn into making us feel better than other people in a way that harms and doesn’t help.
RESOURCES
White Supremacy Culture website
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