Lessons from Being White in Non-White Spaces
An event at the school where I taught as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya. That’s me in the distance under the mango tree.
Fellow white people, I’ve been flooded with confusing feelings about us lately. As an artist-writer, my job is to process those feelings through words or pictures and bring them into the light.
After a deep dive in my journal, what surfaced was memory after memory of being the lone white person in a non-white space. In this 32-minute podcast episode, I share a few of those stories — from my Peace Corps days in Kenya, to teaching in a nearly-all-Black school in San Francisco — and the lessons I keep learning about one basic human need we all share.
I end with a few challenges for us, including a giant one for our generation. (Q: What’s better than “Greatest”?) Join me in settling in for a lifetime of work toward racial equality. Yes, it IS our job.
(Or Download the episode.)
To my non-white listeners, I welcome your feedback on anything I share. I’ll do my best to listen with openness and humility.
To my white listeners, I hope my words help you start your own conversations about race and whiteness, whether in your journal or among friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.
If you’d like to support Black artists, here is a list of organizations to check out.
Here is another resource for artists and activists seeking to imagine a better, more equitable future.
With love,
Pam
P.S. You can subscribe to the Accidental Muralist Podcast on Apple Podcasts.