LETTER: Thanks to community group, school board for approving racial equity plan

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Applaud! Vashon school board approved a plan to address racial equity. Thank you to Spring Hecht and the Racial Equity Committee, and all who worked so hard to promote this shift of consciousness. Thank you for shaking us awake.

Waking up is hard to do. Recently we heard a school board member describe his difficulty to understand the problems of racism because he lives in a “white bubble.” His confession named the exact issue: How can we white people on Vashon actively engage to pop our white bubbles?

One essential way is to discover how white privilege and implicit bias are part of our lives and our culture, and how they contribute to systemic racism, despite our best intentions. As we gain a deeper understanding of white privilege, we can look toward contributing to undoing racism in more effective ways.

In June, Vashon Showing Up for Racial Justice [Vashon SURJ] is offering a four-week reading and discussion group using the book, “Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race” by Debby Irving.

I encountered this book in 2015 through Sustainable Vashon’s All Island Read on Racism & White Privilege. Discussing the book was eye-opening and simultaneously supportive and healing. I realized that even as we were mostly white people in the room, we were embarking on important work towards acknowledging and ending racism. If you hear the call, join us in June. Contact heartgreen@yahoo.com or find Vashon SURJ on Facebook.

— Karen Nelson, member Vashon SURJ