So I'm white (half white, but I look all white and I think it's fair to just say I identify as 'white'), and I like to think my posting here and at the old place has been pretty eye opening over the last...decade or so, we have a lot of posters here of all backgrounds that put a lot of thought into everything that they write and are willing to make it pretty clear how they feel about issues, so while I never would have considered myself racist in any way in the past (I never grew up in an area or household where that was even a thing, so I never understood it to begin with), I now understand through you guys how many things I have said or done are racist, or at least racially insensitive.
Speaking as the type of person that a 15 years ago probably could've used the kind of thing being offered here, even if I didn't know it then: This is purely a good idea. There is a big difference between racist fucks that don't give a shit that they're racist, and poeple who aren't really racist, but don't understand that they still act in subtle racist ways at times. The latter is who this group is aimed at, and the flyer in the intro is a pretty good example of the kind of shit these people will do. Even someone that isn't racist doesn't want to be talked AT and told that they're racist or whatever else, yes it's white fragility, but it's in the same way that people don't generally like to be told they're wrong about anything. I don't like to, you don't like to, nobody likes to, it sucks. Something like this where someone can feel like they're 'part' of the discussion is almost surely a good way to get them to arrive at conclusions themselves (with the aid of the counselors and guests or whatever else) without feeling preached to, basically.
I dunno, to me it makes sense, and if the end result is even 'allies' being less racist then that's a pretty good lesson. Heck, I hope this flyer thing has taught some of them lessons already, like "hey, maybe our idea isn't bad but our execution was fucke,d let's think about WHY' it's easy to be defensive, hopefully they aren't. Yes, having minorities there would certainly help with the ability to speak from experience, but you don't always need that. I don't need to be black at this point to explain to someone why they shouldn't say the n word even when they're singing along to a song for example, I'm just not going to frame it as if it's something I speak on from personal experience.
Then again, maybe I'm wrong about all of this and I'll learn something new here in this thread, who knows.
