Old habits can seem hard to break! This morning I came close to getting embroiled in another fruitless debate on the tired subjects I’ve followed for decades. However I recalled the wisdom shared in the video linked below and checked myself. Experiencing strife and anxiety are already part of the human condition. Seeking out and […]
Tag Archives: race relations
July
26
Aware But Not Immersed:Coping With Repetitive Negativity In the Media
posted by ExiledMind
Another week, another hashtag. There was a time when I eagerly latched on to any narrative that dominated my timelines, particularly those which related to race relations in my country. But when news of the latest outrage erupts online I now caution myself to stop, breathe and take some time to think. I don’t see […]
June
10
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around:Outrage Fatigue and Shifting Focus
posted by ExiledMind
I know better. I should have never clicked ‘play’ on that video. It is not as if it could show me anything new. It couldn’t teach a lesson any different from the one I peeped watching a fuzzy video with my late Grandma back in 1991, or the simmering emotion in the voices of my elders […]
April
22
Against The Grain: Edward Ball
posted by ExiledMind
The fallout from the hacking of Sony Entertainment Group’s emails continues to make news. The most recent story revealed that actor Ben Affleck requested to have a remote slaveowning ancestor removed from the PBS documentary “Finding Your Roots”. Affleck and PBS have both faced criticism for the decision. Personally I do not feel that Affleck […]
SKINFOLK
posted by ExiledMind
My previous post discussed the cultural differences that I observed in Tanzania. But that was then and this is now. Now it is 2014. I haven’t been outside the country again, and America’s unique dysfunctions on race continue to prevail and frustrate me. The things I’ve been told this week in particular have left me […]
Black and Brown, Part III
posted by ExiledMind
“Hola Daniella, please come in”, Wendy, Raquel’s Mom, said as I stepped through the door. It was spring 1995, the end of my freshman year in high school. A few months earlier Raquel’s family moved from the South End and bought a house in West Seattle. I was sad when Raquel first told me of the […]
Black and Brown, Part II
posted by ExiledMind
Our story resumes in the fall of 1991. When I began the sixth grade I’d lived in Seattle for less than a year. I’d adjusted to the idea that we would not return to my beloved Southern California but still struggled to fit in. Seattle was so cold and Anglo compared to Cali. Soon after […]
Black and Brown, Part I
posted by ExiledMind
The legacy of White Supremacy and institutionalized racism are subjects which I’ve written about and discussed extensively. I’ve addressed them so often and so unrelentingly that it has caused certain individuals to accuse me of being ‘racist’ and hating White Americans. It would probably come as a surprise to said individuals to learn that the […]
