by Rick Lowe
Apparently Ms. Helen Klonaris is on a mission to "kill the Columbus of whiteness" by offering a series of workshops under the theme of “Re-Storying Whiteness: A Writing Workshop for Bahamians of European Descent Who Want to Heal Our Ancestral Legacies”.
What?
Having read this piece in The Nassau Guardian Saturday past I'm not sure why Columbus should be killed or why whiteness, or blackness for that matter has to be transformed.
Ms. Klonaris seems concerned about white privilege and (white) racism and how we might "deconstruct" and "give honest testimony" to it fearing that "there is just too much at stake" if we ignore it.
So my question is once it is determined that there is privilege and racism among white Bahamians is she then going to "deconstruct" black privilege and racism?
Privilege, whether historical or of recent vintage will exist and I have no trouble with people being privileged, be they black or white.
Racism on the other hand is horrible no matter which race perpetuates it, and when we confront it we must denounce it. However this workshop seems a bit like focusing attention on a personal issue and attempting to make a national priority of it, which seems somewhat contemptuous to me.
There is good and bad among all races.
What's your take?
Historically She is only following a pattern, that of the supposed Intelligentsia espousing and propagating ever increasing mindlessness while a society stagnates.
Take Germany for example, Pre-WW II. Not to single them out but The intellectual society created an Anti-rationale, which embraced all manner of Anti-logic and was embraced in turn by society. Music, Literature, Ethics, theater, it was all Hijacked and dressed up as Nationalism and socialism.
At the time, Crime was Rampant, (esp among the youth), disenfranchisement and unemployment in many social sectors, outlandish theatrical productions and literary works, which paved the way for political leadership that simply promised everyone everything.
No one ever asked the question: All to be paid for by whom? Or even, who is to blame? (that obviously was collective)
A bit of study will yield a number of parallels and obvious dichotomies, difficult to see when embroiled in the passions of the day.
“whom the Gods would destroy,
they first make Mad”
I agree with you, Rick!
It almost sounds as if Ms Klonaris is apologizing for being born white, instead of seeing racism for the evil it really is.
Judge not the pride and self-esteem of others until you judge yourself.. When you want to point your finger, try looking into a mirror first..