permaculture

[Kelda Lorax <kelda@riseup.net>]

Jason, regarding the basics of white privilege, etc take a moment and 
see how I'm addressing everyone who's chimed in on this topic. I admit 
I'm writing as a summary and not addressing point per point for 
everyone. Since you are more trained in anti-racism work than others why 
didn't you call out white fragility instead of me? Regardless of 
defensive emotions, us permaculturists have a lot of work to do 
addressing cultural appropriation. I'm really interested in the 
solutions and we can't get there if those of us who see the problem are 
not speaking up. You may have been more gentle than me, but if it was so 
gentle that I didn't recognize it as a 'calling in' then it might need 
to be a bit more blunt.

Tobias critique is not even the most seering towards permaculture that 
I've seen. But it's as good place as any to start.

Lawrence, I appreciate your enthusiasm and could say a lot more. But 
maybe for anyone interested in addressing their own racism, this is a 
really useful perspective that's much gentler than I can be:
http://nonprofitwithballs.com/2016/08/flossing-and-the-dental-hygiene-paradigm-of-race-discourse/

Thanks
Kelda

On 2017-04-30 13:01, Lawrence London wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 30, 2017 at 1:33 PM, Kelda Lorax <kelda@riseup.net> wrote:
>
> > I am quite racist, in the sense that I have unbidden racist things pop
> > into my mind and thus I scrutinize my mind heavily.
>
> What a unique and important topic to bring up. Outstanding. I now see 
> where
> you are coming from.
> Maybe we can explore this. I said previously that when such unwanted 
> neural
> energies burden my as I make my way through each day I respond by 
> thinking
> about the Australian Aborigines and their contribution to mankind and 
> that
> they hold the keys to one living in harmony with Nature or rather Gaia.
> Poof, racist thoughts gone. If only I had known how to do that from age 
> 1
> to age 40. A related story from my time growing up in a university 
> town.
> There was a black gentleman who lived nearby whose brother was a stone
> mason. George Baldwin was a gardener by profession and an eccentric 
> fellow
> of small stature. He did yard work and landscape maintnance in
> neighborhoods mostly occupied by university faculty members and their
> neighbors. He talked to the plants. He was such a skilled 
> horticulturist
> that he became
> the famous botanist WC Coker's (Coker-Totten "Trees of the Southeastern
> United States") favorite gardener. That was a real honor for him.
> He worked for my parents and other people in the neighborhood. 
> Sometimes he
> would come to work and after a while disappear for hours.
> A search would find him curled up under a bush with a wine bottle. No
> problem. To each, his own. Anyway George seemed to me to be some kind 
> of
> plant guru, distant and elite, his lack of education notwithstanding. 
> There
> was something about him and about his work that exuded a mystique about 
> the
> Earth' landscape, the world of plants what left a lasting impression on 
> me.
> At age 40 I became a landscape contractor and later moved to farmland 
> and
> entered the world of natural gardening and permaculture. So, there you 
> go.
> instead of racist thoughts popping into my mind I have memories of 
> George,
> a supreme steward of the Earth I was graced to have known and 
> benefitted
> from.
>
>
> > Not because I want to oppress but because I no longer want to be the
> > oppressor. If you think it's because I Want to think people of color 
> > are
> > lesser, than you don't understand my meaning.
>
> No, I did not think that.
>
> > On a gentler note, my husband and I were talking about this whole 
> > string
> > and he said "Well, everyone feels defensive at first"
> > -spoken from a man who was Seriously Annoyed every time I pointed out 
> > how
> > racist he is, but now looks for it himself and helps other white 
> > people see
> > theirs.
>
> Well done, Kelda!
>
>
>
> --
> Lawrence F. London, Jr.
> lfljvenaura@gmail.com
> https://sites.google.com/site/avantgeared