The third keynote of this WPC was given by a woman named Hsiao-Wen Lo who gave a talk titled, "Rose that Grew from the Concrete: Challenges, Resistance and Growth." It was an autobiographical talk in which she shared her journey from surviving to thriving as a Taiwanese immigrant to the United States in the mid 1990's. She came to the States, got a PHD in counseling psychology and then has lived in some challenging places, Oklahoma and Upstate New York. Unable to marry her partner until the laws changed, she was forced to live and work in places that would sponsor her visa. She relayed to us in the audience that the minute she obtained her Green Card, she quit her job and moved back to Ann Arbor to start her own private practice.
Her talk then morphed into confirming what I was hearing throughout the conference that REPRESENTATION MATTERS. When we look into the mirror and see reflected back to us nothing, there is psychic disequilibrium. Exactly what Dr. Palmer stated the day before. This leads to internalized oppression in which we subjugate ourselves to the white narrative and believe that we don't actually belong and that we aren't equal. She relayed a story in which she was told to walk THROUGH the Madison, WI City Hall to get to her destination, but she instinctively walked around it, not thinking that public buildings were hers. What kind of place do we live in if we allow our students to live in an environment in which they don't see themselves?
A statement she made that floored me was her assertion that white supremacy is about capitalism. Only in the last few hundred years has capitalism been around and it was created to justify the few to hold the control of resources. Capitalism is to preserve human dominance over others, and it's the white world that created it. As the saying goes, "money equals power." Totally makes sense when you think about it.
So what do we do? She posits the question, "Do Americans have the courage to live up to our Constitution? To Value Life and Love over convenience?"
• We need to identify in ourselves, in what ways do I myself perpetuate white supremacy
• Put at the center and uplift those identities that are deemed "less"
• Instead of "money equals power," have "honesty/kindness/integrity = power."
• Practice Self-love
Yeah, these are totally steps to take but seemed, at the time, to be a bit hokey. But turns out that this message was reiterated in the next afternoon session I attended. Essentially, be the change you want to be.
My other encounter with Dr. Lo was when I attended her session on Sunday morning (the last day of the session) called "Understanding White Privilege though Dialogue." Didn't really know what I was going into but I just wanted to hear more from Dr. Lo.
Here's the essence of her talk:
I've always thought I was practicing dialogue (and been proud of it) but I learned from this document that I've been in the "discussion" column. We learned that dialogue is about creating relationship. If we want to change people's minds, we can't and won't ever convince them through logic. Boy this is relevant to the politics of the moment. When we try and win people over with logic, argument and debate, of course they are going to feel defensive. They are being attacked and told that they are wrong and nobody wants to be told they are wrong, so they retrench farther and deeper into their beliefs. So, we aren't going to fix white supremacy and convince those that perpetuate it all at once. It's going to take time and building of trust and creating that relationship. This work will take time. This isn't a quick fix, but we need to practice dialogue.
Her talk then morphed into confirming what I was hearing throughout the conference that REPRESENTATION MATTERS. When we look into the mirror and see reflected back to us nothing, there is psychic disequilibrium. Exactly what Dr. Palmer stated the day before. This leads to internalized oppression in which we subjugate ourselves to the white narrative and believe that we don't actually belong and that we aren't equal. She relayed a story in which she was told to walk THROUGH the Madison, WI City Hall to get to her destination, but she instinctively walked around it, not thinking that public buildings were hers. What kind of place do we live in if we allow our students to live in an environment in which they don't see themselves?
A statement she made that floored me was her assertion that white supremacy is about capitalism. Only in the last few hundred years has capitalism been around and it was created to justify the few to hold the control of resources. Capitalism is to preserve human dominance over others, and it's the white world that created it. As the saying goes, "money equals power." Totally makes sense when you think about it.
So what do we do? She posits the question, "Do Americans have the courage to live up to our Constitution? To Value Life and Love over convenience?"
• We need to identify in ourselves, in what ways do I myself perpetuate white supremacy
• Put at the center and uplift those identities that are deemed "less"
• Instead of "money equals power," have "honesty/kindness/integrity = power."
• Practice Self-love
Yeah, these are totally steps to take but seemed, at the time, to be a bit hokey. But turns out that this message was reiterated in the next afternoon session I attended. Essentially, be the change you want to be.
My other encounter with Dr. Lo was when I attended her session on Sunday morning (the last day of the session) called "Understanding White Privilege though Dialogue." Didn't really know what I was going into but I just wanted to hear more from Dr. Lo.
Here's the essence of her talk:
I've always thought I was practicing dialogue (and been proud of it) but I learned from this document that I've been in the "discussion" column. We learned that dialogue is about creating relationship. If we want to change people's minds, we can't and won't ever convince them through logic. Boy this is relevant to the politics of the moment. When we try and win people over with logic, argument and debate, of course they are going to feel defensive. They are being attacked and told that they are wrong and nobody wants to be told they are wrong, so they retrench farther and deeper into their beliefs. So, we aren't going to fix white supremacy and convince those that perpetuate it all at once. It's going to take time and building of trust and creating that relationship. This work will take time. This isn't a quick fix, but we need to practice dialogue.
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