Being a White Man
Being a white man at the Refounding Conference of the National Alliance Against Racism and Oppression (November 22-24, 2019 in Chicago) was most interesting and challenging. I am not used to being in a setting where many people may believe that I am “irrelevant” or that my motives may be oppressive because I am white and male. More than a few times mentioning my involvement in Organizing White Men for Collective Liberation (OWMCL) brought doubtful looks and responses such as: “You’ve a really tough road ahead of you” (often with the implication that the listener wouldn’t believe my relevance, until s/he saw a LOT more visible results). Never did I hear, “we’d like to work with you”, though one woman wanted us, when we get better organized, to meet with one of her groups as “white men”. Issues of racism, class, gender and other areas of oppression were significantly discussed by many Women of Color (and some men) in workshops and presentations. It was very clear that