Blog Post #7

 Rebecca Hains' article for The Washington post does a great job of pulling a reader in right away. By giving it the title "Dear Fellow White People', I think she was able to effectively grab the attention of the reader. This is because, in general, white people are often not addressed as such. In fact, I think it is rare to see it, but not at all surprising to see "black people" called out as a group.

Intriguing title aside, the article itself does a great job confronting white people on the ways in which even those who do not consider themselves "racist" need to improve. As we talked about last week after reading an excerpt from "White Fragility", many people who consider themselves to be progressive have the hardest time talking about racism because they feel the mere suggestion that they may have said something inappropriate is an attack on their character. This article helps white people to understand that this is not always the case; in fact, when racist remarks are pointed out, the intent is often to help people recognize and improve on their downfalls. Because of this, it is important to really listen to what people have to say, and be ready to change. There are plenty of things that white people do not immediately recognize as racist, but are offensive to black and other minority groups. 

In my life, I have never been directly called out like this, but there have been times where I will read or see something and think to myself, "huh, that's something I was not aware of and will work on." I consider myself to be anti-racist, and always want to be doing the best I can to work towards a better world, and in order to do this I recognize that there are things I can, and must, improve on. I think that is the most important point made in this article- having your behavior corrected is not an attack, but rather an invitation to learn and grow.

Hains, Rebecca. “Dear Fellow White People: Here's What to Do When You're Called Racist.” The             Washington Post, WP Company, 23 Aug. 2019,                                                                                          https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/dear-fellow-white-people-heres-what-to-do-when-youre-        called-racist/2019/08/20/6e31941a-beda-11e9-b873-63ace636af08_story.html.