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Be gentle with the White people...
Jun. 30th, 2025 10:21 pmA year ago I finished Tunic, watched Psych and a YT video about Easter eggs in Doctor Who, and reaffirmed my identity as Scouse-not-English.
Today, husband had a follow up chest x-ray to (hopefully) show that the last bout of pneumonia has cleared up. We had an appointment but the receptionist said we could actually come along any time for that. The last time he had a chest x-ray with an appointment time we rocked up a few days later - and were told that because he showed as 'did not attend' they would reopen the appointment, which was really against the rules. Which is it?! The good thing is that it's in our local hospital, so it's usually not much of a problem to go at the appointment time.
Afterwards, we bought something to eat and sat by the Quickening statue again - but we were both too hot and bothered to really enjoy it. And there was a party of (I think...) Spanish teenagers coming out of the university building and chattering loudly - you know, being teenagers.
Back at home, I dug into the problem I'm having with one of the Power BI reports and I think I need to create something in the dataset, which makes me nervous. So, I'm going to wait until I can speak to my friendly dev about it.
Favourite colleague and I had a super geeky email conversation about Doctor Who. Their nerdiness leaves mine sobbing in the dust :D
And this evening was the second session of the Slavery Truth Project. One of the plaques on the walls is to Henry Moore 'merchant of this town'. Given that the church was built in 1829 and slavery was abolished in 1834, it isn't hard to guess what 'commodities' he was trading in. The people leading the project (all PoC) confirmed he received compensation for 7 plantations...
We watched a video called 'After the Flood' that traced the roots of Christianity's role in creating the conditions for enslavement, legitimising it, and developing the concept of 'race' in order to justify its continuance. The invention of 'Whiteness' is just so abhorrent to me. I don't feel 'White' any more than I 'feel' like a woman - whilst recognising the inherent privilege of being part of the white, cis majority that statement reveals.
I got to talk about some of the PoC who were part of our church community over the years, renaming them as words within the Word. And also avoided talking about the most recent member of that club whose absence is still a source of shame to me. I considered making their return part of our attempt at reparation (repair and restoration) but realise it's more about my guilt - if/when they return, it has to be on their terms.
Anyway, there was a lot of 'we know some of the things discussed in the video are difficult, so if you need a minute, please take it'... Everyone other than the leaders is white, so I did feel - not patronised but that my potential white fragility was being accounted for. But it was also true - there are some hard truths in there. The CoE's active complicity, the destruction of not just lives but the dreams of generations, and the continuing impact on all our lives.
Next week I'm double-booked and I was going to go to the Safeguarding thing but I feel I have to honour the legacy of my siblings of colour.
Today, husband had a follow up chest x-ray to (hopefully) show that the last bout of pneumonia has cleared up. We had an appointment but the receptionist said we could actually come along any time for that. The last time he had a chest x-ray with an appointment time we rocked up a few days later - and were told that because he showed as 'did not attend' they would reopen the appointment, which was really against the rules. Which is it?! The good thing is that it's in our local hospital, so it's usually not much of a problem to go at the appointment time.
Afterwards, we bought something to eat and sat by the Quickening statue again - but we were both too hot and bothered to really enjoy it. And there was a party of (I think...) Spanish teenagers coming out of the university building and chattering loudly - you know, being teenagers.
Back at home, I dug into the problem I'm having with one of the Power BI reports and I think I need to create something in the dataset, which makes me nervous. So, I'm going to wait until I can speak to my friendly dev about it.
Favourite colleague and I had a super geeky email conversation about Doctor Who. Their nerdiness leaves mine sobbing in the dust :D
And this evening was the second session of the Slavery Truth Project. One of the plaques on the walls is to Henry Moore 'merchant of this town'. Given that the church was built in 1829 and slavery was abolished in 1834, it isn't hard to guess what 'commodities' he was trading in. The people leading the project (all PoC) confirmed he received compensation for 7 plantations...
We watched a video called 'After the Flood' that traced the roots of Christianity's role in creating the conditions for enslavement, legitimising it, and developing the concept of 'race' in order to justify its continuance. The invention of 'Whiteness' is just so abhorrent to me. I don't feel 'White' any more than I 'feel' like a woman - whilst recognising the inherent privilege of being part of the white, cis majority that statement reveals.
I got to talk about some of the PoC who were part of our church community over the years, renaming them as words within the Word. And also avoided talking about the most recent member of that club whose absence is still a source of shame to me. I considered making their return part of our attempt at reparation (repair and restoration) but realise it's more about my guilt - if/when they return, it has to be on their terms.
Anyway, there was a lot of 'we know some of the things discussed in the video are difficult, so if you need a minute, please take it'... Everyone other than the leaders is white, so I did feel - not patronised but that my potential white fragility was being accounted for. But it was also true - there are some hard truths in there. The CoE's active complicity, the destruction of not just lives but the dreams of generations, and the continuing impact on all our lives.
Next week I'm double-booked and I was going to go to the Safeguarding thing but I feel I have to honour the legacy of my siblings of colour.
