“You know, we’re trying to focus on programs that serve Boston’s inner-city youth. If you could develop a vision that includes that population, we’d be more interested in supporting you.”
This is an intriguing chapter, and one that is perhaps the turning point from comfort into awareness. The author is given great power and influence, and then is tasked to “go do something good for people.” Intriguing because the attempt was made, but here, at the beginning, perhaps the attempt went wrong when there wasn’t an inquiry into what is needed and how versus what do I think is needed and how can I help? Us white people “doing good” for others can be good. Feeding the poor, helping the homeless, rescuing the lost—all good things. But what the author is saying here isn’t so much even the why yet, but the what, and that is, in my opinion, where things go wrong at the beginning.
“Knowing nothing of nationwide redlining, failed urban-renewal promises, or white flight in the 1940s and 1950s, and little of Boston’s busing crisis in the 1970s, I had no context for why these neighborhoods needed help…All I thought about was how I could help the needy.”
Sometimes we are inspired to “Do the Good Thing!” We find something we can do, and we find a place where we can use those skills and talents and strengths. Nothing wrong with that in the sense that of course, doing good is good—in theory. The problem is when we don’t stop before we start and ask ourselves, “But what is actually needed? What do I actually know about the situation?” The author has a brilliant idea to draw more white people downtown and to get more downtown people (read: inner city urban residents) into the city arts. On the face of it—perfectly fine and admirable. But what problem was actually being solved here? Perhaps in looking back the problem being solved was “I want to do something to please the board” versus “I have knowledge of the real needs of the city, and I’d like to be part of the solution in meeting those needs.”
“I would have told you at the time I was doing it for them, but as I think about it now, I wonder how much of what I was doing contributed to my ability to justify all my new acquisitions and achievements…I now understand that what I was doing is called ‘dysfunctional rescuing,’ helping people in ways that actually disempower them.”
There is some great insight here by the author. She was raised to be independent and self-motivated and drawing strength from her own resources, being taught to be competent, even expert, in resolving her own issues. But when she went out to help people, she 100% did not do this for them. Instead, she expanded her natural talents and gifts and passions to help them. Not teach them. Not enable them. Not support them. Not even listen to them. She had a wonderful solution and it worked for here, so it would work for them if she just helped them.
I think about this when I think of Haiti and the aftereffects of the terrible earthquake. 2010 a monstrous quake shook the nation, destroying infrastructure and homes and offices and destabilizing even further that poor and desperate and proud land, the first black nation in the Western hemisphere. You can look up all the terrible things that have been done to Haiti by Western white powers for centuries. An independent black government has been an endless thorn in the side of Western imperialism. Haiti has been “helped” by white Westerners for centuries, and Haiti has been further degraded and impoverished by those efforts. Keeping Haiti powerless, divided, and dysfunctional works to keep Haiti impotent.
After the earthquake the American raised 500 million dollars to aid Haiti by building houses to give new life and hope to those whose own homes were destroyed by the quake. We were bombarded here in the United States with endless appeals to donate money for this cause. A half-billion dollars.
You might already know, but if you don’t—try to guess how many homes have been built?
Six.
“The Red Cross says it has provided homes to more than 130,000 people. But the actual number of permanent homes the group has built in all of Haiti: six. After the earthquake, Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern unveiled ambitious plans to ‘develop brand-new communities.’ None has ever been built.” ~ The Red Cross had $500 in Haitian relief money, but it built just six houses, Washington Post, June 4, 2015.
It’s a good thing to build houses for the destitute, right? Yes, it can be. But the houses weren’t built. The solutions didn’t work. Homeless Haitian still are homeless.
Haiti has been drained of resources for over a century, being the plantation for wealthy white overseers even post-revolution. The French required Haiti to pay France back for their assets stolen by the revolution. The assets were the bodies and labor of slaves newly freed as independent citizens of an independent nation. Haiti was paying this extortion to France from 1804 to 1947. Haiti has been used to raise money for wealthy non-profits like the Red Cross. And Haiti remains desperately poor and powerless.
What does Haiti actually need? I can think of plenty of things—but what do I actually know? Is giving homes to Haiti even the right thing to do? Were the Haitians even asked?
Doesn’t look like it. We had these solutions, and we went to implement them.
This is something we Westerners do. We “help” the poor with solutions that are imposed by us and don’t scale or don’t work. We raise money for small water projects in lands without the infrastructure for water systems. Systems that depend upon technology and expert maintenance. Batteries to run run complex systems. Batteries that aren’t available or that are tremendously costly. No one really knows how to fix the pumps when they break. And so, after the do-gooders leave, the villages return to their dirty water because we didn’t think, we didn’t listen, and we didn’t ask. Our solutions make great photo ops for our donors. Do we ever revisit those villages a year or two later? See how our “solution” worked?
Sending donated clothes overseas destroys the indigenous clothing industries. Sending donated food destroys indigenous markets. “Fixing” people destroys their independence.
“But they need help!” Yes, they do. But think of how we like to be helped. We like the education and experience and practice and the freedom to fix it ourselves. “Those people” are the same. Tools and empowerment and direction—but maybe they can figure out how they want to be helped.
“Never once did I visit the actual neighborhoods. Never once did I sit down with a group of these kids, their families, or their teachers and ask, ‘What is it my organization could do for you?’ Nor did I ask, ‘What role would you like to play in shaping this program?’ And entirely off my radar was the question, ‘Do you even want me here?’”
That is the question. Do you even want me here? We are rich and satisfied and powerful and confident. We can go everywhere. And indeed, we can. But sometimes we should not. Sometimes we should let people fix their own problems. Sure, provide them support and tools. But—treat them as human beings with highly complex minds and the passion to create their own solutions.
“I concluded these inner-city black folks just needed more chances to see what opportunities existed. I felt sure my efforts to bring kids downtown was a good place to start…I assumed the kids and teachers felt as I did: these were exciting and inspirational opportunities.”
We come up with great ideas. I have great ideas. I see Haiti, for example, and wonder if one way to bring about national restoration is to provide funding and guidance to raise chickens. Chickens can be used for eggs, for meat, can be raised by anyone. Providing labor and support to build chicken coops could bring about an increase in the local economy as people have more spending money. Other businesses would expand. The very poorest can raise chickens and pull themselves out of poverty…I have endless ideas. I could start a GoFundMe to begin this…Are you with me on this? LET’S GET STARTED!
But nowhere in this imagined solution where I’m center and savior have I done any work to find out if this is what Haitians want or need. There are a host of issues with raising chickens, including the lack of clean water, and chickens get sick and die from endemic diseases. They are riddled with salmonella. Their meat and eggs must be handled with great care to be sure that they don’t poison humans. I could be bringing upon Haitians a worse thing than their current situation. But I feel sure it would be a good thing to do.
“The idea that my world might feel uncomfortable or even dangerous to someone else would have been inconceivable to me…Had someone tried to point out to me that I was part of a national pattern of white people deciding what people of color needed, and white people holding the purse strings, I’m guessing I would have silently smiled while thinking, How ungrateful.”
Indeed. “I have these wonderful ideas and I have all these resources. Why do you turn your back on my ideas and my solutions? Why don’t you listen to me?
“Unprepared for any potentially challenging conversation about racism, my comfort zone extended only as far as the general concept of ‘diversity.’”
In theory “those people” just need our help. But “those people” are people, and people can sense when they’re being played. People are poor not because they’re stupid. They’re poor because they have made some bad decisions. They’re poor because they lack the skills or the emotional capacity to fit in with our society. And they’re poor because we need them to be poor. That’s the essence of white supremacy, by the way. We rescuing white people don’t really know the people we want to “help.” But help them we will.
“‘Man, it was freaky. I’ve never seen so many white people in my life! I was scared!’ … I remember feeling some relief to be leaving and not having to deal with this unexpected, imperfect ending to my final initiative…I never could shake the sense that perhaps I’d done more harm than good…I felt demoralized, saddened that the ending hadn’t turned out as I envisioned.”
This was a beautiful ending, because it was the glimpse of understanding by the author that just maybe her solutions weren’t solutions after all, but were an imposed mess. The first step in fixing a problem is to realize that you have a problem. Getting to that point can take years, decades, an entire lifetime.
But there is no better point in time to start that first step than right now.
Questions
If you were to be given $100,000 and told to give it to one charity, which one would you pick?
Frankly, I have been thinking about this, a lot. $100,000 isn’t really that much, but it’s a start. I think of the education opportunities that are lacking, and I’d look to fund an existing charity that gives children opportunities for learning enrichment. I am an absolute believer in public schools, but I can see that there is so much missing from the poorer school districts. Perhaps there is an organization or two that has these programs in place, whether in situ or as external afterschool programs. One of them that I know of is in metro Seattle working with local children to provide a safe place for study, food, and opportunities for learning and guidance. I’d pick them, but I’d also like to see other organizations get money and support as well. Education can never be taken away, and giving children the tools to learn and the place to learn is something that will transform them their entire lives.
What are the races of the organization’s three top executives?
They’re all black. It’s a self-directed organization for and by the black community. From my research, it does not have white directors. There are some advisors listed and upon cursory examination they appear to be multi-ethnic, but the advisors do not have input into day-to-day operations or in supervision.
What race is the chair of the board?
Black.
For context on this series, see my kick-off post here:
To follow along with the others, see also:
Di Brown “Nixie” at https://dianabrown.net/blog-challenge-waking-up-white/
This chapter: https://dianabrown.net/waking-up-white-chapter-20/
Dawn Claflin at https://dawnclaflin.wordpress.com/
When you’re raised with a constant refrain (however sincere or insincere) of “Do unto others as you would have done unto you,” it takes work to take a step beyond that into “take the time to find out how the others would like to have done unto them.”
When you Know Best, it’s work to stop and consider whether you actually know best for anyone but yourself.
White culture is drenched in the insisting that we “prove ourselves,” develop expertise in..something – oh, yeah, and of course “do charitable works.” When you think about it, it isn’t all that surprising that it would result in striving to “balance the books” with oppressed groups via dysfunctional rescue….
Good point about the “proving yourselves.” I think you may have mentioned this elsewhere as a symptom of whiteness. (if not you, then someone else has.)
There’s a lot to explore in that statement.
Violence Prevention Center in Grand Marais, MN has an excellent program already. $100,000 would not only support a large staff of volunteers and professional services, but also extend services to a large geographic area. Ojibwe rape victims, but also young boys and girls in rural areas need support. A few Northeast MN foundations already fund some of the programs. Do I have $100,000? No, but now that you mention it, I should change my will.
I mentioned W.K. Kellogg Foundation in previous comments. My daughter works their in Battle Creek, Michigan, as a media production manager. She was in Detroit last week working with Black media producers. Leadership is strong there. Identifying young boys and girls who will be leaders soon, and getting them the best possible education. The very questions you asked always gets answers, where do you need help?
W.K. Kellogg Foundation is on the ground in Haiti now, and has been there for about six years, establishing the same kinds of youth programs, as well as basic housing and health care services. Clean water is a critical need.
See also the Netflix David Letterman interview with Barack Obama. Letterman said at the end, what bothers him most is how unaware he was as a youth in the 60’s. I said that in other posts to you, what I did not know while riding a Montgomery city bus in 1966. And, https://www.obama.org/the-center/
Thanks for the words and ideas.
You hit something important, and something I brought up elsewhere: “I didn’t know.”
There is so much we just don’t know. There is so much information flooding our minds, our ears, our eyes, and we can’t absorb it. And so much is already silenced by the choices we make for our information.
One of the things I mentioned elsewhere is going through the 60s in Los Angeles / Orange County, and living a few miles away from what would now be termed as the distressed areas of the inner city. When the Watts Insurrection broke out, I had no more clue as to why than I for anything else that people do. Ordinary people pushed to the limit endure; ordinary people pushed past the limit explode.
There are many things that can be done because to do right by people is something all our laws and prophets and teachers and visionaries tell us–but there are just so many things, all with competing voices.
The best response, I think, is to pick the things you can do, and then do them. Ally with others doing similar things, support them (and don’t make them do your thing to show that they are as compassionate as you!), and implore the Deity as you see fit to help us to be better humans.
We are likely never to permanently “fix” anything. The world “gang aft agley,” as Robert Burns put it. But we still must try, when we can.