backstory: whiteness and me
You’ve heard me talk a lot about vision and seeing. Here’s another way in which I think about it.
I’m white. I’m other things too. I identify as a woman. I am of Eastern European descent. But ultimately it is through a lens of whiteness that I have experienced the world since the moment I was born. I know I need to be mindful that this lens exists for me and that I try and see when it is clouding or filtering or obscuring my vision. It’s a process that requires attention and effort, and I try to give it that attention and effort.
Through what lens or lenses do you experience the world? In what ways do those lenses affect what you see? In what ways have you fitted the world around you to those lenses?
Tracy Fitzpatrick