What does it mean to be a White person in the US today? Any mention of race sets off an immediate reaction across the political spectrum. If you mention race: you’re racist. If you don’t mention race: you’re racist. You’re contemplating not even listening to this podcast now that you know it's about race. You don’t need to think about being White, right? Racism doesn’t exist, that book club you had in 2020 for two months taught you everything you needed to know, or your best friend is Diné, right? Notably, a majority of White people seem to have the same reactions over and over again when race is mentioned: Anger. Helplessness. Denial. Feeling overwhelmed. Shame. Irritability. Depersonalization. Elevated cortisol levels. Racing thoughts. Reactivation. Withdrawal. Engagement in high-risk behaviors. Disruption of life assumptions. Increased cynicism. Argumentative behavior. These repeated experiences indicate an inability to move on — a trauma response. Then three things happen: 1. We deny that we have this experience and blame an “other” (example: “If only the liberals…” “It’s the conservatives who…”) 2. Mention “trauma,” and we unleash mental health stigmas. Or worse yet, White people can acknowledge it’s a trauma while also choosing not to care because White people are experiencing it. 3. We start the cycle over again. To compound this: White people will become a racial minority in the US by 2045. The social experiences of race will change. How we currently talk about race has been so informed by the past that we’ve lost sight of the future of race in the US. If race isn’t a problem, then it shouldn’t be a problem to talk about. The Spillway isn’t exclusive to conservatives or liberals. We’re not here to repeat talking points from The Daily Wire or The Daily Show. We made it for White people, not a political or media ideology. The Spillway exists to make sense of this changing social landscape while creating meaningful spaces for White people to talk, think, and explore conversations of race without shame or judgment. As White people, we often didn’t grow up thinking about race. And when we talked about racism, it was usually only in history class, not around our nightly kitchen table. At The Spillway, we are trying to build racial literacy within White culture. And we’re going to do that by centering understanding, compassion, empathy, love, and patience in our work. Not supremacy. Not shame. So we're going to talk to experts, public thinkers, academics, and everyday White people, each of us trying to make sense of this ever-changing social landscape as White people. All of this with the goal of healing our traumas and preventing the trauma of others.
