Shame and responsibility
Often when I see all the critic on white people I feel ashamed of being white. I was born with this skin just like you were born with yours and I have no choice to wear it. I understand there has been done a lot of wrong and horrible things to your people. I have shed tears by just reading, hearing and learning the stories. I felt pain and anger for the horrors that you, your families and your ancestor have gone through and still are going through.
Perhaps to feel that shame and the reminder of what “we” have done to your people, your family, your ancestors is exactly what is needed.
I can’t change the past. I’m not following in my ancestors’ footsteps and I am not them. I am just one person who’s fighting her own battles. I do consider the racism that still is going on in this world as one of my battles because your world is mine too even though our cultures are very different. I hope one day the negative taste of naming the color of another’s skin will not exist anymore and there is an understanding and growth among all and each of us.
Now is the time to learn from each other how we can live together. Because that’s what we do, we live, together, on the same planet. I like it that way. I am a very colorful person as white as I am and I love all the differences that people bring with them, I love learning from other cultures because honestly from my own culture does not seem to be much authentic.
The more I learn about and from Native people, the more I sometimes envy them. They are a people who still know their roots, traditions, and everything. I miss that in my own culture. In my own culture, everything seems to be about getting better, getting richer, but we have forgotten about our footsteps, where we came from. and the respect for that.long before “we” decided to murder, colonize and/or enslave your people.
I know in my own country, the Netherlands we call this era the Golden age, (Not to be mistaken with the golden age from the greek mythology) because of the economic wealth and growth it brought us but despite the fact I was taught this name in history class as I grew up, this name is not fitting for this era in my opinion. More people have suffered then have taken advantage of this wealth. I am sorry that this has happened the way it did. I am sorry that because of that era today you still have to live a life that is so much different from my own privileged life.
I am not considered rich and I have my own traumas and hardships in my life. But I know I do have a lot in my life that everyone deserves and need and not everyone has access to. Sometimes I thought perhaps to change my shame into pride because I am able and making a change by the way how I stand in life, my morals, and my values, but it feels wrong. to be proud of doing something that should be normal. Instead, I believe that a better approach is to embrace the responsibility for the mess our ancestors left us behind.
The Dutch Golden Age I am leaving the link here to the Wikipedia page on the Dutch Golden age. However again I feel ashamed because the part we had in the slave trading is left out.
