Why talk about race?

I am Jitske. I am a white woman from the Netherlands. I moved to Curaçao; an island in the Caribbean.
Bare footed youth, bbq’s at the beach and sun drenched days. That sort of life.

Initially I wasn’t too keen to move here.

The Netherlands colonised Curaçao and actively prticipated in slave trade and slavery. Quite a bit of a stain on our shared history to say the least. I knew I would carry this stain wherever I carried my whiteness. That the smell of the past would impact the dynamics of the present. Subtle, subconscious and unintentional.

That is some complex and confronting stuff, so I figured it was best to stay away in order to stay comfortable.
I didn’t though. I couldn’t resist the temptation of island life.

Something James Baldwin said helped me find a way to be present in Curaçao and to sit with the discomfort I feel; ‘Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’

So just face it right?

Face my deep felt desire to steer clear of this complexity.
Face how I have been passed down our history from one white body generation to the next.
Face that deep down I have internalised the colonist and the slave owner.
That I carry their fear.
That I carry the numbing against this fear through our narrative of superiority and inferiority.

But I am getting ahead of myself. This is all stuff I wasn’t aware of until I started talking to people about race.

Turns out this is a tough conversation to have.
Belly ache and gut wrenching tough. Yet at the same time insightful and full of potential for actual societal change.

This is why I share snippets of these conversations with you. Sometimes I link them to the theoretical framework on white awareness I am currently learning about. Or I challenge you to reflect on your own place in all of this.

I hope my journey triggers your awareness and invites you to tap into your potential to contribute to change in the field of racial justice.

Right here. Right now. In your very own context.

Who knows; maybe we might even have our own tough conversation about race some day..