Rule #1 of Rocking the Boat: Know Thyself

For many Americans, gainful employment is done as corporate work. While working for a corporation sounds like it would have additional job security, sometimes the hierarchical power-structures of American society also eases life inside a corporation. Therefore, if you do not fit the traditional mode of "Moderate-conservative, white, male, with a wife and children," life inside that corporate world becomes complicated and constraining.

Meme image based off of the webcomic Hyperbole and a Half

Debra Meyerson, a professor and radical at Stanford, wrote Rocking the Boat for this particular worklife situation. Gathering data from hundreds of people, Meyerson carefully constructed a book that speaks to the people in the middle of corporate life that do not fit the heternormative, white, male expectations. This book is entirely for people who wish to change things, but have no desire to leave the organization that they are in.

In Chapter Three, Meyerson outlines the ways that people did not sacrifice their identity to conform with the corporate culture. A gay man did not bring a beard, but instead brought his partner of many years to the corporate dinner party. A woman giving an important presentation bought a fancy new suit, but refused to take out her cornrows. In each of these examples, I was struck by the fact that the people knew what their boundaries were. The corporation would explicitly or subtly pressure the individuals to conform, and to a certain extent they were willing and happy to do so; yet, they also recognized when conforming would overwhelm a critical part of their identity. There were lines that they simply would not allow corporate culture to cross.

A classmate of mine, Lorraine Ceniceros, suggests that the most important part of religious leadership is that we need to "know ourselves." We need to have self-awareness of our own triggers, passions, and growing edges. To me, Rocking the Boat, gives examples of where that self-awareness is not just preventative, but also constructive. This is eye-opening and world changing. (More on this in the next blog).

White Privilege Knapsack

Peggy McIntosh, in 1989 developed a list that she called the "White Privilege Knapsack." She explains:

I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege... I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, code books, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear and blank checks.

This list is 50 items long. And it is a brief list of the many more options that could be available for understanding the for changing. I am sure that there would easily be more. I do not list them all out of respect for copyright, (I hope that the educational nature of this blog will keep me out of trouble).

One that specifically caught my eye for the leadership was this:

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

In my denomination finding someone who is willing to help you through the system of ordination is incredibly valuable. I realize that I was easily able to find someone of my own race to help me through this process. I furthermore realize that finding someone of my own race did not appear that they were trying to help me to get more of their race in ordained ministry.

Some others pieces of white privilege that have intersections with religious leadership include:

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.
39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.
40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

Peggy McIntosh explains that the most insidious part of white privilege is the pervasive ignorance white people have of the benefits that their skin tone gives them. As Juana Bordas in Salsa, Soul, and Spirit explains “If you are unaware of something, or do not recognize that it exists, you cannot address it.”

I have been aware of this list for quite a while. I have used it to teach students gathered for social justice groups. I have even made sure to reread it at least once a year, just to remind myself of what being a white American earns me without realizing it. It’s to live in the awareness of my privilege.

Yet, I didn’t personally apply it to my ordination path. To me, this has made me less immune to the very privileged idea that “Yeah, I know all of this already” and reminded me of some of the unearned benefits that I carry with me. It's good to make sure that I remain aware of the work that I need to do in order to recognize the privilege that I have.