Intellectual Knowing & Experiential Knowing
Saying this loud for the woke white folks (and those asleep too) … There are PLENTY of ways to inform ourselves about the historic and systematic oppression that BI&POC are surviving every damn day without putting that burden on them to teach us. To my colleagues doing anti-racist, trans-inclusive, feminist, and equity work… please let me call you in to recognize the extreme unequal distribution of the emotional, mental, and physical labor that is demanded of those who hold historically marginalized identities in so many “diversity workshops.” It is lazy, reckless, and often harmful to ask – or worse – expect this. We DO NOT need to rely on the experiential knowing of those most vulnerable when we can do the intellectual knowing for ourselves – seek books, articles, blogs, YouTube, TEDtalks, twitter, etc. Part of my equity advocacy will include creating a Resources page on my website of those who have influenced my evolution of knowing and have challenged me to grow in my own understanding of equity work. I hope to one day be in a position to collaborate more directly with them all – for now, please shoulder the burden of knowing by seeking to intellectually know.
