Here’s what happened: I was moderating a panel of lawyers to a group of LGBTQIA refugees and I messed up.
As the moderator, I gave more airtime to the straight white lawyers on the panel and less time to the queer lawyers of colour.
I thought I was just handing the mic to the lawyer who’s area of expertise matched the question but in retrospect I can see how I was unconsciously “colorblind”: unaware that I was giving more voice, power and influence to the white lawyers. And the impacts of that on both the lawyers and on the audience who was mostly queer people of colour.
I got called out after the panel and did what I could to repair and tried to learn how to not make this kind of mistake again.
And this shows how unconscious mistakes are part of what keeps the white supremist patriarchy going and keeps power out of the hands of people of colour, queer people, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups.
Which is why I’m so excited to talk to Isha Vela on the Sacred Goals podcast on episode #91 – White Supremacy and how to continue to heal this system.
Listen here.
Isha and I both share stories of messing up and how to repair, Isha shares her experiences of microaggression at a hardware store that left her feeling less than, and we share things you can do to dismantle this system of oppression.
Isha Vela has a PhD in counselling psychology, is trained in somatics and supports her clients revealing layer by layer, the essence of who you are beyond the social conditioning, beyond the survival patterns and beyond the internalization of toxic systems of oppression.
This conversation is soooooo good, you have to listen:
