Safe Spaces: The New Apartheid

After conducting my "White Women Yoga" Meetup experiment, the most troubling response I have gotten from people is not that they were upset over the concept of an all-White group that excludes POC (People of Color) - because I, too, do not believe all-White groups that refuse members based on the color of the skin is anything but racism and discrimination - but that so many believe all-POC groups are not only acceptable but necessary in today's world. Furthermore, if you are a person, especially a person who does not believe this, you are a racist and white oppressor (White supremacist) and if you a Black, an Uncle Tom or a sell-out.


Here is  got from a White person which exemplifies this thinking:

And here was a more rational discussion from a Black person and my response:

So, this is where we are in society today and why I formed the White Women Yoga group on Meetup to bring our societal dilemma into the open and hope that we can work to find a solution to the dangerous road our country is headed down. Yes, the United States has had a history of discrimination and racism that has affected POC over many generations but creating a separatist society in the reverse direction is not the solution. Already it is acceptable for POC to have separate Meetup groups, POC safe places on campus, Black dorm floors at colleges....where does it end? When will we see the signs go on the doors of yoga studios saying “Blacks Only” and signs on the doors of Black-owned restaurants saying “People of Color” only and then signs on the doors on nightclubs saying “ADOS (American Descendants of Slaves) Only” because Jamaicans and Africans aren’t welcome? Will POC demand separate school classroooms so their children don’t have to be uncomfortable around children of their oppressors? Does this sound right to everyone? Is solving the problem of what discrimination of POC still exists in our country yet more discrimination? More separatism?  If it wasn’t okay to discriminate and separate from one race in the history of our country, how is it the right thing to do now? Where do the proponents of racial separation think this is going to lead?

We need to move forward and not backward in this country. We need to come together as American citizens - regardless of our race or ethnicity or country of birth - and we need to do POSITIVE things  to help everyone achieve; improve education, improve our communities, improve the state of families for children, improve economic opportunties - but we do not need to separate, hate, and reduce our nation to tribalism and apartheid. 

Pat Brown

February 18, 2019