Courage is not something you have. Courage is something you learn.

The ability to go against the grain is a tremendously difficult task. Wise, as “a privileged white member of the society,” demonstrates this courage in adamantly stating that whites have to accept that their advantage in life has been passed on from their families who have also had advantages given to them from the government. That is the true meaning of the word, “inheritance” (24). Often times we do not recognize what we have been blessed with, we take some, if not most things prevalent in our lives for granted and examining why certain things are especially beneficial is an incredibly difficult task to undertake.  This is essentially true for what Wise is attempting to do with white privilege – deconstructing how his life has been impacted by the whiteness of his skin and how his life has been structured. 

Wise goes on to state, “My mom did what she should have done, and what any white parent in that situation should do. But there is an interesting aspect to this story that is equally worthy of attention, and which demonstrates that even in our acts of allyship we sometimes miss the larger issues” (48). To transcend this issue one needs to and must want to deconstruct your life.  To scrutinize every essence of your makeup is not something innate, something one is born with but rather learned. I myself had to recognize that (although I am not white) I do benefit from the racist structure we have at play. I need to become hyper aware in most situations because race permeates every aspect of my life.  Wise often states that although his mother actively encouraged the immersion in diverse spaces, she did not completely understand institutionalized racism, which is something I have struggled with tremendously in the past. Mustering up courage to confront the members of my own family, my friends, or myself regarding institutionalized racism led me to often ponder: how much more progress would we need make for racial justice? I have since then learned that even if it means that I need to fight this vicious fight alone, it is my duty as moral, responsible, being to see each other’s colors and accepting that color, without simply tolerating it. Courage grows when we try something risky and hard, and come out on the other side more or less intact. It becomes more “natural” the more we practice it. And when we do it enough to actually experience from-the-inside-out the liberation and freedom of not being silent, not compromising our moral compass, not swallowing our voice we start to crave liberation and freedom so deeply that acting and speaking with courage becomes almost a default position. And not only courage, but we can learn to see, understand, and feel deeply the landscape of race in ways that make it possible for us to respond constructively (and courageously) to racism in daily ongoing ways, large and small. Of course, this won’t come naturally. As in the case of courage, our socialization in a white dominated, white supremacist, and patriarchal society works directly against developing deep learning. Courage is learned. If it is wanted, it can be learned. 

"Your silences will not protect you…What are the words you do not yet have? What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? We have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language.

Next time, ask: What’s the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare. Once you start to speak, people will yell at you. They will interrupt you, put you down and suggest it’s personal. And the world won’t end.

And the speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have discovered your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And at last you’ll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking." - Audre Lorde