Risk and Privilege

I've been thinking more about what leads people of privilege to take risks...in thinking about all of the major social movements...of course led by people who stood up against their oppressors, often in the face of great odds and at risk to their lives, but then there were also the people who could have done nothing but chose to stand beside...I think about the level of privilege I enjoy, and how I can use it to stand beside, even in some small way.

This morning I was waiting for the bus in the cold rain (of course we are having unseasonably cold weather here in Joburg...it's as if the SF winter rain followed me here), and an English woman who I'd seen on the bus one time before drove up in her car and offered me a ride. She is here on a journalism fellowship at Wits University, and as we made our way through horrible traffic, we spontaneously had a fascinating conversation about race, especially about her frustration with white South Africans who aren't holding themselves responsible to undo their racism--and then later this evening, another one over email with a friend from West Africa who expressed a frustration with the simplistic idea that white people are to blame for the challenges Africa faces...what am I saying? That it's complex, and fascinating, and that the most important thing is to engage fully in the dialogue...