I appreciate your encouragement, but there will be no book from me. These days, this is the kind of work I do to support my activist network.
Deep, meaningful and enduring change begins by shifting the paradigm (I’m using the dictionary definition here: a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions).
While a paradigm shift changes everything, you can’t create one by leaving by editing history. Everything has to fit, or it won’t work. You know you’ve found one, when everything fits together and forms a new picture.
Then you have to figure out how to transmit that paradigm to other people. I work in multi-disciplinary teams. Our linguist specializes in textual analysis, and I live by her rule of thumb. I have 15 words and three bullets to communicate with and that’s all I get. As you saw in my comment, I’m a long way away from those magical, paradigm shifting 15 words.
And what do you do? You provide a link to even more words on my subject. I open your link and what do I find in the very first paragraph? A piece I didn’t even think to search for: When did “white people” enter language. I hit the link right away and find myself at Aeon, which happens to be my favorite website. I may be even more wordy now, but I am happy.
You saved me hours of research time and I thank you.
The piece you sent me, discusses 17th c. colonial Barbados. In return, I am sending you this link to a video about the Red Legs of Barbados. I think it falls in your field of expertise. While watching it, I had the eerie feeling that I was in the 17th c. As though time had stopped for these people and given us a chance to hear what they had to say about themselves. I’ve worked in seriously poor and isolated places, but I’ve never met or seen people trapped in the white mindset for 400 years before. As I said, it’s an eerie experience.
Note: The 51-minute-long film alternates between English subtitles and English speakers. No obligation implied (I promise). However, if you have the time and inclination to watch it, I would be grateful for any thoughts you might have to offer.
