Yo Ghana!
  • Home
  • People
  • What We Do
  • Schools
    • Anani Memorial International School
    • Ebubonko Basic School
    • Angel’s Academy
    • DACE Basic School
    • John Doeswijck Memorial Junior High School
    • St. Kizito Basic School
    • Tamale Evangelical Church of Ghana Basic School
    • Mt. Olivet School
    • Bunda Junior High School
    • Ave Posmonu JHS
    • Gefia JHS
    • Metsrikasa D/A Basic
    • Teach for Ghana >
      • Hurriya Islamic JHS
      • Kalpohin Kamaria JHS
      • Rawdatul Atfal JHS
      • Sakasaka JHS B
      • Savelugu Model Girls
      • Yoo Roman Catholic
      • Zogbeli M/A JHS
  • Letters
  • Resources
  • Donate

2016 and Decisions for White Americans

1/1/2016

1 Comment

 
               White America is pulling up its drawbridges, stopping its ears, and retreating to the comfort of the familiar.  We are, as Governor Chris Christie puts it, “scared to death.”  Despite the infinitesimally small chance of being attacked by people unlike ourselves, we are more and more frightened of them.  Despite stark racial and global inequalities, we are less and less interested in hearing about them.
               My experience suggests that white isolationism harms more than world peace and racial reconciliation.  It diminishes the lives of white Americans.
               I grew up so far out in the country that Astoria seemed like a big city.  I seldom encountered black or foreign people.  A quarter century after graduating from high school my friends were more interested in wine tasting and yoga than in beer drinking and hunting.  But they were still overwhelmingly white.
               That changed when my wife and I adopted a black infant.  Our adoption counselor told us that black Americans would sort of adopt us, would help us to raise our son—and that we would need their help.
               So we moved to the cosmopolitan neighborhoods of Northeast Portland and its interracial schools, churches, and other organizations.  Peter and I even visited West Africa.  Our counselor was right.  Black friends and strangers have helped us every step of the way and are as responsible as we are for Peter becoming a compassionate, resilient, and delightful adult who makes himself at home where ever he finds himself.
               But something else weird and wonderful happened while orchestrating our son’s multi-racial childhood.  Black Americans and Africans greatly enriched my life, too.
               First revelation: black people didn’t expect me to fix or even apologize for racism.  Through both friendships and structured dialogues I’ve learned that most people of color just hope that I’ll listen to and be honest with them.  In doing so my own sense of humanity and community has deepened.
               Second revelation: working with diverse people to make the world better is a blast.  Going to Africa introduced me to school administrators and teachers who fight impossible odds on behalf of their students every day—and at the end of every day thank God for that opportunity.  Their joyful dedication presents me with a choice: do I treat my privileges as entitlements to be protected or as gifts to be shared?  So I now head up a nonprofit—Yo Ghana!—that links some 2,000 students in Ghana and the Pacific Northwest who are learning from and about each other first hand.  A student from a mostly Muslim school neatly sums up our mission: “If we choose to, we can make the world a smaller place.”
​               What will you choose to do with your fears and your privileges in 2016?
1 Comment
Heather A link
12/12/2020 03:28:07 am

Thanks great blogg post

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Most of the entries will be from Dr. David Peterson del Mar, the President and co-founder of Yo Ghana!

    Archives

    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2014 Yo Ghana! All rights reserved.
Proudly powered by Weebly