‘Don’t go to bed racist’
The author of a Daily Californian opinion column on "social topics that rarely enter open conversation," student Zion Barrios writes about the corrosive effects of white guilt as he's seen it play out.
June 5, 2015
“Writing about racism is fatiguing, anxious work,” but it’s also transformative, says Daily Californian columnist Zion Barrios. “It stirs something inside of you that is deeply human.”
Zion Barrios
It’s “like walking a tightrope,” he continues. “Below you lies a chasm of righteous anger, and all you can do to keep yourself centered is to balance your emotions. Sometimes that’s not enough, and you might fall.
“Other times, you dive headlong.”
The author of a Monday column on “social topics that rarely enter open conversation,” Barrios, in a new post, talks about the effects of white guilt, as he’s seen it play out.
“I’ve often heard my white friends relate stories of poverty, depression and near homelessness, only to turn around and … devalue their pain by reminding themselves of their white privilege — that they still have it better than a lot of people,” he writes. “White supremacy robs white people of life’s poignancy.”
Read Zion Barrios’ piece, “Don’t Go to Bed Racist,” in the Daily Californian.