Colonial Centering. Do you recall when someone first proclaimed “Black Lives Matter” to the world?
Do you remember how much time, resources, and the loss of lives were needed to educate and convince white people that black lives matter? And that is still happening.
The amount of time and energy to untangle white people from the colonial mindset.
People were conditioned to be so centered that they couldn’t imagine others could also matter.
Colonial Centering: Free Palestine
And so everything stopped to the detriment of everyone for them to catch up.
Where that comes from is happening again with the call for a free Palestine.
The colonial mindset, which centers itself, is causing the loss of precious time and lives.
Never once did anyone say that everyone should not be free. It’s the call for everyone’s freedom.
Included in that call is for Palestinians to be free as well.
The colonizer mindset makes it difficult for those at the center to imagine or allow everyone’s freedom.
Colonial Centering And Limited Thinking
White dominant culture limits thinking. That colonial centering and limited thinking comes at a cost.
In order for that colonial and oppressive center to happen, it comes at the direct expense and harm of everyone else.
Colonial centering compels casualties. So that they can remain in power, the oppressors sacrifice the lives of the oppressed.
Oppression requires the existence of the oppressed in order for the oppressors to exist. This is why we call for an end to oppression altogether and will not stop until everyone gets liberation.
You can release the colonial oppressor mindset if you are in it. Unlearn it. You can challenge it, and you can help dismantle it.
In doing so, you are moving toward freeing yourself, and everyone gets closer in the fight for liberation. Everyone.