White people talking: the conversations
White people talking is a series of 4 conversations on the theme of whiteness and race between Susan Groves and Jassy Denison. The conversations took place in the UK, via Zoom, from May 6th to May 27th 2020 – shortly before the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd.
Through the process of talking together we seek to unravel and understand how our white identities impact us, particularly what it means to be placed by our society and our history in a position of dominance and privilege. We have found few places where white people take risks to explore this subject openly, so we decided to make a space and see what emerged. We speak from our own experiences, attempting to be unedited, risk mistakes and reveal ourselves. We are both middle class women of English heritage, born in the 1950s and 60s, Susan in Cape Town, South Africa, Jassy in London, England. Susan is a psychotherapist with an interest in creativity and Jassy is a facilitator working with conflict and communication.
The focus, language and perspective of our conversations reflect who we each are, as well as the time and place of our interaction. Though you may share a white identity, you will have experiences that are not reflected here. We invite and welcome your experiences and your voice, and offer these recordings in the hope that they can resonate, reassure, stimulate, disrupt; and create a space for further conversations.