[00:00:00] Dmae: Are you student.
[00:00:01] Robin: No. My name is Robin Hinkley and I’m just a community member here in Corvallis.
[00:00:07] Dmae: Well thank you for coming in this. What is the importance of difficult conversations.
[00:00:11] Robin: Well I think that in this current political climate an important and difficult conversations are a must for white people to call out other white people on white behavior. And I think that it starts with with really investigating our own racial prejudices a White people don’t like to be called a racist. People get really offended at that term. But we need to recognize that we are all racist and we need to come to terms with our own racism and call people out when we see it. And it’s not acceptable any longer to let these things slide. We need to change the culture of whiteness.
[00:01:01] Dmae: A lot of people feel a lot of white people feel marginalized in this election showed that they felt marginalized and not heard. Socially I’d say white rural people particularly or people in small towns. How do we get more include you know an inclusive point of view versus like confrontation. Is there a way to do tha? Do you have any instances where you know you’ve talked to a white person like you know get them to see the point of view of somebody of color. Is there a way to do that.
[00:01:34] Robin: Yeah I think and earlier I mentioned you know calling people out. I actually probably prefer the term calling in–the in the culture of calling people and to to you know not say you’re a horrible racist or a horrible person but you know point out where they have been exhibiting racist behavior and provide education. And so we as white people ourselves need to become more educated.
[00:02:07] Robin: Like right now I’m reading the book The New Jim Crow. I am learning so much. I am so ashamed at my lack of knowledge. And I’m learning this stuff for the first time at 39 years old and that’s a shame. It’s a shame. I mean at least I’m doing it now and it’s better late than never. But we need to be educated so we can educate other people.
[00:02:31] Dmae: I’m also thinking in terms of you know empathy. How do we get empathy nowadays.
[00:02:38] Robin: I think that getting empathy to do that it’s important to maybe give personal examples because right now there’s this whole with a you know quote unquote Muslim ban. It’s we group people and you get this mob mentality and the mob mentality is violent and it’s dangerous and we don’t. We don’t look at people of color as people. We look at them as just a group. And but to no individual stories and to be able to show white people the individual personal humanity rather than just the stereotype because it’s so easy to when you have the mob mentality in the othering people–how we other people it’s easy to not think of them as humans.
[00:03:31] Dmae: I think that’s a great point and something that is not necessarily made in U.S.you know have have I gotten your you know your viewpoint before most of the time why people assume. Well if it’s an API thing or it’s a POC thing they don’t necessarily want to go to it you know. So kudos for you for doing that and being here today. Is there anything that you want to say as far as some of the I guess your reaction to some of the things that you’ve heard here today.
[00:04:02] Robin: I was really touched by the by the Chinese international student who allowed herself to be so vulnerable to talk about how hard it was for is for her to be here. She’s in a well educated intelligent individual and in a liberal town and it’s still been so difficult for her. So I was really touched by that and just also like thinking we have so far to go.
[00:04:32] Dmae: Did you grow up here.
[00:04:34] Robin: No I just moved here a couple of months ago just from from Tacoma, Washington.
[00:04:39] Dmae: Right you said that Tacoma and do you or do you work here in this community.
[00:04:46] Robin: Well I’m a nurse and I have I don’t have a job yet. I will within the next few months. You’re a professional. Yes. Yeah.