June 2020 – out of the white nest

$12: 12 Privileges

How many privileges does it take to get a Zoe a $12.50 bank fee reversal?

“I have no culture. I’m like, vaguely European.”

As far as I was concerned, and as far as I understood culture, I had none. Culture to me was Black churches and Mexican food and the Italian family in Moonstruck, who yelled and drank together and played opera and plinked sugar cubes in their champagne flutes. Culture was delicious and fun and noticeable.

by Zee Bee

I am a White Racist

Being able to accept myself as a White racist was liberating, as is recognizing that White people, like all Americans, are psychological victims of the Supremacist bullshit that has been fed to us our whole lives. Of course we’re racist. How could we not be? Anti-racist work begins with deconstructing what you believe to be true.

by Zee Bee

Corona Revolution

The lies of our capitalist system was stripped to the undergarments in this health crisis, and then systemic racism tore off the flimsy remains. Lots and lots of stunned, outraged, unemployed White people joined the unsurprised, outraged Black folks who have been out there for centuries demanding Justice.

by Zee Bee

Defunding Police and Seeing Clearly

I have never been so proud to be a Minneapolitan. There is no city I would rather live in right now. Real change is resting in our hands; not just in policing, but in community resilience and care and connections and in our way of thinking.

by Zee Bee

LA 1992; Minneapolis 2020

On May 4, 1992, when the verdicts acquitting the officers who brutally beat Rodney King were announced at 3:15pm, my BFA acting class and I were between performances at the Globe theatre in West Hollywood, showcases for an audience of agents and casting directors meant to be our coming out to The Industry, the grand […]

by Zee Bee

Racism in Minnesota

We have to stop lying about Minnesota. “Our” success is almost exclusively White. When we fail to acknowledge that our state reliably churns out some of the worst racial disparities in health, education, employment, and wealth, we are dehumanizing People of Color.