MSNBC Guest Laments Racial Experiences that ‘Disabled’ Her Even Before Birth

On Thursday, the author of the book Waking up White joined the hosts of MSNBC’s The Cycle to discuss her experiances learning to become racially conscious. Author Debbie Irving said that she regarded herself as “normal” rather than white before taking a college course which forced her to examine her racial identity. She confessed that she was unaware of the racial experiences she was having “even before I was born” and lamented how her lack of racial consciousness “disabled” her.

“My entire childhood I see in a different light,” she said after being asked what it means to be white. “I grew up in was a very white town, and I see that that town couldn’t have been white unless black and brown people were obstructed.”

Irving said that her “aha moment” came after taking a college course at the age of 48 on “racial and cultural identity.”

“I really didn’t think white was a race,” she confessed. “I thought it was just normal.”

“At six months later, what I learned about the racialized experiences I had had from the day I was — probably, before i was born, actually — the way it had disabled me as a teacher and member of society,” Irving revealed.

Watch the clip below via MSNBC:

[Photo via screen grab]

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