Islanders Lois Watkins and Janie Starr have each lived on Vashon for just over a decade, but they only met a few months ago. They share a passion for activism and a love of writing, and they grew up in segregated America in the Southeast during the 1950s. But they could not have arrived on Vashon from two more different backgrounds. Watkins, black, and Starr, white, lived in vastly different worlds, and as they say, they came to their activism from flip sides of the race coin.
The pair will deliver an interactive reading based on their writing to introduce and help launch a new community-building initiative sponsored by Sustainable Vashon called “Vashon Reads about Racism, Culture and White Privilege” at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 2, at Vashon Bookshop.
The initiative grew out of an island-wide movement to acknowledge and address racism on Vashon and beyond, “out of people,” according to Starr, “who came together with deep concerns about racism on Vashon and what’s going on around the country.” The catalyst for Starr, who has previously worked on anti-racism and sexism issues, was the tragic murders at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina last year.
“That was when I came back into (activism) with a vengeance,” Starr said. “One of the privileges of being white is that you get to take a break (from dealing with racism), so it started with the murders and then when the African-American islander was harassed after work last summer, that really drove it.”
Two meetings at the library followed that event on Vashon, and out of those meetings, Starr committed to leading a workshop on racism and white privilege and how to become allies on the island. Mary Marin, the board president of DoVE, co-facilitated the workshop. Starr said each action has propelled another action. The idea of All Vashon Reads coalesced post workshop when four island women — Starr, Marin, Merrilee Runyan and Cindy O’Brien — stepped up to make it happen.
The team chose books they hope will appeal to all ages in order to involve and include everyone on Vashon. They also hope the books will serve as catalysts for further conversation — even if not everyone reads the same book — and engage people in asking what it means to be white.
“It’s not about shaming and guilt,” Starr said. “It’s about looking at ourselves deeply, at what it means to be white and how we might use our privilege to be a more inclusive community. It’s about looking inward in order to respond outwardly. We want to spark curiosity, reflection, empowerment and action.”
Starr lauded her team for taking responsibility and doing a lot of work, including sending press releases off the island so others can use the model they have created for their own communities and organizing a long list of books to read. They plan to hold follow-up discussions at the senior center, library and bookshop.
At the launch, Watkins and Starr will read combined excerpts from Watkins’ new book, “What It Was Like,” and Starr’s essay published in the recently released book, “What Does It Mean To Be White In America?” The pair will then answer questions and introduce the books selected for Vashon Reads. Considering the island is predominantly white, Starr recommends “Waking Up White,” by Debby Irving.
“We felt it would be more challenging to read about white privilege,” Starr said. “A lot of people are defensive of our whiteness, but they don’t really need to be. It’s what we all do with it, which is true of anything. That’s the important thing.”
