Our final segment in my interview with Peter Smith covers White Identity and the ways in which society incorporates and excludes individuals according to various categories. Peter is a psychotherapist and artist from Glastonbury, Somerset in England with a philosophical bent as the son of two anthropologists. (This episode is family friendly, but Peter drops the S*&^ bomb in an emphatic moment).
In this episode, I ask Peter about the impact of George Floyd’s death in England where individuals also took to the streets in protest. Four thousand miles away in the UK, George Floyd’s death sparked a reaction as people recalled local losses of Black men who died while under police restraint.
Britain isn’t without its other race incidents including the current investigation of the UK Home Office regarding claims of racism following the Windrush scandal in which Black People whose families came to Britain to help rebuild it after the war were deported or threatened with deportation.
Peter provides a fascinating theory as to why otherwise rational people hold inconsistent positions with respect to issues regarding race.
We conclude with a possible solution and introduction to Peter’s lovely dog Pitt.
I open the episode asking Peter what it means to be “white.”
The book Peter refers to on identity is by Iain McGilchrist called The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. You can contact Peter or find out more about his psychotherapy practice or thoughts on identity by visiting his website PeterSmithCounselling.com.
As a business strategist and mindset/identity coach, I help people see who they truly are and through that knowledge, that self-knowing, I help them stand strong in their own power and have the courage to choose the path forward that will lead to the most fulfillment. You can find me on social media on Instagram, on facebook in an online supportive community for anti-racist advocacy or on my website providing education, marketing and diversity training for service providers interested in working with BIPOC individuals.
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