Five Ideas to Change Teaching about Thanksgiving, in Classrooms and at Home

by Renée Gokey | November 2021
Between Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage and Month, November is go-time for teaching and learning about Native America. Here, parent and museum educator Renée Gokey shares simple ways to make the responsibility less daunting. In addition to briefly describing strategies for learners K–12, Renée links to teaching resources from the museum and other organizations. And she notes that students can use Thanksgiving and their new tools for thinking about culture to learn and share more about their own family’s history and traditions. This article has many great tips and teaching links.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Teachers] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Indigenous] [History] [Social Justice]

For Our White Friends Desiring to be Allies

by Courtney Ariel | August 2017
1. Listen more; talk less. …
2. For one out of every three opinions/insights shared by a person of color in your life, try to resist the need to respond with a better or different insight about something that you read or listened to as it relates to their shared opinion. …
3. Being an ally is different than simply wanting not to be racist (thank you for that, by the way). Being an ally requires you to educate yourself about systemic racism in this country. …
4. Please try not to, “I can’t believe that something like this would happen in this day and age!” your way into being an ally when atrocities like the events in Charleston, S.C. …
5. Ask when you don’t know — but do the work first. This is nuanced. …
6. And finally, stop talking about colorblindness.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Anti-Racism] [Silencing POC] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism] [Colorblindness] [Indigenous] [Slavery] [Black Lives Matter] [Intersectionality] [Denial] [Reparations]

Dear White Allies: Don’t Appropriate Our Anger

by Anoosh Jorjorian | June 2020
Note to white allies: When you beat up on your fellow white people for being ignorant about racism, you are NOT HELPING. Those naïve white people just waking up to racial justice? That want to do the right thing but are saying the wrong thing because they were just born to the struggle yesterday? They are YOUR JOB #1. YOU are supposed to empathize with their white fragility, get them past their self-centeredness.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Indigenous] [Black Lives Matter] [Advocacy]

‘Nomadland’ and the Supremacy of White People Problems; What’s the Strongest Liquid on Earth (and in Hollywood)? White Girl Tears

by Jeremy Helligar | January 2021
My 15-year-old niece recently floored her mother with some Black, bruising teen spirit: “What is the strongest liquid on earth?” she asked. Answer: “White girl tears.” It’s a revelation that has haunted me since my sister-in-law shared it with me. They live minutes away from Hollywood, a place on earth where hallowed White women have been crying themselves to Oscars for nearly a century. In 92 years of Academy Awards, Halle Berry remains the only Black woman whose tears have been strong enough to score a gong for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. Only 11 others have been nominated in the category, none more than once.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Art & Culture] [Asian] [Politics] [White Culture] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [Black Lives Matter] [Latino/a] [Economics]

Dealing with White Guilt Is Not Our Role for Your Soul; Black People Aren’t Your Priests and Priestesses

by Sam McKenzie Jr | November 2018
After facilitating a hearty discussion for a newly formed anti-racism group, Jaleesa, the group facilitator, notices an elderly white man hanging back and waiting for her. When they are face to face, the man tells her that he used to be a racist. He mentions how he made racist jokes and used racial slurs because “that was the time.” He says he has changed, and he wanted to share, but his guilt was obvious.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [Anti-Racism] [White Defensiveness] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [Denial] [Black Lives Matter]