by Emily Stewart | June 2020
There are good ways — and there are less good ways — to be a white ally right now. Do take cues from black leaders and create space for their voices to be heard. Don’t think a performative emotional post on Instagram about your knowledge of racism does the trick. Do not center your feelings during this time of social unrest — an uprising that’s about racist violence against black Americans. … “Allyship is language, and being a co-conspirator is about doing the work,” said Ben O’Keefe, an activist and former senior aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “It’s taking on the issue of racism and oppression as your own issue, even though you’ll never truly understand the damage that it does.”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Black Lives Matter] [Anti-Racism] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Fragility/Tears] [Economics] [Policing] [Assumptions] [Advocacy] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [White Culture] [2020’s]
by Clay Cane | July 2020
COLFAX, LOUISIANA, MASSACRE (1873)
WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, MASSACRE (1898)
ATLANTA MASSACRE (1906)
ELAINE, ARKANSAS, MASSACRE (1919)
ROSEWOOD, FLORIDA, MASSACRE (1923)…
[Ed note: and this isn’t counting the ones against Native Americans]
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [History] [Black Lives Matter] [Civil War] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Silencing POC]
by Lydia X. Z. Brown | May 2020
By now, you’ve probably heard about the YouTube influencers who made international news for abandoning their autistic child after adopting him from China almost three years ago. Huxley, originally adopted by the Stauffers, is one of thousands of children, many children of colour in the Global South who are adopted each year by predominantly white families in the Global North. Since his adoption – which was documented for YouTube in meticulous detail, including the fact that Huxley was disabled, the Stauffers have filmed numerous videos of him for their YouTube channel that they monetised and gained major corporate sponsors for producing. They filmed and posted videos that showed Huxley having meltdowns, which are terrifying, vulnerable moments. They are extremely emotionally, cognitively and physically draining for autistic people. They filmed and posted videos that showed Huxley with duct tape on his hands because his mother wanted to stop him from sucking his thumb. All of this is painfully familiar for autistic people, who routinely see nonautistic parents of autistic children exploiting and monetising their children for internet fame with no regard for their children’s autonomy, dignity, or privacy.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [Asian] [White Privilege] [White Defensiveness] [White Blindness] [Accountability]
by Lonnae O’Neal | September 2017
Education, love and exemplary black people will not deliver America from racism, Kendi says. Racist ideas grow out of discriminatory policies, he argues, not the other way around. And if his new center can help identify and dismantle those policies in the U.S. and around the world, he believes we can start to eliminate racism. At least that’s the goal. … “We have been taught that ignorance and hate lead to racist ideas, lead to racist policies,” Kendi said. “If the fundamental problem is ignorance and hate, then your solutions are going to be focused on education, and love and persuasion. But of course [Stamped from the Beginning] shows that the actual foundation of racism is not ignorance and hate, but self-interest, particularly economic and political and cultural.” Self-interest drives racist policies that benefit that self-interest. When the policies are challenged because they produce inequalities, racist ideas spring up to justify those policies. Hate flows freely from there.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Anti-Racism] [Systemic Racism] [Myths] [History]
by Anne D’Innocenzio | June 2020
Drugstore chains Walgreens and CVS Health say they will stop locking up beauty and hair care products aimed at black women and other women of color, joining Walmart in ending a practice at some stores that has drawn the ire of customers. “We are currently ensuring multicultural hair care and beauty products are not stored behind locked cases at any of our stores,” Walgreens said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press late Thursday.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2020’s] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism]
by diaspora7 | June 2020
Some of you may remember Tamla Horsford, a woman who died at a slumber party back in 2018, and the case made absolutely no sense. Tamla Lorsford attended a slumber party at a North Forsyth County home, where the white women who attended said she “accidentally fell off the balcony” and fell to her death. For the past 2 years her family has disputed the results of the investigation.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2020’s] [-ing While Black] [Policing] [Black Lives Matter]
