by BLACKPAST | August 2012
…But anger expressed and translated into action in the service of our vision af!d our future is a liberating and strengthening act of clarification, for it is in the painful process of this translation that we identify who are our allies with whom we have grave differences, and who are our genuine enemies. Anger is loaded with information and energy. When I speak of women of Color, I do not only mean Black women. The woman of Color who is not Black and who charges me with rendering her invisible by assuming that her struggles with racism are identical with my own has something to tell me that I had better learn from, lest we both waste ourselves fighting the truths between us. If I participate, knowingly or otherwise, in my sister’s oppression and she calls me on it, to answer her anger with my own only blankets the substance of our exchange with reaction. It wastes energy. And yes, it is very difficult to stand still and to listen to another woman’s voice delineate an agony I do not share, or one to which I myself have contributed.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [White Defensiveness] [Individual Change] [White Blindness] [Accountability]
by Zahara Hill | January 2017
“Being black in America is a national emergency,” BLM said. “Black people are being attacked and murdered while doing day-to-day activities. Black Lives Matter launched a website that allows social media users to mark themselves unsafe for being black in America. Referred to as the “Unsafety Check,” Tuesday’s initiative is part of #Reclaim&Resist, the movement’s week of action which spans from Martin Luther King Jr. Day to Inauguration Day. Facebook safety checks are typically used to ensure friends that you’re alive and well after a potentially dangerous nearby incident has occurred. But BLM created its own take on the check to symbolize the general sense of fear plaguing black Americans in the present political atmosphere.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Black Lives Matter] [Accountability] [-ing While Black] [Advocacy] [Strategies]
by Shaun King | July 2016
Somehow, the United States of America wants to have all of the ingredients for murder and mayhem, cook it at 500 degrees for a few years, and be shocked when what comes out on the other end isn’t sweet peace and colorful rainbows. That’s not how recipes work. Building a harmonious society is no different.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [White Supremacy] [Slavery] [History] [Policing] [Denial] [Accountability] [Police Shootings] [Black Lives Matter]
by Tanasia Kenney | June 2016
The G.I. Education Bill, Veteran Administration Housing Authority, and Health Care System, The Wagner Act of 1935, Federal Housing Administration, 1960s Jim Crow Laws, The 1790 Naturalization Act, The Social Security Act of 1935, and The 1830 Indian Removal Act. Read how these bills were for white people, and excluded all others (with a few minute exceptions).
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [History] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism]
by Tad Rademacher | July 2017
So, you may get called racist. In a way, I get it. It hurts to be called racist, especially when you feel like you’re trying super hard not to be racist. Get over it. Being called racist is not the worst thing that can happen to someone. Being the constant victim of systemic and personal racism is way, way worse than being called racist, so get over it.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [Teachers] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Individual Change]
by Robin Diangelo | June 2017
White people like me should use the term because it shifts the race problem to us, where it belongs. Many people, especially older white people, associate the term white supremacy with extreme and explicit hate groups. However, for sociologists, white supremacy is a highly descriptive term for the culture we live in; a culture which positions white people and all that is associated with them (whiteness) as ideal.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [White Supremacy] [Definitions] [Individual Change]
