Individual Change

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10 Ways Your Social Justice Work Might Be Inaccessible and Elitist (And Why That’s a Problem)

by Hari Ziyad | October 2020
It’s comforting not to have to constantly explain yourself and your work. It’s beautiful to learn from and be around folks who understand ideas like microaggressions, gaslighting, white fragility, and all the other odd terms that describe the myriad, important, and insidious ways oppression operates. But some of those ways are too insidious to recognize even within these spaces. Some are, in fact, unique to these spaces. Some oppressions are fostered by the very things supposedly set up to help justice spaces thrive. Inadvertently, they create power structures mirroring those they’re working to address. Being in these spaces for a while now, I’ve noticed that I’ve been increasingly receiving feedback that my writing is inaccessible. I dismissed a lot of this critique on the basis that I am, at my core, a big idea and theory girl. My way of communicating isn’t supposed to be meant for everyone. But that became a more difficult excuse to embrace once I noticed these concerns coming even from those who generally embrace theoreticals.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Microaggressions] [White Fragility/Tears] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Social Justice] [Accountability] [Intersectionality] [White Privilege] [Definitions] [Black Lives Matter] [Indigenous] [Economics]

Full Stop: Casually Anti-Black Behaviors You Need to Quit NOW

by Sharai | February 2021
I was hoping that being socially distanced this February would let us avoid some of the issues that make me angry every year. While these behaviors are year-round problems they seem to dramatically increase every February because a lot of white people want to take part in Black History Month but don’t get how these behaviors come across. I believe this stems from society not knowing how to talk about race and I have created a quick list from things I’ve clocked on social media last week. Hopefully, this list helps those of you who are serious about doing better.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [History] [Black Lives Matter] [White Privilege] [“All Lives Matter”] [White Fragility/Tears] [Systemic Racism]

How to Talk to Your Kids about White Privilege

by Bridget Sharkey | February 2021
Teaching our kids about concepts like white privilege can be daunting. It’s not a concept that even adults can always grasp, so we might balk at confronting this topic with our children. But here’s the thing: Black parents don’t have the luxury of not discussing white privilege with their children. Refusing to discuss white privilege with our children because it makes us uncomfortable is, in and of itself, a white privilege. Black parents have no choice but to educate their children about the very real existence of racism and how their skin color puts them at much greater risk for police violence, poverty, lower wages, inadequate schooling, harsher sentencing, wrongful convictions and shorter life spans.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Police Shootings] [White Privilege] [Policing] [Economics] [Employment] [Health Disparities] [Systemic Racism] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Assumptions] [Black Lives Matter] [-ing While Black] [Environment] [Anti-Racism] [Social Justice]

Breaking From White Solidarity

by Erin Monahan | August 2019
Several times in the last week alone I have had encounters with white women who identify as liberal who have gotten upset when I address someone in the group about the casually racist or sexist thing they said. In one instance, I gave a very gentle mention to the person who said the casually racist statement. Because we are adults and we should be able to speak plainly about these things, we moved on. Everything seemed fine. As the night went on, a casually sexist thing was said, and then another casually racist thing was said. I interrupted both times with the intention to engage in conversation about it. … I have been addressed about my racism too many times to count. There are times that I have been defensive and violent in my response to being called out. And though I feel deep regret and shame for that behavior, I am always reflecting on these situations and thinking about how I can receive information with less guilt, shame, and anger the next time. I ask myself, what do I need to heal in myself in order to respond with more reception, true humility, and less ego? It’s never comfortable to receive how I have been racist. I feel a surge of embarrassment and desperation. I want to find a way to deny it, a way to rationalize my way out of it, a way to make myself feel better. This is my whiteness centering me. I focus on my feelings instead of my impact.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Culture] [Cognitive Dissonance] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [Social Justice] [White Defensiveness] [White Blindness] [Anti-Racism]

“I Am My White Ancestors” Claims the Legacy of Oppression; An Artist’s Journey into Her Family’s Whiteness

by Nancy Hill | March 2019
“I am about to turn over a goodly number of acres to cotton and have added more slaves to total 50. They were a large investment with housing and such. … We have heard that some states in the north have gone against nature and profit to prohibit slaves. … Without slaves, where do they expect to get cotton, tobacco, molasses, and rice? … Sometimes I do wonder if the slaves are truly as simple and childlike as some say. When I put some up for sale, I see their mothers stand there and openly weep. Imagine! Perhaps they really do feel as we do. But I banish that thought from my mind. … I am a good and kind master. These African slaves could not survive without me. They are better treated here than in the heathen land they come from. We clothe them and feed them, give them shelter and medical care and the discipline they need They have the benefit of civilized and white society.” —John Salley, 1740-1794, excerpt from audio story about Salley
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [Slavery] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Defensiveness] [White Privilege] [White Blindness] [History] [Black Lives Matter] [Indigenous] [Art & Culture] [Anti-Racism]

Prejudice + Pretend Ignorance = Racism

by Deborah L. Plummer | March 2021
Like many social scientists, I learned that prejudice + power = racism. Having power is key for determining how someone could turn their everyday bias into racism. We all have prejudices but not everyone has the power to turn it into racism. With power, one can make laws, establish structures, enact practices and procedures that benefit Whites and disadvantage BIPOC. This classic definition of racism remains true today, especially for how structural and systemic racism get created and maintained. However, there is another kind of power being exhibited today that has become an equal catalyst for establishing and maintaining structural and systemic racism — ignorance. For many Americans, denying, dismissing, minimizing or being ignorant of the nature of racism and its impact on American society is enough to release them from accountability for racism. If racism doesn’t exist, they cannot possibly be racist.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [Implicit Bias] [Accountability] [Denial] [Definitions] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Defensiveness] [Politics] [Social Justice] [White Blindness]

Educators Who Consider Themselves ‘White Allies’ Are Dangerous When It Comes To Developing Anti-Racist Classrooms

by Dr. Sana Shaikh| | February 2021
She knew the importance of using “She/her/hers” adjectives at the beginning of each virtual work session. She joined the book club where Dr. Kendi’s work was being discussed. By every metric, large or small, she showed that she was, inevitably and truly, an ally. But therein, laid the problem. She had characterized herself as an anti-racist ally. Black and brown educators and children around her would not label her in the same way. In the background, students of color—largely Black and Latinx—would complain to other teachers of color that their voices were not being heard. They would pushback against the teacher-centric approach in the classroom and the unilateral way that power and privilege played out in the school. When those suggestions and feedback were brought up to the white leaders, there was pushback: This teacher did not intend to have a harmful impact. She was leading with good intentions. She simply forgot to implement the feedback. All and all, this teacher was protected by the systems of white supremacy and power. Instead of her being held accountable, the messenger was classified as simply being uninformed. The messenger had a Ph.D. in culturally responsive pedagogy.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Anti-Racism] [Teachers] [Black Lives Matter] [Latino/a] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [Accountability] [Social Justice] [Assumptions] [White Blindness]

There Is No Such Thing as a ‘White Ally’ — “TNSWA” Part I

by Catherine Pugh, Esq. | June 2020
The logic behind the expression “White Ally” makes about as much sense as me going into your room, folding your affirmations and putting them neatly away, cleaning all the introspection off of your mirror, gathering your feelings for the laundry, and then you pick up your golliwog, put it away, and announce triumphantly, “We’re in this together, and I am totally committed to helping.” Mmmm, not so much with that.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Racial Terrorism] [Black Lives Matter] [Systemic Racism] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Cognitive Dissonance] [Social Justice] [“All Lives Matter”] [White Defensiveness] [White Culture] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [Accountability] [Policing] [-ing While Black] [Colorblindness] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]

White Images, Black Reality: How to Talk to the Accidental Apologists for Monsters

by Earl Hazell | June 2020
We are now living in another one of those times in history when the majority of white people feel compelled to project all of their most deluded fantasies and deepest insecurities onto People of Color simultaneously, to avoid dealing with the systemic crisis they have created. As such, some of them are looking for any excuse to disrupt our communication with each other with a specific objective: to make themselves feel better by getting us to reestablish the sanctity of their illusions. How I ended an online conversation with several friends of mine that a white person entered recently—without invitation—is something that might be helpful to others who will inevitably find themselves in similar situations for some time to come. For some white people, particularly liberals , crisis does not begin when innocent people are ritualistically murdered . Crisis begins when ignorance is no longer bliss. When a lessor enlightened person of European descent elbows their way into one of your talks online, and passive/aggressively asks you to deny reality so you can comfort them, try telling them something like this: _____, the first thing you need to do is cop to the fact that your principle objective for coming into this conversation is to dominate it.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Denial] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [History] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Blindness] [White Defensiveness] [Racial Terrorism] [Economics] [Silencing POC] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Slavery] [Reparations] [Black Lives Matter] [Indigenous] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]

Stop Whitewashing the Message of Martin Luther King Jr.

by Sa’iyda Shabazz | January 2021
My black friends are sharing messages of action and fighting for equality. But my white friends post messages of love and peace. For the most part, my white friends seem to gloss over the messages about anything other than love. His messages of love seem to fit the narrative white people have created about him. But in reality, most white people didn’t even like Dr. King when he was alive. And I think that gets forgotten a lot. As a Christian minister, King’s messages of love are intrinsically tied to his faith. And while he was a man of faith, even he knew that God could only get you so far in the fight for equality. To only share his message about love and not the ones about action is doing his legacy a great disservice.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [History] [White Blindness] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [Social Justice] [Denial] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Collective Action] [Economics] [Prison System]