Strategies

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7 Ways We Know Systemic Racism Is Real

by Ben & Jerry’s | Month Unknown 2020
While Barack Obama’s presidency was indeed a profound and meaningful mark of true progress, racism, of course, never really went away. The presence of a black president, hockey starOpens a new window, or movie-franchise superheroOpens a new window, however welcome and exciting, cannot reverse centuries of racial injustice. In fact, racism is built right into every level of our society in ways that might surprise you. Includes a video from Demos “We Must Talk about Race to Fix Economic Inequality.”
TAGS: [Strategies] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Employment] [Economics] [Prison System] [Housing] [Policing] [Advocacy] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy] [Accountability] [Politics]

Why the Media Loves the White Racist Story

by Martin LaMonica | January 2019
Why are so many people interested in pointing out and shaming individual white racists? There have been dozens of these events highlighted on social and mainstream media this year. Here are a few of the incidents that went viral and sparked outrage: a video of Fort McMurray teens mocking Indigenous dance, another of a North Carolina woman’s racist rant and the racist tirade against a Muslim family at the Toronto Ferry Terminal. Why are people less interested in calling out the systems that prime them to act in racist ways and foster lifelong inequities.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [Systemic Racism] [Indigenous] [Assumptions] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [White Defensiveness] [Politics]

Five White Louisiana Judges Uphold Life Sentence of Black Man Jailed for Stealing Hedge Clippers 23 Years Ago

by Namrata Tripathi | August 2020
A man from Louisiana, who was sentenced to life in prison for stealing a pair of hedge clippers over 20 years ago, will continue to remain in prison after the state Supreme Court denied a request to review his case. Fair Wayne Bryant, a 62-year-old Black man, was convicted for stealing garden equipment in 1997, which landed him in prison for the rest of his life. Bryant, in 2000, had appealed his life sentence to be unconstitutionally excessive and his case had made its way up to the high court of the state. However, his hopes were dashed after a Louisiana Supreme Court panel, consisting of five White men and one Black woman, upheld his life sentence 5-1 last week. The only person to dissent was the Black judge on the panel, Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2020’s] [Prison System] [Systemic Racism] [Silencing POC] [Accountability] [Policing] [Economics] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Blindness]

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

by Catherine Pugh, Esq. | July 2020
Part II of TNSWA series. Racism is not mine, it’s yours, and it’s not called “help” when it’s your mess we’re cleaning. Part I is available here. I get stuck when I try to see the “White Ally” label as something bigger than a White woobie. Normally, that’s no problem, but this woobie comes at the expense of Black living. “White Ally” remains a term I neither use nor care for. Originally, I kept my own counsel here because my objections felt cranky. “White Ally” was a deft marketing plan recasting potential “haters” as heroes, but hardly a reason to engage. As it happens, I have no love for “White Privilege” either and shrugged it off from within the same genre of indifference. “White Privilege” was our ironic tongue-click when you acted like the child who commits patricide and then begs an orphan’s mercy. As with the other, it merited little attention. Then Travis and George McMichael executed Ahmaud Arbery, and everything changed. It is from this place that There Is No Such Thing as a White Ally was born. So many questions to ask ourselves.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2020’s] [Individual Change] [Accountability] [Definitions] [Systemic Racism] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [Anti-Racism] [-ing While Black] [Police Shootings] [Policing] [White Fragility/Tears] [“All Lives Matter”] [Advocacy]

*These Profound Photos Masterfully Turn Racial Stereotypes On Their Head

by Lilly Workneh | May 2017
A powerful new photo essay reexamines our relationship with race.Oe image shows several East Asian women at a nail salon being pampered by white female beauticians. Another shows a young white girl at a toy store standing before a row of shelves stocked only with black dolls, and the last image shows a posh Hispanic woman on the phone as her white maid tends to her.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [Accountability] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [Assumptions] [White Privilege] [Art & Culture]

RACIAL EQUITY: How to Value Black Lives

by Enola G. Aird | June 2016
The Black Lives Matter movement has correctly pointed to this dehumanization as the driving force behind the police killings of black people. But it’s crucial to recognize that the dehumanization of black people is rooted in the lies, and that black lives will never truly matter until these lies are extinguished. It’s been 150 years since the end of enslavement, and nearly 50 years since the official end of Jim Crow, but the lies are still warping the world’s perceptions of Black people, and our perceptions of ourselves. These lies are the reasons why, in spite of all the constitutional amendments, legislation, and litigation, the black community in the United States and around the world seems to be standing still — and, in some cases, moving backwards.
TAGS: [White Supremacy] [Black Lives Matter] [Strategies] [2010’s] [History] [Collective Action]

A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement

by Alicia Garza | October 2014
Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression. ‘“When we say Black Lives Matter, we are talking about the ways in which Black people are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity.”
TAGS: [History] [Black Lives Matter] [Strategies] [2010’s] [Collective Action] [Accountability]

Should the Church Take Sides or Stay Neutral with the #BlackLivesMatter Movement?

by Drew G.I. Hart | November 2015
When is it the right time to take sides, standing with those that live with the daily threat of violence, suffering, and death? Who decides? In the midst of 400 years of white supremacist terrorism many Christian communities still do not want to take sides.
TAGS: [Faith-Based/Spiritual] [Black Lives Matter] [Strategies] [2010’s] [History] [White Supremacy]

The Role Of Spirit In The #BLACKLIVESMATTER Movement: A Conversation With Activist And Artist Patrisse Cullors

by Hebah H. Farrag | June 2015
While the involvement of church groups and traditional religious leaders in various aspects of Black Lives Matter has been noted by news outlets, there is another spirit that animates the Black Lives Matter movement, one that has received little attention but is essential to a new generation of civil rights activists….Images of a white-clad black woman burning sage across a militarized police line. Altars using sacred images and symbols from multiple faiths placed to hold space for those murdered. Events ending with prayers for the oppressed. Protests called ‘ceremonies’ in front of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s house, with attendees asked to wear all white.”
TAGS: [Faith-Based/Spiritual] [Strategies] [2010’s] [Black Lives Matter] [Collective Action]

Should the U.S. Provide Reparations for Slavery and Jim Crow?

by Carlton Mark Waterhouse | May 2016
The overwhelming majority of academics studying the issue have supported the calls for compensating black Americans for the centuries of chattel slavery and the 100 years of lynching, mob violence and open exclusion from public and private benefits like housing, health care, voting, political office and education that occurred during the Jim Crow era.
TAGS: [2010’s] [History] [Reparations] [Individual Change] [Strategies] [Slavery]