Resource Links Tagged with "Collective Action"

George Floyd’s Autopsy and the Structural Gaslighting of America; The Weaponization of Medical Language Emboldened White Supremacy with the Authority of the White Coat. How Will We Stop It from Happening Again?

by Ann Crawford-Roberts, Sonya Shadravan, Jennifer Tsai, Nicolás E. Barceló, Allie Gips, Michael Mensah, Nichole Roxas, Alina Kung, Anna Darby, Naya Misa, Isabella Morton, Alice Shen | June 2020
The world was gaslit by misreporting about George Floyd’s initial autopsy report. As concerned physicians, we write to deconstruct the misinformation and condemn the ways this weaponization of medical language reinforced white supremacy at the torment of Black Americans. Gaslighting is a method of psychological manipulation employed to make a victim question their own sanity, particularly in scenarios where they are mistreated.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2020’s] [Black Lives Matter] [Systemic Racism] [Silencing POC] [Racial Covenants] [Policing] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [History] [Collective Action] [Police Shootings] [Denial] [Accountability] [Health Disparities] [Definitions]

Supreme Court Upholds Law Banning Chinese Americans from White Schools

by Equal Justice Initative | Date Unknown
On November 21, 1927, in Gong Lum v. Rice, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the Chinese-American Lum family and upheld Mississippi’s power to force nine-year old Martha Lum to attend a “colored school: outside the district where she lived. …When the Mississippi Supreme Court held that Martha Lum could not insist on being educated with white students because she was of the “Mongolian or yellow race,” her father appealed to the United States Supreme Court. In its decision siding with the state of Mississippi, the U.S. Supreme Court reasoned that Mississippi’s decision to bar Martha from attending the local white high school did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment because she was entitled to attend a colored school. This decision extended the reach of segregation laws and policies in Mississippi and throughout the nation by classifying all non-white individuals as “colored.”
TAGS: [Collective Action] [Asian] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Justice System] [White Blindness]

“This is Where Our People Are”: Reflections on Plymouth 400

by Charles Thomas Lai FitzGibbon | November 2020
This month, in addition to being National Native American Heritage Month, marks 400 years since the Mayflower landed in Plymouth. Here in Massachusetts—a state named after the indigenous people of the “Great Blue Hill”—many of us are settlers on stolen land. I spoke with Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, Chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah based on Martha’s Vineyard, to hear her perspective on this moment, and what we can learn from reflecting on the anniversary. CF: This year marks 400 years since European settlers landed in Plymouth. How are your communities reflecting on and/or acting around this moment? …CAM: We wanted to really have our truth be told, not the whitewashed, watered down version [from] the history books that our children have to endure around fifth grade. Not the version to make the story sound good. As we say in Indian Country which is where we live and work: the truth is the truth is the truth.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Indigenous] [History] [White Supremacy] [Racial Covenants] [White Culture] [White Blindness] [Systemic Racism] [Advocacy] [Justice System] [Politics] [White Privilege]

White America’s Age-Old, Misguided Obsession With Civility

by Thomas J. Sugrue | June 2018
But in fact, civil rights leaders, while they did believe in the power of nonviolence, knew that their success depended on disruption and coercion as much — sometimes more — than on dialogue and persuasion. They knew that the vast majority of whites who were indifferent or openly hostile to the demands of civil rights would not be moved by appeals to the American creed or to bromides about liberty and justice for all. Polite words would not change their behavior. … That history is a reminder that civility is in the eye of the beholder. And when the beholder wants to maintain an unequal status quo, it’s easy to accuse picketers, protesters, and preachers alike of incivility, as much because of their message as their methods. For those upset by disruptive protests, the history of civil rights offers an unsettling reminder that the path to change is seldom polite.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [History] [Systemic Racism] [Police Shootings] [Policing] [Politics] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Social Justice] [Justice System]

White Violence, Church Silence; Many white churches have been guilty of not only espousing racist rhetoric, but also of preaching a theology that urges Christian silence when it comes to standing up for justice.

by L.A. Justice | November 2020
While Black people are being relentlessly pursued because our lives have been determined to be expendable, numerous churches across this country have not only been silent, but too many have been complacent and complicit with these atrocities. Myriad white churches have been guilty of not only espousing racist rhetoric, but also of preaching a theology that urges Christian silence when it comes to standing up for justice, especially when it means standing against the racially motivated brutalization of Black bodies. This encourages the perpetrators of such inhumane violence to continue to act with impunity, no matter how abhorrent the violence committed against us may be.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Denial] [History] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [White Blindness] [Accountability] [Faith-Based/Spiritual] [Black Lives Matter] [Collective Action] [Cognitive Dissonance]

Black Farmers Have Been Robbed of Land. A New Bill Would Give Them a “Quantum Leap” Toward Justice. “This is the Black Farmers Civil Rights Act of 2020, and it’s Long Overdue.”

by Tom Philpott | November 2020
A new Senate bill, called the Justice for Black Farmers Act, set to be released November 30, would mount a long-delayed federal effort to reverse the “destructive forces that were unleashed upon Black farmers over the past century—one of the dark corners of shame in American history,” lead sponsor Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told Mother Jones. …The Justice for Black Farmers Act’s much more modest proposal would amount to an “equitable balancing of the scales after decades of systemic racism within the USDA that disadvantaged Black farmers, excluded them from loans, and other programs, [and] prevented them from holding on to their land,” Booker said.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2020’s] [Civil War] [Slavery] [White Supremacy] [Systemic Racism] [Politics] [Reparations] [Advocacy] [History] [Collective Action] [Racial Covenants]

Why Did Racial Progress Stall in America? The Answer May Show Us the Path out of Our Fractured and Polarized Present

by Shaylyn Romney Garrett and Robert D. Putnam | December 2020
In measure after measure, positive change for Black Americans was actually faster in the decades before the civil rights revolution than in the decades after. For example, —- The life expectancy gap between Black and white Americans narrowed most rapidly between about 1905 and 1947, after which the rate of improvement was much more modest. And by 1995 the life expectancy ratio was the same as it had been in 1961. There has been some progress in the ensuing two decades, but this is due in part to an increase in premature deaths among working-class whites.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Collective Action] [Assumptions] [2020’s] [History] [Black Lives Matter] [Policing] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism] [Civil War] [Economics] [Politics] [Myths]

White Clicktivism: Why Are Some Americans Woke Online but Not in Real Life?

by Brianna Holt | December 2020
“I’m a Democrat. I’ll be friends with anyone, like anyone from different sides of the political spectrum. I guess that makes me liberal,” she said. “Liberals are more open to experiences.”
Maybe they are. But a woman of color would be physically threatened if their date exposed their Proud Boy membership over a few drinks. Kansen, a white woman, did not feel at risk and so it was partly her privilege – not her tolerance – that gave her a hall pass to entertain a member of a white supremacist group. … Despite racism being a structural problem, individual actions still matter. But, Cavanagh warns, people may believe in equality while opting out of decisions that are hard for them personally. “Voting can be thought of as a relatively low-cost act of solidarity and commitment to justice, unlike cutting off ties to your racist mother,” she says.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy] [Systemic Racism] [White Blindness] [Accountability] [Cognitive Dissonance] [Collective Action] [Colorblindness]

Shinnecock Nation Asserts Sovereignty at Sunrise Highway Encampment

by Julia Press | December 2020
For 26 days, Shinnecock residents camped out along the Sunrise Highway — the only road in and out of the Hamptons. “We’ve had snow, we’ve had rain, we’ve had sleet, we’ve been under tornado watch,” said Tela Troge. She’s a member of Warriors of the Sunrise, the group of Shinnecock women who organized the occupation. Troge said that this “Sovereignty Camp” was spurred by a recent dispute with state and local government over a 61-foot tall electronic billboard. The Shinnecock Nation built this monument along the highway to generate advertising revenue. Troge, who’s a lawyer, spent years on the legal research to prove that it was on Shinnecock land.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Indigenous] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [Justice System] [Accountability] [White Privilege]

US Supreme Court Rules Half of Oklahoma is Native American Land

by BBC News | July 2020
Thursday’s decision in McGirt v Oklahoma is seen as one of the most far-reaching cases for Native Americans before the highest US court in decades. The ruling means some tribe members found guilty in state courts for offences committed on the land at issue can now challenge their convictions.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2020’s] [Indigenous] [Systemic Racism] [Collective Action] [Justice System] [Prison System]

How ‘Good White People’ Derail Racial Progress

by John Blake | August 2020
Angry White parents gripping picket signs. People making death threats and a piece of hate mail reading “Blacks destroy school systems. Community panic about school desegregation orders. But this wasn’t archival footage of White Southerners from the 1960s. This took place last year in Howard County, Maryland, a suburban community that prides itself on racial integration. It was there that progressive White parents mobilized with other groups to try to stop a school integration plan that would bus poor students, who were mostly Black and brown, to more affluent, whiter schools.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [Black Lives Matter] [White Supremacy] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [White Blindness] [History] [Economics] [Housing] [Cognitive Dissonance]

As Nation Reckons with Race, Poll Finds White Americans Least Engaged

by Adrian Florido and Marisz Penaloza | August 2020
Collins sympathized with the people marching in the protests but felt “I’m not that type of person.” So instead, he called and wrote his representatives in Congress and asked what they were doing to address racism in the country. He didn’t hear back, “but I still thought it was important to do.” As the nation navigates its most consequential racial justice movement in a half-century, some people have responded to the calls for action to remedy the country’s racist past and present by protesting in the streets or doing something as simple as reading a book about race. But a new NPR/Ipsos poll finds that these people remain a minority.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2020’s] [Anti-Racism] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Collective Action] [Latino/a] [Asian] [White Culture] [Black Lives Matter] [Reparations] [-ing While Black]

American Environmentalism’s Racist Roots Have Shaped Global Thinking about Conservation

by Prakash Kashwan | September 2020
American environmentalism’s racist roots have influenced global conservation practices. Most notably, they are embedded in longstanding prejudices against local communities and a focus on protecting pristine wildernesses. This dominant narrative pays little thought to indigenous and other poor people who rely on these lands – even when they are its most effective stewards.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Indigenous] [Systemic Racism] [Myths] [Confederate Monuments] [Slavery] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [Economics] [History] [Environment]

When White Women Practice the Politics of Polite, the Violence of Nice We Must Admit That, When We’re Moderate, We’re Complicit.

by Real Talk: WOC & Allies | August 2019
It turns out, not so much. Our extreme discomfort with discord and our inability to sustain even the mildest of stress fractures when our tools fail us, is why we are not moving the needle on the meaningful dismantling of systems and institutions that intentionally uphold white supremacy. We recoil from the concepts of subversion and disruption like vampires from the hot sun. Because subversion is not polite and disruption is not nice. We need to embrace the discomfort, the edges and the messiness of overturning that which has kept us in the number two slot of the power and privilege pyramid for over 500 years.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Politics] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Supremacy] [Bystander Intervention] [Policing] [Anti-Racism] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Microaggressions] [Assumptions]

How the failure of multiculturalism led to the rise of Black Lives Matter

by Colins Imoh | September 2020
Since the killing of George Floyd, an African American man, during an arrest in May, 69% of people in the US report having discussed racial issues with others. Meanwhile, as the Pew research suggests, 82% say they will work with black people in their communities to resolve issues and 67% say they are supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement. This is to be welcomed, because people’s inability to discuss race issues in a civil manner has further contributed to minority inequality and conflict. Indeed, this failure to have forthright discussions about race has led to people of different ethnic groups living parallel lives in the same cities. This, along with the decreased life chances for non-white people in many western countries, is what the Black Lives Matter movement aims to eradicate. But it’s also important to recognise that one of the reasons Black Lives Matter came about in the first place is because the concept of multiculturalism has failed black people. …It’s crucial to appreciate that racism is so systemic that without people drawing attention to the deep-rooted and often invisible nature of the issue, it would be easy for many people to ignore. This is why the Black Lives Matter movement wants to confront and shake up the system and bring the plight of black people to the global consciousness.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Black Lives Matter] [Policing] [Definitions] [Systemic Racism] [History] [Employment] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Blindness] [Teachers] [Assumptions]

How Prison Labor is the New American Slavery and Most of Us Unknowingly Support it

by Sara Burrows | June 2016
If you buy products or services from any of the 50 companies listed below (and you likely do), you are supporting modern American slavery. American slavery was technically abolished in 1865, but a loophole in the 13th Amendment has allowed it to continue “as a punishment for crimes” well into the 21st century. Not surprisingly, corporations have lobbied for a broader and broader definition of “crime” in the last 150 years. As a result, there are more (mostly dark-skinned) people performing mandatory, essentially unpaid, hard labor in America today than there were in 1830.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Slavery] [Prison System] [Strategies] [Economics] [Systemic Racism] [Individual Change]

How the Long Fight for Slavery Reparations is Slowly Being Won

by Kris Manjapra | April 2020
In a suburb of Chicago, the world’s first government-funded slavery reparations programme is beginning. Robin Rue Simmons helped make it happen – but her victory has been more than 200 years in the making. It began with an email. On an especially cold day in Evanston, Illinois, in February 2019, Robin Rue Simmons, 43 years old and two years into her first term as alderman for the city’s historically Black 5th ward, sent an email whose effects would eventually make US history. The message to the nine-member equity and empowerment commission of the Evanston city council started with a disarmingly matter-of-fact heading: “Because ‘reparations’ makes people uncomfortable.”
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Slavery] [Reparations] [Advocacy] [History] [Racial Covenants] [Systemic Racism] [Politics] [Denial] [Accountability] [Economics] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege]

The Mental Health Impact of ‘Blame a Black Man Syndrome’ The Frequent Wrongful Accusation of Black Men Ruins Lives and Communities.

by Rob Whitley, Ph.D. | November 2017
Blame a Black Man Syndrome describes a common tendency to falsely accuse a black man of a crime or misconduct. It can take two forms.Firstly, it can refer to generic racial hoaxes, where an accuser blames an imaginary black man for a non-existent crime. Famous examples include Susan Smith, who alleged that a black man carjacked her vehicle and kidnapped her sons, when in fact she had murdered her children herself. Another is Bonnie Sweeten, who claimed that she and her daughter were kidnapped by two black men when she was actually vacationing in Florida. Secondly, it can involve accusations against a named but innocent black man. Famous examples include football player Brian Banks, who spent five years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Another is Patrick Lumumba, whose life was ruined when Amanda Knox falsely accused him of murder.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Prison System] [Calling Police] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy] [-ing While Black] [Definitions] [Prison System] [Policing] [Assumptions]

The Racist History of Abortion and Midwifery Bans; Today’s attacks on abortion access have a long history rooted in white supremacy.

by Michele Goodwin | July 2020
Just like slavery, anti-abortion efforts are rooted in white supremacy, the exploitation of Black women, and placing women’s bodies in service to men. Just like slavery, maximizing wealth and consolidating power motivated the anti-abortion enterprise. Then, just as now, anti-abortion efforts have nothing to do with saving women’s lives or protecting the interests of children. Today, a person is 14 times more likely to die by carrying a pregnancy to term than by having an abortion, and medical evidence has shown for decades that an abortion is as safe as a penicillin shot—and yet abortion remains heavily restricted in states across the country. Prior to the Civil War, abortion and contraceptives were legal in the U.S., used by Indigenous women as well as those who sailed to these lands from Europe. For the most part, the persons who performed all manner of reproductive health care were women — female midwives. Midwifery was interracial; half of the women who provided reproductive health care were Black women. Other midwives were Indigenous and white.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Indigenous] [History] [Slavery] [Black Lives Matter] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [Politics] [Civil War] [Asian]

Teaching the Hard History of Indigenous Slavery; TT’s newest film, ‘The Forgotten Slavery of Our Ancestors,’ offers a classroom-ready introduction to the history of Indigenous enslavement in What is Now the United States.

by Teaching Tolerance Staff | October 2020
Recognizing the ways that American enslavement and dispossession continue to shape our lives is a critical first step in working to address oppressive systems still in place. And students deserve an accurate reckoning of that legacy. As Hasan Kwame Jeffries, chair of our Teaching Hard History Advisory Board, wrote in his preface to that project, “Some say that slavery was our country’s original sin, but it is much more than that. Slavery is our country’s origin.”
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Teachers] [Indigenous] [Slavery] [Anti-Racism] [Accountability] [Systemic Racism]

The Numbers Don’t Speak for Themselves: Racial Disparities and the Persistence of Inequality in the Criminal Justice System

by Rebecca C. Hetey, Jennifer L. Eberhardt | May 2018
Many scholars and activists assume the public would be motivated to fight inequality if only they knew the full extent of existing disparities. Ironically, exposure to extreme disparities can cause people to become more, not less, supportive of the very policies that create those disparities (Hetey & Eberhardt, 2014). Here, we focus on the criminal justice system—policing and incarceration in particular. We argue that bringing to mind racial disparities in this domain can trigger fear and stereotypic associations linking Blacks with crime. Therefore, rather than extending an invitation to reexamine the criminal justice system, the statistics about disparities may instead provide an opportunity to justify and rationalize the disparities found within that system. With the goals of spurring future research and mitigating this paradoxical and unintended effect, we propose three potential strategies for more effectively presenting information about racial disparities: (a) offer context, (b) challenge associations, and (c) highlight institutions.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Policing] [Prison System] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [White Privilege] [Politics]

Dear White Parents Of My Black Child’s Friends: I Need Your Help

by Maralee Bradley | June 2016
I’ve been wrestling with talking to you about some things I think you need to know. I’ve wrestled with it because I feel my own sense of shame—shame that I didn’t know or understand these issues before they touched my family. I’ve felt fear that you’ll respond in subtle ways that make it clear you aren’t safe for my child. I’ve been concerned that you won’t believe me and then I’ll feel more angry than if I hadn’t said anything. But my son is getting older, and as he transitions from an adorable black boy to a strong black man, I know the assumptions about him will change. And I need your help in keeping him safe.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Assumptions] [Policing] [Colorblindness] [Systemic Racism] [Anti-Racism] [Individual Change] [Advocacy] [White Privilege]

Video: Black Professor Unleashes Flood of White Tears After On-Air Clash Ensues When Guest Says the British Empire ‘Wasn’t All Bad’

by Ashleigh Atwell | February 2020
A Black British academic ruffled some feathers when he deemed whiteness “a psychosis” and took Britain to task for its oppressive history.
Birmingham City University professor of black studies Dr. Kehinde Andrews made the comments on Sunday during a “Good Morning Britain” panel discussion about the use of “Empire” when referring to Britain and its territories. The talk was prompted by commentary from British Labour Party candidate Lisa Nandy, who argued the “Order of the British Empire” should be changed to the “Order of British Excellence,” per The Guardian.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [History]

Influencers are Doing blackface to ‘show Solidarity’ with BLM

by Brit Dawson | June 2020
One group seemingly still clueless about how to support Black Lives Matter is influencers. First, they were posing at protests for clout, and now they’re doing blackface to ‘show solidarity’ with the movement. In an Instagram post, satirist and socio-political activist Saint Hoax shared screenshots of influencers who had painted their skin Black, along with a brief history of blackface. They wrote: “How can you ‘spread awareness’ about a subject you know so little about? If you genuinely care about a cause, the least you can do is educate yourself about it.” They continued: “It’s infuriating that we still need to educate people about the racist and painful history of blackface. We shouldn’t be having this conversation in 2020.”
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Accountability] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Supremacy] [Black Lives Matter] [White Culture] [Myths] [Strategies]

11 Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers

by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. | Updated January 2020
Black scientists, engineers, and inventors have made important contributions to the science of chemistry. Learn about black chemists and chemical engineers and their projects in the 19th and 21st centuries.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Teachers] [History]

Black Women Need to be Free; OPINION: We Must Work to Re-Build the System in Order to Amplify Black Women’s Voices and Prioritize Our Freedom

by Whitney Pirtle | July 2020
Black women live at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression: structural racism, structural sexism, and capitalism, which constrain the opportunity to live freely and fully. Thus, Kimberlé Crenshaw argued that “any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated.” Intersectional analysis should be employed as a unifying public health framework, especially as related to the pandemic and police brutality.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Systemic Racism] [Policing] [Silencing POC] [Accountability] [Employment]

The False Promise of Anti-Racism Books

*Paywall Alert

by Saida Grundy | July 2020
Texts that seek to raise the collective American Consciousness are rendered futile without concrete systemic changes. …When offered in lieu of actionable policies regarding equity, consciousness raising can actually undermine Black progress by presenting increased knowledge as the balm for centuries of abuse. Executives at major corporations such as Amazon, for instance, have invited race scholars and writers to “help [them] unpack” such topics as the American justice system and how to be an anti-racist ally. Yet Black employees at many of these companies have pointed to the hypocrisy of in-house dialogues about race while practices like labor exploitation continue. In the form of hollow public statements and company-sponsored conversations, consciousness raising is often toothless.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Collective Action] [2020’s] [Anti-Racism] [Confederate Monuments] [White Blindness] [Denial] [Accountability] [Implicit Racism] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [White Supremacy] [History]

On Nantucket, a Racist Act Gets a Second Look

by Dugan Arnett Globe Staff | August 2020
On March 11, 2018, island residents awoke to a startling act of hate. The front door of the African Meeting House — a nearly 200-year-old former church that now serves as a symbol of the island’s rich Black history — had been defiled with racist graffiti: “N—– LEAVE.” The crime made national news, shocking many who couldn’t fathom such overt bigotry in a place of rarefied tranquility. Residents quickly condemned the vandalism, while local officials, labeling the act a hate crime, vowed to seek justice. But justice hasn’t come.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2020’s] [Policing] [Systemic Racism] [Black Lives Matter] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [White Culture] [Accountability] [History] [Collective Action] [Silencing POC]

Whites Only: SURJ And The Caucasian Invasion of Racial Justice Spaces

by DiDi Delgago | April 2017
Anti-racism work with a white lens is inherently flawed. White-led anti-racism groups have existed for hundreds of years, and they’ve often been problematic, counterproductive, and just fucking weird since their inception. Take, for instance, the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society of 1833, which believed that slave owners were missing out on a business opportunity by not putting slaves on the payroll. They argued that paying slaves “would make them doubly valuable to [their] masters,” because paid laborers are more motivated than forced laborers. That’s the whitest thing I’ve ever heard, and I own two Hanson records. I can think of a thousand better reasons not to own a person aside from increased productivity… I suspect many white people combatting racism have been so busy checking their privilege that they’ve forgotten to check their egos. It seemed that one chapter finally got it right, and they did so by realizing they got it wrong.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Anti-Racism] [White Privilege] [Slavery] [History] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Supremacy] [Individual Change] [Reparations] [Black Lives Matter] [Accountability]

What Kind Of White Person Would I Have Been?

by Ali Michael, Ph. D. | January 2017
When I was growing up, we learned about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in school. And I always wondered which side I would have been on if I had lived in his time. I imagined I would have been one of the White people who marched in his marches, and befriended Black children in the newly integrated schools. I was sure that I would not be one of the mean people who resisted integration, who thought that White people were better than people of color because of the color of their skin. But that was all I knew — that there were two sides. There were White people who supported what Dr. King was doing and White people who fought against what he was doing. I didn’t realize at the time that there was a third kind of White person. And in fact, I’m sorry to say, it’s much more likely that I would have fallen into the third group.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Colorblindness] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Accountability] [White Blindness] [White Privilege]