by Steve Nelson | November 2017
Are you saying that all white people are racist?” After a short pause … “Yes.” This exchange was between a white New York teenager and a workshop leader on racism. It is among scores of powerful moments in a film called I’m Not Racist . . . Am I?I’m proud that the Calhoun School, which I headed until last June, produced the film in partnership with Point Made Films, a leading documentary film company.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Systemic Racism] [White Culture]
Resource Links Tagged with "Collective Action"
We Can’t Train Our Way to Racial Equity
by Heidi Schillinger |November 2016
Change, reflection, and applied learning are values I strive to model in my own journey towards racial justice. This is one of my “show what you’re learning, not what you already know” moments of living the Color Brave Space norms. I now realize many mainstream organizations are approaching “training” as the destination for their racial equity work. This realization and discomfort are affirmed through employee surveys, where overwhelmingly the most common response to what their organization is doing to advance racial equity is training. Believing we can train our way to racial equity is fakequity.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Teachers] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]
Attacks like Portland’s Will Keep Happening Unless We All Fight White Supremacy
by Arjun Singh Sethi | May 2017
Two men were stabbed to death in Portland, Ore., on Friday when they tried to stop their attacker from harassing two women because they appeared to be Muslim. Communities of color experience hate in every aspect of our lives. It braids through our daily existence, just like friendship, work and family. We encounter it in schools, workplaces and public life. And what we fear most is hate violence, the kind that was on full display in Portland this weekend.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [2010’s] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [Collective Action]
Quakerism and racism: Reclaiming Faith From the Wreckage of White Supremacy
by Greg Elliott | December 2015
With the recent rise in hate speech and hate crimes against Muslims, the ongoing white backlash against Black Lives Matter and the Movement for Black Lives, and the recent non-indictment of the border patrol agents responsible for the murder of Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas, the need for racial justice organizing has never been more urgent. As mosques are burned, as unarmed Black people are murdered by police, and as millions of undocumented migrants are detained and deported, Communities of Color and their white allies, co-conspirators, and comrades are responding with a sense of urgency that is required by these dire times.
TAGS: [Quaker] [Faith-Based/Spiritual] [2010’s] [Strategies] [Advocacy] [Collective Action]
Transforming White Fragility Into Courageous Imperfection
by Courtney E. Martin | June 2015
“I’m grateful for a framing that helps me understand my own fragility. Experimenting with how I use the power that comes from my privilege is a messy process. Sometimes I feel like I manage to do something really useful in the world, whether its recommending a brilliant person of color to speak at a conference and working with them to hone their transformative message for a broad audience or saying I won’t speak on a panel that I’ve been invited to because there isn’t a person of color on it. Interestingly, white fragility often shows up as talking a lot, a kind of flood of effortful explaining, or the equivalent of a peacock’s display of anti-racist sentiment — posting on social media with great fanfare or calling out other white people with a sort of zeal.”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [Accountability] [Systemic Racism] [Collective Action] [Definitions]
White People: Which Side Are You On?
by Karen Fleshman | June 2017
White People: Which Side Are You On?
I realized just recently that my original stomping ground was a “sundown town,” a place where people of color could not rent nor own a home, much less stay in a hotel. Sundown towns were as American as apple pie, omnipresent in this country until the 1960s, when federal law made their ordinances and practices illegal.
The law changed. Residential patterns, and mindsets, did not. De Facto. Instead, the problem — the phenomenon — shifted, took on a different shape to accommodate present conditions.
TAGS: [History] [Collective Action] [Assumptions] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism]
White People: Stop Microvalidating Each Other
by Stephanie Jo Kent | July 2016
Most American whites are unaware of white supremacy in everyday life because the system invented by the founding fathers is effective at hiding the ways white privilege works. This means most white people are raised unconscious of the role whiteness plays in overall society. Waking up to this reality is typically painful, which is what leads to the observable patterns of white fragility.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Collective Action] [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Systemic Racism] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [Implicit Racism]
I Don’t Discuss Racism With White People
By John Metta | July 2015
Despite what the Charleston Massacre makes things look like, people are dying not because individuals are racist, but because individuals are helping support a racist system by wanting to protect their own non-racist self beliefs. Here’s what I want to say to you: Racism is so deeply embedded in this country not because of the racist right-wing radicals who practice it openly, it exists because of the silence and hurt feelings of liberal America.” Racism is the fact that “White” means “normal” and that anything else is different.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Faith-Based/Spiritual] [Systemic Racism] [History] [Collective Action]
Adoption Is A Feminist Issue, But Not For The Reasons You Think
by Liz Latty | April 2017
Mainstream feminism — feminism by and for middle and upper-middle-class white women — has historically gotten behind adoption. Feminists have supported the rights of single people and same-gendered families to adopt, the rights of adoptive families in contested adoptions, and policies intended to get children into adoptive homes faster. What’s missing from mainstream feminism is any explicit support for families of origin: the parents who have to lose their children, the families that must be dismantled in order for adoptive families to be built. The adoption industry is a business. It generates billions of dollars each year and requires other people’s children in order to stay profitable. Here’s the toughest truth yet: Those children are almost always the children of poor and working class people.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [Economics] [Accountability] [Systemic Racism] [Myths] [White Supremacy]
Audre Lorde, “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism”
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]
BLM Uses Facebook’s ‘Safety Check’ To Declare That We’re In A State Of Crisis
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]
8 Times the U.S. Government Gave White People Handouts to Get Ahead
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]
Charlottesville’s First Black Female Mayor: ‘We’re Not a Post-Racial Nation’
by Lois Beckett | August 2018
An interview with Nikuyah Walker, an independent who ran under the campaign slogan “Unmasking the illusion”. She argued that Charlottesville’s Democratic politicians had failed to do enough to tackle systemic racism and economic inequality, and that it was time for a deeper change. Walker speaks to the Guardian about her policy agenda, what it was like growing up black in Charlottesville, and why she believes Democratic politicians “don’t know how to reform systems”.
TAGS: [History] [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Politics] [Economics] [Collective Action]
It’s Time to Get Over Your White Feelings and Start Taking Action for Black Lives
by Ann Friedman | August 2016
There’s a protest sign I’ve seen at several marches and sit-ins this summer that reads, “Black lives matter more than white feelings.” If, like me, you’re a white person who believes deeply that black lives matter, it’s easy to read that sign as commentary on other white people — the ones who support Donald Trump because they “feel voiceless.” … But the white feelings called into question by that protest sign aren’t just the anger and alienation of Trump supporters. They are also the fear and guilt and perceived helplessness of white people who want to end the epidemic of state-sanctioned violence against black Americans. People like me and you and every white person we know who posts messages of grief each time a new name becomes a hashtag. It’s easy for us to stand back and criticize Trump supporters for putting anger and fear above facts. It can be much harder for white people who support racial justice to realize just how hung up on our own feelings we are.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Blindness] [Accountability] [Individual Change] [Anti-Racism]
Two White Women Launch ‘White Nonsense Roundup’ to Unburden People of Color (VIDEO)
by Egberto Willies | July 2016
Racial strife has exploded in America once again. Two Washington state women believe ‘White Nonsense Roundup’ could play a part in educating and healing and “to unburden people of color from social media ‘race-splainig.’” I titled my Sunday DailyKOS front page article with the provocative headline “Black Lives Matter needs white bodies” for a very particular reason. I figured using the ambiguous term would get more eyeballs to a story that needed more visibility. The feedback from the article was much more than I expected, good, bad, and indifferent. One particular email piqued my interest. The email suggested that I get in touch with Terri Kempton and Layla Tromble in Washington state. These two women launched the Facebook page ‘White Nonsense Roundup‘ hoping to be a part of the solution……
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Black Lives Matter] [Accountability] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism] [Individual Change] [“All Lives Matter”] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Blindness]
Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism-from Ferguson to Charleston
by Jon Greenberg | July 2015
When Teaching about Race and Racism, I Invite Participants to Consider the Following Analogy: Think of racism as a gigantic societal-sized boot. “Which groups do you think are fighting the hardest against this boot of racism?” I ask them. Invariably, participants of diverse races answer that those fighting hardest to avoid getting squashed by the boot are people of Color. Includes a list of articles from Ferguson to Charleston, articles specifically written for white americans, understanding whiteness, white privilege, microaggressions, and a history of racial discrimination, joining groups, and parenting racially-conscious children. A helpful collection of resources.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [History] [Accountability] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Individual Change] [White Supremacy] [Implicit Bias] [Microaggressions]
This is What White People Can Do to Support #BlackLivesMatter
by Sally Kohn | August 2015
Educate yourselves, put your bodies in the streets and help dismantle white supremacy …In his searing new book, “Between the World and Me,” Ta-Nehisi Coates implies that it’s not his job — or, by extension the job of other black voices or leaders — to coach white folks, let alone worry about their feelings. Which it’s not. The whole point is that we white people should be the ones thinking more about black people — their feelings, their experience and their reality, which can be dramatically different than our own. But at the same time, Coates concludes his text noting that structural racism won’t change until white people change.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism] [Accountability] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Black Lives Matter] [“All Lives Matter”] [Individual Change]
15 Things Your City Can Do Right Now to End Police Brutality
by Zak Cheney-Rice | July 2015
Martin Luther King Jr. said it best in 1966: “[The] law cannot make a man love me, but it can restrain him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important also.” Two years later, he was shot and killed in Memphis. But his dream that the United States legal system might eventually overcome its racial biases and serve its non-white citizens equally lives on. For months now, politicians have invoked King’s legacy to implore black citizens to stay peaceful in the face of routine violence. The irony of this plea seems lost on its askers, but it does fall in line with a question that’s haunted Black Lives Matter protesters for the past 10 months, namely, “What’s going to happen next?” Fifteen changes that are relevant today.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Policing] [Accountability] [Anti-Racism]
Jesse Williams Discusses Biracial Privileges and Social Justice: ‘Black Americans Are Not Angry. They Are Hurting’
by Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele | October 2015
He’s not running away from, or ashamed of, the insight he’s gained as a black activist who is half-white. It has always been a pet peeve of mine when biracial people seem to ignore their white side and act as if the world perceives them as black through and through. I always felt that in their determination to identify solely and sternly as black, they were missing out on an opportunity to share some of the insight they may have about how white people feel and think about race relations. That they might be missing out on an opportunity to act as a conduit between both racial groups. He recalled how he cringed when an older white woman basically told him that his brand of blackness was better that that of people who are fully black.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [Accountability] [Role Model] [Individual Change]
Can I Speak Up if I’m White?
by Naomi Ranz-Schleifer | May 2016
Yes. Not only can you speak up about race and racial inequality but as Macklemore and Ryan Lewis illustrate in their song featuring Jamila Woods, “your silence is a luxury.” A luxury and a privilege — more specifically, white privilege. Now is not the time to be a passive viewer, to be offended by every little thing, to play it safe for fear of making a mistake, or to be silent. Includes Videos “White Privilege II”, Deconstructing “White Privilege II”, and Whitney Dow on “Whiteness Project”.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Black Lives Matter] [White Fragility/Tears] [Art & Culture] [Accountability] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy]
Slave Owners are in Your Pocket
Click to read the text on the above display. You can also print out items to create your own “Slave Owners are in Your Pocket” display. Slave owners are in your pocket! Let the world know! Stamp your bills! Making this display is easy.
More Resources
Introduction
Definitions
Facts
Maps
Assessment Tools
History
Appropriation / Aggression
White Privilege / Supremacy
Public Displays
Performance Art
Workshops
Activist Resources
Dear White People
Being Allies
Reparations
Spiritual Foundations
Dear White People
Being Allies
Reparations
Spiritual Foundations
Public Displays
Performance Art
Workshops
Activist Resources
Assessment Tools
History
Appropriation / Aggression
White Privilege / Supremacy
Introduction
Definitions
Facts
Maps
Dear White People
Being Allies
Reparations
Spiritual Foundations
Public Displays
Performance Art
Workshops
Activist Resources
Assessment Tools
History
Appropriation / Aggression
White Privilege / Supremacy
Introduction
Definitions
Facts