Tips-Dos/Don’ts Archives - Tools For Racial Justice

I Need to Talk to Spiritual White Women about White Supremacy, Part II

by Layla F. Saad | August 2017
PART II: In this second letter, I want to provide some guidance and resources on how to begin doing the work – both inside yourself and in your comma ignites – of anti-racism work.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Anti-Racism] [Individual Change]

8 Ways People of Color are Tokenized in Nonprofits

by Helen Kim Ho | September 2017
There’s a type of racism in the workplace many of us have personally witnessed, perpetrated or experienced: tokenism. Nowhere have I seen this play out more than in the nonprofit space. But how can a sector dedicated to the common good fail at being the most diverse, safe and woke-est place imaginable? Because the vast majority of charitable dollars are generated from rich white men, which ultimately influences the direction of funding. So what does tokenism look and feel like?
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [White Culture] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Privilege]

Let’s Stop Pretending White People Can Be Objective On Racial Issues

by Shae Collins | October 2016
Instantly, I thought, Was this a terrorist organization? Was this flight going to make it to its destination safely? Then I thought, Oh my God, I’m a racist! Shame on me. I’m a black, self-proclaimed feminist who writes about injustice, and here I am wondering if this man is a terrorist simply because he is brown, wearing a turban, and video chatting with folks that look like him.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Systemic Racism] [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]

Racism: Why Whites Have Trouble “Getting It”

by Greg Boyd | February 2016
Most white people I know sincerely believe they live in a country that is, for the most part, a land of equal opportunity that is mostly free of racism. Yes, we all see the occasional overt racism that erupts now and then in America, and most of us are genuinely revolted by this. But we tend to see these events, and the attitudes behind them, as rather atypical of America as a whole. And, yes, most of us white folks know at least a little bit of the shocking statistics of disparity in America (e.g. young black males are statistically more likely to end up in prison than to go to college). But given our operative assumptions about America, we whites often either refuse to believe these statistics or, more commonly, we find ways to explain them away.
TAGS: [White Blindness] [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]

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]

The Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture

by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun | (Month Unknown) 2001
From Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups
Below is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture which show up in our organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify. The characteristics listed below are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being pro-actively named or chosen by the group. They are damaging because they promote white supremacy thinking. They are damaging to both people of color and to white people. Organizations that are people of color-led or a majority people of color can also demonstrate many damaging characteristics of white supremacy culture.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2000’s] [White Supremacy] [White Culture] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]