by Jon Greenberg | July 2015
There are no doubt complexities that come with White Americans working for racial justice. White privilege can lead to a chronic case of undiagnosed entitlement, creating poor listeners, impatient speakers who talk over others, and people unaccustomed to taking orders. Nevertheless, the movement for racial justice needs more White Americans to get involved. And it’s our responsibility to help each other get involved–and get involved productively. A list of articles and links to help on your journey.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Privilege]
Resource Links Tagged with "Tips-Dos/Don’ts"
Black Activists Don’t Want White Allies’ Conditional Solidarity!
by Stacey Patton | February 2017
White allies have a long history of centering themselves in Black-led racial justice movements and telling leaders how to protest. In 1964, during Freedom Summer, a number of White participants often showed up to explain to Black organizers and community members what should be done. … That’s what people don’t get about “white fragility” and “white tears.” White people aren’t getting upset because they feel some affinity with whiteness as a racial construct, but because white references family and loving relations. So to call into question white privilege and call for the end of whiteness is to call their existence, their families, their friendships, and their power into question.
TAGS: [Collective Action] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Privilege] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]
#Notracists be like: The Top 10 Phrases Used by People Who Claim They Are Not Racist
by Michael Harriot | October 2017
This is not about racists. This is about not-racists. You’ve seen them before: the special class of white people who say racist shit and do racist things but declare themselves the “least racist person you know.”
TAGS: [2010’s] [Assumptions] [Systemic Racism] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Privilege] [White Supremacy] [“Reverse Racism”] [Denial]
Note to My White Self: The reflections of a White Man Confronting His Personal Privilege and Racism – Six Racist Facebook Posts You Should Never Share
by James Mulholland | August 2019
Unfortunately, many white people, who until recently thought they didn’t have a racist bone in their body, aren’t very good at recognizing a racist Facebook post. Torn between what they’ve always assumed and what they are beginning to learn, they are still prone to falling for the arguments of white supremacy. An informative list of “racist Facebook posts you should never share.”
TAGS: [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Supremacy] [Strategies] [2010’s] [Anti-Racism] [Implicit Racism]
Ibram Kendi, One of the Nation’s Leading Scholars of Racism, Says Education and Love Are Not the Answer
by Lonnae O’Neal | September 2017
Professor Ibram Kendi, founder of the new Anti-Racism Center at American University and author of Stamped from the Beginning, The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, talks about the “ideas that grow out of discriminatory policies.” and breaks down the “layers of racist ideas that account for why we think like we do. Just so you know, black people are not inherently better athletes than white people, Kendi says. We only think so because “black people have not only been rendered inferior to white people, they’ve been rendered like animals,” and thus physically superior creatures. It’s an old racist idea that helped justify African-Americans’ suitability for backbreaking labor and medical experiments and the theft of their children.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [Implicit Racism] [Systemic Racism] [White Culture] [Assumptions] [Collective Action] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]
When White Friends Don’t Believe What Blacks Go through, They’re Not Friends
by Mary C. Curtis | September 2014
*Yet whites are, frequently, disappointingly, incredulous. Very often a “friend’s” reaction that goes something like this: “I don’t think a police officer would stop anyone for no reason at all.” Or: “You must have done something suspicious.” Or my favorite: “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about.” I am not some child coming home with some tall tale, and I am certainly not a delusional liar.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [Policing] [Systemic Racism] [White Culture] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]
11 Things White People Need to Realize about Race
by Emma Gray and Jessica Samakow | July 2015
Article by two white women contains embedded links and short videos further explaining the points made in the article. Points in the article include; “Everyday racism is subtle and insidious.” “Don’t think you know it all — or even most of it. Listen, listen, listen.”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Systemic Racism] [Colorblindness] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [Implicit Racism] [Black Lives Matter] [“Reverse Racism”] [2010’s]
Hope for the White Supremacist Within
by LVM Shelton | September 2016
The author, a Black woman, writes: “Understanding white supremacy as addiction and as a disease of the spirit brings many of the tools of the well‐proven 12‐step recovery paradigm to hand…. Some individual spiritual practice for self‐examination is needed for progress in becoming whole. However, community—indeed, communion—is an essential feature of practicing a 12‐step program.” The author ends the article by proposing “12 Steps to Overcoming White Supremacy.” The 12 steps she then lists follow the pattern of traditional 12-step programs.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Supremacy] [Quaker] [Faith-Based/Spiritual] [2010’s]
Conversations on Racism with White People Getting Stuck or Looping? Thirteen Questions to Get it Moving Again
by Tad Hargrave | August 2017
In this blog post the author, a white man, suggests 13 questions that white people might consider including in their conversations with other white people about racism, as well as possible follow-up strategies depending upon the answers given. A sample question: “If you woke up as a person of colour or indigenous person tomorrow in North America do you think it would change anything in your life? If so, what?”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Definitions] [White Culture] [White Fragility/Tears] [White Privilege] [History] [Systemic Racism] [2010’s]
The Real Reason White People Say ‘All Lives Matter’ – Why “Black” Makes Us Uncomfortable
by John Halstead | July 2017
“Dear fellow white people, … notice that no one was saying ‘All Lives Matter’ before people started saying ‘Black Lives Matter.’ So ‘All Lives Matter’ is a response to ‘Black Lives Matter.’ Apparently, something about the statement “Black Lives Matter” makes us uncomfortable.”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Implicit Racism] [Colorblindness] [Black Lives Matter] [“All Lives Matter”] [White Culture] [2010’s]
When Compliments Are Racist
by James Mulholland | December 2018
“Note to my white self…I did it again. I offered one of those back handed, racist compliments that expose how much work I still have to do as a recovering racist.” Models a “woke” person’s ongoing need for self-reflection and openness to being “called out” (held accountable) for one’s own unconscious bias. Author details 4 circumstances under which a a white person’s qualifiers and compliments about a black person are likely to be racist.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Accountability] [Implicit Bias] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [2010’s]
13 Things Even More Divisive than People Who Always Bring Race up in Discussions
by Jon Greenberg | February 2016
“If you are one who has avoided or even defensively shut down discussions of race, it’s never too late to make a change. In fact, when it comes to racial dialogue, defensive reactions are arguably a rite for passage for White anti-racists – an early step in the long journey of challenging racism.”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Fragility/Tears] [Silencing POC] [White Privilege] [White Culture] [Colorblindness] [Anti-Racism] [2010’s]
14 Words That Carry a Coded Meaning for Black People
by Tamerra Griffin | February 2015
The article, written by a Black woman begins: “You don’t hear overtly racist language very often these days. Here are some words with a subtler implication. She then provides 28 examples of sentences and how they are perceived in some contexts by some Black people, in a “what you say” “what we hear” format.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Implicit Racism] [White Culture] [White Supremacy] [2010’s]
11 Ways White America Avoids Taking Responsibility for Its Racism
by Dr. Robin DiAngelo | June 2015
“White people are all too quick to cite their good intentions. Unconsciously, they aim to preserve white supremacy…. Racism as a default system that institutionalizes an unequal distribution of resources and power between white people and people of color….[and] works to the benefit of whites.”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Implicit Bias] [White Culture] [White Supremacy] [Systemic Racism] [2010’s]
10 Things Every White Teacher Should Know When Talking about Race
by Angela Watson | September 2017
Most of this white teacher’s wide-ranging detailed guidance for other white teachers also contains many links, guidance and reminders that appear useful to other white Americans. “Begin the lifelong habit of rooting out your own biases…. We ALL have internalized anti- blackness (even people of color!) because our ways have thinking have been influenced by living in a white supremacist society…. Understanding and working through your own limitations and prejudices is the MOST important thing you can do, and will better equip you to begin doing the actual work of fighting for racial justice.”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Teachers] [Implicit Bias] [Anti-Racism] [White Culture] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [White Fragility/Tears] [Colorblindness] [“Reverse Racism”] [Systemic Racism] [Accountability] [2010’s]
4 Ways White People Can Process Their Emotions without Hijacking the Conversation on Racial Justice
by Jennifer Loubriel | May 2019
If you’re a white person who has been in many activist spaces, then you’ve probably experienced a specific, often unspoken ground rule: There’s no room for white tears in this space. This sort of rule is instilled because oftentimes, in other spaces, your emotions, and the emotions of other white people, are constantly centered, nurtured, and coddled when it comes to conversations about race. Too often, People of Color are pushed aside so that white people feel safe and calmed. This is racism in itself. Rather than focusing on the lived experiences and traumas of People of Color when talking about racism, the focus is placed on the host of emotions that white people go through when confronted with racism.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Supremacy] [White Blindness]
A Sociologist Examines the “White Fragility” That Prevents White Americans from Confronting Racism
by Katy Waldman | July 2018
In more than twenty years of running diversity-training and cultural-competency workshops for American companies, the academic and educator Robin DiAngelo has noticed that white people are sensationally, histrionically bad at discussing racism. Like waves on sand, their reactions form predictable patterns: they will insist that they “were taught to treat everyone the same,” that they are “color-blind,” that they “don’t care if you are pink, purple, or polka-dotted.” They will point to friends and family members of color, a history of civil-rights activism, or a more “salient” issue, such as class or gender. They will shout and bluster. They will cry. In 2011, DiAngelo coined the term “white fragility” to describe the disbelieving defensiveness that white people exhibit when their ideas about race and racism are challenged—and particularly when they feel implicated in white supremacy. Why, she wondered, did her feedback prompt such resistance, as if the mention of racism were more offensive than the fact or practice of it? A New Yorker article on Robin DiAngelo’s book “White Fragility”.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Definitions]
Nonviolent Communication is for the Privileged
by Raffi Marhaba | November 2018
“Embellishing language with neo-liberal-feel-good words doesn’t actually investigate root issues and changes behaviors.” View the authors seven reasons he feels the NVC (Nonviolent Communications) is only for the privileged.
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Privilege]
When Being an Opponent of White Supremacy Means Being Not Nice
by Saira Rao | February 2019
“Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than ‘politics.’ They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.”
TAGS: [Individual Change] [2010’s] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [History] [Accountability]
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]
Lifesaving Advice From a Black Woman Held at Gunpoint by Police
by Tonya Jameson | July 2017
As I stared at the officer nervously pointing his gun at me, I realized immediately what he saw: a black person who had no business being in his neighbor’s driveway. Former Charlotte Observer writer Tonya Jameson shows how she was screwing her new license plate into her new Isuzu SUV … before having a gun pulled on her by a Knoxville Police Department Officer.
TAGS: [Racial Terrorism] [-ing While Black] [2010’s] [Policing] [Tips Dos/Don’ts] [Systemic Racism]
White People Are Broken
by Katherine Fugate | August 2018
“…But [my friend] was telling me that, no matter how ‘woke’ or evolved I may think I am, I walk this world as a white woman, which means I’ll never truly understand what it is to walk this world as a black woman…. Very few describe themselves as racist, but all white people benefit from racism. White people benefit every time they rent an apartment, buy a car, apply for a job, apply for a loan, apply to college.”
TAGS:[White Privilege] [Bystander Intervention] [Racial Terrorism] [Individual Change] [Assumptions] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Accountability] [2010’s] [White Culture]
Quakers, Social Justice, and Revolution: NNA [National Network Assembly], Race and Community Building
by Jeff Kisling | August 2019
It is not enough to talk about racial injustice. White people must experience, live it. We can only be authentic when we speak from our own experience. I am so grateful I was given the opportunity to spend significant amounts of time in the Kheprw Institute (KI) community, a black youth empowerment organization. That taught me that white people must spend significant amounts of time, in a variety situations, with black people to even begin to understand racial injustice. Developing friendships is essential, before any real work can be done together.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [Quaker] [White Supremacy] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Privilege] [Accountability] [Myths] [Faith-Based/Spiritual]
28 Common Racist Attitudes and Behaviors
by Joan Olsson | Date Unknown
Below is a list of 28 common racist attitudes and behaviors that indicate a detour or wrong turn into white guilt, denial or defensiveness. Each is followed by a statement that is a reality check and consequence for harboring such attitudes.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [2010’s] [Colorblindness] [“Reverse Racism”] [White Privilege] [White Fragility/Tears] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]
11 Common Ways White Folks Avoid Taking Responsibility for Racism in the US
by Robin DiAngelo | August 2015
I am white. I write and teach about what it means to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless, yet remains deeply divided by race. A fundamental, but very challenging part of my work is moving white people from an individual understanding of racism — i.e. only some people are racist and those people are bad — to a structural understanding.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [2010’s] [White Fragility/Tears] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Accountability]
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]
Why ‘I Have Black Friends’ Is a Terrible Excuse for Your Racism
by Shae Collins | March 2017
If you’ve ever used your black friends to try and pardon your racism, you need to understand these three reasons why “I have black friends” is not a legitimate argument. For all we know, your black friend could be like Steve Harvey, Ben Carson, or Kanye West, who overlook Trump’s racism. Your black friend may allow you to be racist. There are many reasons a black friend would do this. Saying “I have black friends” is kind of like a misogynist saying, “I don’t hate women. My mom is a woman, and I love her.” This isn’t a logical argument.
TAGS: [Assumptions] [2010’s] [White Blindness] [White Privilege] [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [White Defensiveness] [Accountability]
White Teachers, Here’s How to Handle Being Called Racist
by Tad Rademacher | July 2017
So, you may get called racist. In a way, I get it. It hurts to be called racist, especially when you feel like you’re trying super hard not to be racist. Get over it. Being called racist is not the worst thing that can happen to someone. Being the constant victim of systemic and personal racism is way, way worse than being called racist, so get over it.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [Teachers] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [Individual Change]
For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies
by Courtney Ariel | August 2017
I have been asked by two dear friends, “how can I be a stronger ally?” I am not going to do much coddling here; I don’t know that I believe that love requires coddling. Being an ally requires you to educate yourself about systemic racism in this country. Ask when you don’t know- but do the work first. You’re going to make mistakes- expect this. But keep showing up. Six things you can do that will make you a stronger ally.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [Colorblindness] [Reparations] [Individual Change] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts]
11-Step Guide to Understanding Race, Racism, and White Privilege
by Jon Greenberg | October 2017
In the wake of terrorism against Black Americans in Charleston, beyond outraged and fed up, I compiled a list of race-related resources for fellow White Americans, who too often have the privilege to remain ignorant of the realities and toll of racism.This Curriculum for White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism – from Ferguson to Charleston clearly struck a chord. The piece has been read and shared hundreds of thousands of times and been linked to by NPR, The Huffington Post and Teaching Tolerance.
TAGS: [Strategies] [2010’s] [White Privilege] [Systemic Racism] [White Supremacy] [Tips-Dos/Don’ts] [History] [Policing] [Definitions]