8.21.19 How to be an AntiRacist

Many things to consider on this morning's Supermajority webinar with Dr. Imbram Kendi (Director, Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University and author of "How To Be An Anti-Racist") and Alicia Garza (Co-founder of Black Lives Matter and Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance) and 500 of us listeners.
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Here are just a few of the highlights:
Denial ("I am not a racist") is at the heart of racism: American neo-Nazi and white supremacist Richard Spencer encouraged the equivalency of the idea of being called a racist and being called a bad person, that "racist" is a racial slur ... thus, enabling people to deny being a racist, as in "but I am not a bad person."
Being a racist is: expressing or supporting, through action or non-action, racist policies. People who do nothing allow racial inequality and racial injustice to persist.
Being an anti-racist is expressing and supporting anti-racist policies. There is nothing superior/inferior about racial groups. Anti-racists agree to embark on a journey of unlearning, to take an accounting of their behaviors or inaction and to contribute (with time and/or money) to anti-racist organizations, to look at where they are racist and anti-racist. Anti-racists leave room for people of color, are willing to give up a seat so that a room/gathering/conversation/etc. has more space for people of color.
Is a policy racist? Look at the outcome. If it increases racial inequality and racial injustice, it is racist.
How do we talk to people with extreme ideas on race? How do we bring others on the journey with us? Build and nurture relationships with them, to establish trust so that they can be vulnerable with us and therefore be vulnerable about their racism. Research and talk about how white supremacy ends up hurting white people as white supremacists fight against policies that they deem only supportive of people of color, when white women, white children, white males, struggling white people often benefit from those same social policies.
What gives Alica and Ibram hope? People telling the truth. People who keep showing up even when they make mistakes. People willing to do the hard work to examine their own lives and behaviors and words. Every mind that is awakening. And ... that us, mulitiplied, can change this country
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https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist-1