An Anti-Racist Post
Updated: Jul 2, 2020
It's been a couple of weeks of uncomfortable but necessary conversations. I'm really impressed with all the things protesters have achieved like ALL the officers involved in the murder of George Floyd being charged and Breonna Taylor's case being reopened.
We can all agree that there is still a significant amount of work to do to get to a place of racial equity. I have a ton of work to do, even as a member of a minority group. We must all work to be anti-racist.
Currently, I'm reading "How to Be an Anti-Racist" by IBRAM X. KENDI. I highly recommend you get yourself a copy if you haven't already. The book is a narrative of Kendi's own awakening to the revolutionary concept of anti-racism.
The most important thing I've taken away so far is that in order for racial equity to exist, current policies that are inherently racist must be replaced with anti-racist policy. How do we do that?
We vote.
We vote for candidates who champion anti-racist ideas and policies, candidates who are anti-racists themselves. We vote in all elections that we can vote in.
Moreover, let's also understand what racist policies and ideas are because they are not always obvious. Racist policies and ideas create imbalances and these imbalances play out in the form of unearned privileges that white people benefit from and racialized people do not. To be an anti-racist is to identify, challenge, and change the values, structures and behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism.
Here are three really full resources you can tap into today to educate yourself on how racism affects people of color and Indigenous people and some definitions.
Resources
Beyond Protests: 5 More Ways To Channel Anger Into Action To Fight Racism
This List Of Books, Films And Podcasts About Racism Is A Start, Not A Panacea
Definitions
ASSIMILATIONIST: One who is expressing the racist idea that a racial group is culturally or behaviorally inferior and is supporting cultural or behavioral enrichment programs to develop that racial group.
SEGREGATIONIST: One who is expressing the racist idea that a permanently inferior racial group can never be developed and is supporting policy that segregates awaythat racial group.
ANTIRACIST: One who is expressing the idea that racial groups are equals and none needs developing, and is supporting policy that reduces racial inequity.
UPDATES
Charities and funds
A list of organizations to fund, put together by Reclaim the Block
American Civil Liberties Union
Petitions to sign
Articles and resources to read
Anti-racism resources for white people (via Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein)
75 things white people can do for racial injustice (via Medium)
Ways to help (via Black Lives Matter)
“The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (from The Atlantic, 2014)
IG: George Floyd: How can I help from the UK? (via Das Penman)
IG: 10 steps to non-optical allyship (via Mireille Harper)
IG: Transform Allyship into Action: A Toolkit for Non-Black People (via Social Justice in Medicine Coalition at USC)
Twitter Thread: UK-based charities, organisations and platforms whose work aims to eradicate racial injustice (via Black Ballad)
IG: Brilliant Black-owned businesses to buy from in the UK (via Emily Ames)
Twitter Thread: Advice for companies from Sheree Atcheson, Monzo’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion (via Sheree Atcheson)
Books
Why I’m No longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown
Natives by Akala
Dark Days by James Baldwin
Diversify by June Sarpong
How To Be Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri
White Supremacy and Me by Layla F. Saad
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis
They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery
Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde
White Girls by Hilton Als
Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch
Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla
Watch and listen
Angela Davis on intersectional anti-racism (via Roshni Goyate)
The Color of Fear, directed by Lee Mun Wah (1994)
1619 by The New York Times
Code Switch by NPR
People and organisations to follow
Lee Merrit (Civil Rights Lawyer)
Guides and tools
How to protest safely during a pandemic (via VICE)
Five points to consider before going to a Black Lives Matter protest in London or the UK (via @VARAIDZO)
Know your rights (via @initialola on Twitter)
Tool for quickly scrubbing metadata from images and selectively blurring faces and identifiable features (via @everestpipkin Twitter)
Free flyer printing (via The Photocopy Club also here)
Source: itsnicethat.com