Tag: black lives matter

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Becoming an Antiracist

Introduction

Since last summer, we have heard a lot about being antiracist. The 1619 project, which was released in 2019, was given new life in classrooms and workplaces across the nation as a way to correct the historical record. I am happy to see these moves to remove the whitewashing of history in our public schools and I am hopeful that the States with pending bills against the teaching of the 1619 project will be voted down or removed altogether, but being antiracist is not something that kids will learn from just one history lesson. Being truly antiracist comes from a bigger understanding of the world around us and, for white people, an understanding of how our ancestors in America brought terror to Indigenous and Black populations through settler colonialist and chattel slavery practices.

On an individual level, white people need to have a moment in which things click in order to understand why it is important to be an antiracist. For me, that moment came when I was in college in the 1990s. At the time, we didn’t have the terminology of antiracism to use for the practice, but a visit by a professor in one of my classes started me on the path to becoming an antiracist. It would take many more years of reading, listening, and learning in order to continue the process of becoming an antiracist but what follows is the story of my ‘aha’ moment. I truly believe two things – becoming an antiracist is a continuing process and as white people, we need to STOP asking Black people to hold our hands to get there. We have the capacity to learn others’ stories without burdening them with a retelling. Reading books and taking classes where these stories are offered willingly will give context for the personal work that it takes to decenter whiteness and move forward into abolition.

Inculcation

As a kid growing up in a predominantly white part of Niagara Falls, I thought that everyone’s lives were the same. I went to school with Black classmates whom I considered friends, but we never hung out at each other’s homes. I assumed that because we all went to school together that we all had the same experiences in life. That we all lived the same way and had the same stress and worry of any teenager. What I didn’t understand was that as a white girl, I was able to walk freely in the world without much fear.

Any fear that I did experience was rooted in the fear that is passed down from white person to white person. The myth of Black bodies being dangerous. The coded language that equated the city with danger. The idea that white women were to be protected from the forces external to our bodies. These fears are all rooted in white supremacist mythology re-instilled in white women as we go out into the world, to keep us in line and to be sure that our fear continues. Fear of walking across a college campus at night and fear of the other. In this sense, the fear that I experienced was crafted in myth. Of course, there are dangers in the world and there are bad actors, but most of the dangers that white women are taught to fear are rooted in white solidarity and upholding the goals of the white supremacist patriarchy. The danger myth is rooted in power. If we were not afraid, white men might lose their power. This is where the intersection of race and gender meet.

What I did not learn in high school was that my Black schoolmates were already having to stay vigilant each and every day that they attended school or went to the mall or a dance or the grocery store or walked down the street in a predominantly white neighborhood. Anytime they were riding in a car, they could potentially be pulled over and questioned, or worse, and I had no understanding of this. I was in a space that I see many white people in today – that space of being a ‘good white person’. I never used the ‘n’ word and I was nice to my classmates, which made me think that I was not racist. I did not yet realize that being truly not racist was an active thing. The only way to be NOT racist is to be antiracist.

Realization

As I mentioned, when I was in college I had a professor who opened my mind to the way Black people moved through the world. He told us a story about getting pulled over by the police several times, calling this phenomenon ‘driving while Black’. This had never dawned on me until I heard a personal story from someone who lived it. Suddenly I started to understand that people who are not white have very different lived experiences. Just because we are all Americans, does not mean we all get treated in the same manner. This was just the tip of the iceberg for my understanding. I would go on to graduate and start work with an open mind, but my true antiracist self would not emerge until many years later.

After my first career job ended, when the bank I had spent 7 years working for closed, I went back to school for a second BA in Sociology. During this second time at Buffalo State I was reacquainted with the professor who told the story of ‘driving while Black’. This time I took classes from him that were full semesters long. Had I not had the interaction with him my first time in college, I probably would have felt strange taking classes from him in 2009-2011. Having been exposed to new concepts in my first college experience, I was ready to keep my mind open in this second round of study.

For 2.5 years, I worked with this professor, as well as several other wonderful professors in the department, on projects and classwork and general research. I honed my qualitative and quantitative research methods and I learned all kinds of new concepts I would have never been exposed to in the workplace. My second bachelors experience, although half as long as my first, was so much more rewarding because my mind was truly open to new ideas and concepts. This time around I was able to unlearn some of the ideas I had held throughout my life and relearn the actual facts. This was the start of my true antiracist training.

Continuation

So, from 2011 to the present, what have I done to continue learning and how can others do the same without going back to college to acquire additional degrees?

  1. Continue listening, reading, and researching.
  2. Ask questions in a constructive manner.
  3. If you disagree with someone on the merits, do research before responding.
  4. Make space for voices different from your own.
  5. Always be questioning the structures of society.
  6. Keep an open mind.
  7. Practice empathy (not sympathy) for others.

Keeping an open mind is often the missing piece. Many people shut off from learning and they will only believe the ideas that fit into their narrow world view. When new ideas are presented, they tend to shut down, but it does not have to be that way. Everyone has the capacity to learn. Critical thinking is not a skill that only college educated folks have. We all use critical thinking skills to make decisions daily, we just need to apply these same skills to bigger concepts like race and sexual orientation and gender. When we ask questions and TRULY listen to the answers, we will grow from the experience.

Becoming an antiracist is about giving up the myth of white supremacy that has been perpetuated in America throughout history.

Becoming an antiracist is about actively seeking out the true history of our country and learning the ways that the structures we currently base our society on are corrupt and discriminatory.

Becoming an antiracist is about listening to the stories of people different from yourself and truly absorbing the information.

Becoming an antiracist is about working to release everyone from the past and moving toward a future that is truly equitable.

When Black people are free, we are all free. And until Black people are truly free, none of us are free. Black Lives Matter. Today, tomorrow, and forever. Ultimately, saying that phrase, believing it, and not feeling like it diminishes your own worth means you are becoming antiracist. As white people, we can either be racist or antiracist and each of us have a vested interest in becoming antiracist. Being racist does not serve the greater good. Antiracism is the active approach that we will allow us to do and be better.

Becoming an antiracist is not the end, but the beginning of the journey. Once we have come to better understandings around race, we can move forward into the work of abolition to tear down the oppression of our structures and build them back up with equity. If we all work together, we can make change happen. Drawing on the history of civil rights and abolition, we can make a better tomorrow for all.

Action

Talking about becoming an antiracist is good, but what are the actions that we can take to continue learning and growing in the abolitionist tradition. Here are a few books, shows, and podcasts to get you started.

Readings

Watch

Listen

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Safe Spaces

Let me start off this post by saying Black Lives Matter. I have stated this fact in many previous posts on this site, but I am not certain that I have said those three words in that order and I feel that it is important that I do so here and now. Saying Black Lives Matter is only the beginning, but if I don’t start there, I am doing the whole movement a disservice and I wish to honor the past and help to build a better future in the present.

As a White person, I am actively learning and growing in my anti-racist practice each day. I am interrupting racism in White spaces and attempting to surface and destroy my internalized racism. I make mistakes, but I do not let those mistakes hinder my progress. I admit when I am wrong or uninformed and I keep working on it. This past month has been yet another learning experience for so many White people, that I fear will fade with time. I am hopeful that we can continue to self reflect and grow and I hope to engage more here, in addition to my social media presence with a specifically intersectional, anti-racist message.

Having said that – let us now discuss safe spaces and how White people can learn to be better co-conspirators in the overall struggle for racial and social justice.

At the beginning of June, there was an increase in the follower counts for Black creators online. This, on the surface, seems like a positive outcome. During this moment (after millions of preceding moments that came and went after Black people were killed for no reason) White people are saying we want to learn, but wanting to learn is the only first step. Follow through is also extremely important.

The hope is that White folks will follow these Black creators and take in the information presented to self reflect and become better individuals. White people should be working on interruption of racism in their personal lives, with other White people. If you are a White person trying to learn about systemic racism for the first time, in this moment, my question is ‘where the fuck have you been?’ and my advice in the search for information is to continuously check yourself.

I am glad that so many White people are finally opening up to the possibility that our privilege is the problem, but I am disheartened by the stumbles I see in online spaces. When a Black creator puts up a boundary, White people need to recognize the boundary and adhere to it. You know, the whole, do unto others thing. Yeah – that wasn’t just meant for White people comfort.

Last night, I saw an interaction online that made me question my own presence in a Black creators space and after self-reflection I understood that my feelings on that matter were moot. Not all spaces are for White people, contrary to what White people seem to think. Let me say that again for the people who weren’t quite listening: NOT ALL SPACES ARE FOR WHITE PEOPLE.

When a Black creator puts up a message on their social media account that specifically asks White people not to interact with them, White people need to BACK OFF. When a Black creator voices a boundary that they would like their space to be for Black women only, White people need to step away. But please – don’t use that boundary as a ‘reason’ to stop self-reflecting. Don’t go back into the comfort of Whiteness and stop paying attention to the information that is presented to you from other Black creators. Don’t use it as a way to be lazy, yet again.

Safe spaces are important and when a Black person creates a safe space online, we, as White people, need to honor that space. If we are invited in, we can quietly listen, but we should not engage in discourse in a space that is not meant for us. Safe spaces are sacred and White people cause harm to Black people just by our presence in space. I know that sounds like a lot, but if more White people would really do the work of learning history and engaging with materials on our own, we would come to see why our presence is damaging. We all carry a history with us, whether we like it or not, and that history can bring up psychic trauma for Black people that, although we may not intend it to be the case, can be painful.

Again – we need to honor the spaces that Black people deem as safe and only interact when asked to. When asked to be quiet and reflect, BE QUIET AND REFLECT. And when asked to leave or not come into the space in the first place, honor that request and leave. Don’t come back with a ‘why I’m leaving response’ either. Just. Leave.

We can still do the work of interrupting racism in our everyday lives. We can still do the work of surfacing all the internalized racism that we carry with us from centuries of conditioning to shine a light on it and destroy it. We can still continue to protest and donate and sign petitions and share content that is meaningful for racial justice. But we should tread lightly in spaces meant for discourse between Black people (or Indigenous people or People of color) and White people. We should honor the safe spaces of those who are putting boundaries in place.

After all – they wouldn’t need to put up boundaries if we weren’t still living in a world of White Supremacist Patriarchy. Have a little awareness of your surroundings and proceed with knowledge. Check your privilege, squash your fragility, and stay informed. Don’t just tag out of the game because you feel like you cannot win. Winning isn’t the point. Or – rather – winning for White people isn’t the goal. The goal is to dismantle a system of oppression that has ravaged the lives of Black, Indigenous, and people of color for decades. So keep fighting. We all deserve to live in a world where we are equal.

Black safety matters. Black excellence matters. Black contributions matter. Black Lives Matter.