Support Organizations That Support BIPOC with Cancer
This one's simple.
Your action:
Find out who provides supports to BIPOC with cancer in your community and donate to them….
Join SURJ’s Abolitionist Action Hour
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial and economic justice. Each month, SURJ hosts a one-hour virtual Abolitionist Action Hour where participants…
Outdoors For Everyone
I am a long-time outdoor enthusiast. Early on in my whiteness awakening, I realized how limited—and entitled—my conception was about the best (or right) way to experience the natural world. Here’s a small selection from the fabulous and far-reaching world of resources out there now for Black, Indigenous and people of color to enjoy aspects of the out-of-doors previously dominated by able-bodied white folks.
The Seven “A”s of Racial Repair
Recently, I found myself in a situation that called for an apology. The one I got surprised me. It was…perfunctory. Rushed. Delivered with downcast eyes. And totally dissatisfying.
This wasn’t a racialized moment or an interaction that had anything to do with racism. My surprise, however, was because of my racial equity work.
Louder Than A Riot
The podcast Louder Than a Riot digs into the culture of hip-hop to reveal the ways systems of supremacy are at play. Season Two “unpacks the unspoken rules of rap that discriminate against a select few and have held the entire culture back.” I learned so much—not just about how patriarchy, misogyny, racism, and capitalism have influenced hip-hop culture, but how the Louder team went about excavating & exposing these influences. I want to apply this kind of analysis to the cultures I’m involved in: the outdoor enthusiast culture, the world of white anti-racist practitioners, more.
My Love of Efficiency, Explained: Part Temperament, Part Conditioning
I’ve always been drawn to geometric order. When I see colors repeated systematically within shapes across a surface, I get a warm, soft feeling in my sternum, somewhat fluid & definitely comforting, surrounded by a deep breathy “ahhhhh”. I get the same sense of comfort from the smoothest, lowest physical effort to move my body—which also makes for speed. Do I love a low effort sequence of movements because it feels good, or because I’ve received so much reinforcement about the glory of productivity, the joy of efficiency, the beauty of a smooth running system?
How Often Do You Think About Being “White”?
Recently, I have been asking “white” coaching clients as well as caucus, circle, and workshop participants how many times a day they think about being “white”. I posed this as the Anti-Racist Action in a newsletter a few months back. Responses have been fascinating. This little research undertaking is helping me better understand how to cultivate a practice of attention to "whiteness", and the system of white supremacy culture, in all its wily ways.
Get Books to People in Prison
On a recent episode of Ear Hustle (one of my favorite podcasts), I learned what it’s like for people in prison to get books, and what kind of books they want. So I did a little research and learned this is something we can definitely help with.
Here’s your action:
Black Romance: So Much to Learn (and Enjoy)
I listen to a lot of audio books for free through my library on Libby. A year or so ago, I wanted something light, easy, & enjoyable, yet still part of my project of opening my world to lives I have been kept from really knowing about.
What I landed on: the genre known as Black Romance.
Targets & agents: Exploring Our Role in Oppression
In her book Beyond Inclusion, Beyond, Empowerment, I like how Leticia Nieto and her colleagues present that each of us is a combination of “agent” and “target”, all the time. These terms feel more nuanced and approachable to me than “oppressors” and “oppressed”, and I like the self-reflection the terms evoke in workshop and caucus participants.
Anti-Racist Giving Workshop
An easy and impactful anti-racist action is redistribution. The concept is simple: people who have benefitted from white affirmative action, wealth accumulation, and labor of disadvantaged peoples share their wealth with those who have been historically excluded from those benefits.
Here’s your action:
HOW ANTI-RACISM IS LEADING ME TO MY OWN LIBERATION
The trifecta of white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy work to keep us apart: the rich from the poor, the privileged from the disenfranchised, U.S.-born from immigrants, aggressors from victims, young from old, me from my Black neighbor.
Together, these three forces form white supremacy culture, and through this culture, we disconnect from each other.
Pay a Visitation Tax
When I travel—by plane to another country, on a road trip through other states, or simply to nearby mountains for a hike, I pay attention to who the original people were who cultivated, protected and lived on the land I’m enjoying. In recognition of the extreme exploitation and loss they’ve suffered, I pay them a use fee.
Here’s your action:
Micro-Engagements: Big Impacts through Tiny Actions
The trifecta of white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy work to keep us apart: the rich from the poor, the privileged from the disenfranchised, U.S.-born from immigrants, aggressors from victims, young from old, me from my Black neighbor.
Together, these three forces form white supremacy culture, and through this culture, we disconnect from each other.
Hammer & Hope: An exciting new online magazine
Whenever I hear about something by Derecka Purnell or Robin D.G. Kelley, I watch/read/listen to it immediately. We all have our favorites.
So I was thrilled when I learned about this new collaboration, not only with these two, but also Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, and others I’m excited to get to know.
28 Days of Black History
ARD—Anti-Racism Daily—is a resource I’ve featured before. Each evening during Black History Month, they do the amazing service of highlighting significant moments in our history influenced by the contributions of Black people.
Here’s your action:
The Risk of Capitalizing on Racism as a White Anti-Racist Practitioner
I am part of a recent phenomenon: the burgeoning of white anti-racist "practitioners”. It's an imperfect label, but I like how it suggests the minute by minute practice of staying awake to the obfuscating racist structures of our culture.
You’re probably familiar with some of the risks associated with this new industry…
Hell of A Book: A Novel
I don’t know how I missed Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book in 2021, when it was published and won the National Book Award. I think it’s amazing.
Getting Our (White) Selves to DO
My writing this month is geared toward white folks, or anyone wrestling with internalized whiteness. Let’s say you’ve read a few books & listened to some great podcasts about how white supremacy culture works. You want to do something to make things more equitable, more humane, less unfair.
But what do you do?
How Often Do You Think About Being White?
I know, this may not seem like a concrete action with an immediate impact on systemic racism. Yet, white supremacy culture is effective because it renders ‘whiteness’ invisible. Seeing whiteness, in ourselves and in our world, is the basis for profound impact.