This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work

by Tiffany Jewell

I do not use the term “minority” to describe Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx because we are the majority in the world.

Anti-racism is actively working against racism. It is making a commitment to resisting unjust laws, policies, and racist attitudes. Anti-racism is how we get free from centuries of living in a racialized society that keeps us separate and oppressed.

YOU ARE EVERYTHING WITHIN YOU AND EVERYTHING THAT SURROUNDS YOU.

The dominant culture is what has been considered “normal” and this “normal” has been created and is maintained by those who are in the box. It is this version of normal that has shaped how we see ourselves and the world around us.

Some of those parts you create for yourself. Other parts of your identity have been created by society. “SOCIETY” is another way of saying community. These identities have been created, named, framed, and defined by society for a very long time. We call them “SOCIAL IDENTITIES.” Your social identity is the you that relates to other people in society (for example, your neighborhood, city, or country). Much of our culture comes from our social identities and the groups we belong to.

The parts of your identity that you notice and are most aware of on a daily basis may change depending on where you are, who you are with, and the experiences you continue to have in life. The identities you do not think much about, even the ones you barely notice, are always with you.

Privilege is the benefits you receive due to how close you are to the dominant culture.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT ALL OF THE PARTS OF A PERSON AND WHERE THEY ARE OPPRESSED, YOU WILL BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW DEEPLY DISCRIMINATION ADVANCES ONWARD.

THE CONCEPT OF RACE IS NOT ACTUALLY BASED ON SCIENCE, IT IS A CREATION OF SOCIETY.

Unlike race, which specifically looks at your physical features, ethnicity zeroes in on your family’s cultural and ancestral heritage—like language, traditions, and history—to place you into categories.

Seeing how every country has a different way of classifying people shows us that RACE AND ETHNICITY REALLY ARE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS.

Racism is personal prejudice and bias AND the systemic misuse and abuse of power by institutions.

Everyone has prejudices or biases. These are our judgments: the things we discriminate against. Some of our prejudices are conscious and some are not. They are things we’ve learned and assumed from everything around us. This includes the stereotypes we’ve witnessed. Whether you are in the dominant culture or not also contributes to your prejudices. We begin to form prejudices when we are two years old.5 Our biases are absorbed, we take them in, and they become a part of our belief system. But they can change.

What we do not know, our lack of information and knowledge, contributes to our prejudices and biases.

When you only read one account of history through a single lens, you do not have the whole truth.

Because of that we, like many students in the United States, believed Native Americans only existed in history.

Remember: institutions rely on people to maintain or change racism.

PREJUDICE is the personal side of racism. It is in an attitude towards an individual or group of folx based on the social group they belong to. Prejudices can be based on stereotypes, misinformation, or fear, and—while they are not always negative—they most often are.

A more recent relationship that has been created between the colonizer and the colonized is in the form of aid and charity. We now have people and countries who had their resources and wealth stolen from them and now need support to survive. This relationship can be labeled as white saviorism, in which well-intentioned people believe they can save folx who were stripped of their resources rather than giving back the power and giving up their privilege.

The history we carry with us is the Windrush generation. The children of the colonized traveled from the Caribbean Commonwealth to Britain on a big ship called the HMT Empire Windrush. Thousands of folx came to the UK from colonized countries from 1948 to 1971. They came from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and several other Caribbean countries to work. The British government invited them because there was a shortage of labor in the years after World War Two. The Immigration Act of 1971 stated all citizens of Commonwealth countries living in Britain were able to live in Britain for as long as they’d like (indefinitely). Many folx of the Windrush generation came to the country on their parents’ passports. Many of them already thought themselves to have British citizenship and did not have their own paperwork and passports. Since January 1973, stricter laws around immigration have required folx to prove their continued residency in the UK. Employers, hospitals, landlords, and police were encouraged to check paperwork and prove folx did not belong in the country. Without that proof, this generation of people were threatened with deportation and the loss of national medical care and their jobs. These stricter laws were created to keep immigrants from coming to Britain and, in dong so, also managed to leave a generation of folx feeling unwelcome in their homes.29

THE HISTORY WE CARRY WITH US IS IN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US. YOU WILL MAKE YOUR ANCESTORS PROUD. YOU ARE A PART OF THEIR STORIES OF RESISTANCE. YOU WILL MOVE US FORWARD.

DON’T WAIT TO SPEAK UP. DON’T WAIT TO TAKE ACTION.

Having more information, new knowledge, and facts, as opposed to the whitewashed stories of history, is a good start. It’s just a start though. You are no longer a person who adheres to the center of the imaginary box. You have the great capacity to think. This is one of your superpowers. You are able to problem solve and make decisions. You have the power of choice.

“BY NOT ALLOWING YOURSELF TO SEE SOMEONE’S RACE, YOU ARE NOT SEEING THEM AS A WHOLE PERSON. YOU ARE LOOKING AT THEM THROUGH A SKEWED LENS. YOU SEE THEM ONLY HOW YOU WANT TO SEE THEM. YOU ARE LOOKING AT THEM THROUGH YOUR LENS OF COMFORT. YOU ARE NOT SEEING YOUR STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES HOW THEY WANT TO AND NEED TO BE SEEN.”

If you call someone in, you circle back to a hurtful or oppressive comment they made in private. If you call someone out, you let them know their comment was hurtful in a public space. I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t think one is better than the other. I personally call people out more than I call them in. It’s what I’m more comfortable doing, but that doesn’t mean it is what will work best for you.

Calling someone in can be a pretty effective way of working with someone to change their problematic behavior. They’re more likely to hear what you are saying if it feels like a more gentle approach. It does require you to be compassionate and invest some of your time and energy.

If you choose to call that person out, other folx would be around and witnessing this interaction. You would probably say the things we just mentioned within earshot of other people. Calling someone out can also be effective. It does require you to take a risk. You will be bringing attention to someone’s oppressive and detrimental behavior. It allows for others to hear you and creates greater accountability as there’s more than one person involved.

We will all have moments when we are the folx on the receiving end of a call-in or call-out. If you are the person who has just been called out, instead of bristling in defense, or getting upset, think about what the other person has just said. Hear them. Thank them for their comment and acknowledge you listened. Use that as a moment to teach yourself, open up dialogue, and dig deeper. This is how we all learn an...

Whether you choose to call someone in or call them out, know that it will feel messy and that it will be. You will question yourself, wondering if you should have done it or not. You will make mistakes from time to time—we all do. Every action ...

It is really important to acknowledge each person’s wholeness. Sometimes your social identities will be the same as another’s. Other times, your identities will complement someone else’s and you—or they—will be able to use your privilege to support the other. And still, other times, your identities will be similar to another person’s and you’ll need to notice and acknowledge the subtle differences of your intersections.

To spend your privilege is to use your power and to change perceived normality. “Using social media to spread awareness about underrepresented issues is a fine start. But as soon as you think you’ve spent enough privilege, that’s a sign that it’s time to spend some more,” Packnett writes. If you are a cis male, use your voice to support and amplify trans folx and women and their many identities. If you are a person who has economic stability, use your position to redistribute resources and amplify those who are living in poverty. If you are white, spend your privilege by sharing the voices of Folx of the Global Majority, by stepping aside and giving them the space to lead, and by actually listening. Going into defense mode and centering your views when being called in or out upholds racism.

“Allyship is not something you can flick on or off when you have a Brown friend or a Black friend or a female friend. Remember to do it all the time.” It’s also messy at times and you will probably make mistakes. It happens. The important thing to do is to recognize when you’re making a mistake, when you’re not being a true accomplice, and shift out of that. The impact of your actions is lasting.

Allyship is not about you. It’s not a performance or something you do to get more likes on social media. It’s something you are working toward for a more just society.

Your privilege is something you don’t often think about. It’s often invisible to you until you take a moment to gain some insight and awareness into your whole self. You don’t notice privileges because they are the parts of your identity that are considered normal (thanks to that imaginary box). We must actively work to understand our privileges across all of our various identities.

Own who you are and who you are growing into. Love yourself and those around you. It takes time to figure out who you are and what your role in anti-racism will be. This role will change. And so will you.

“TO ACCEPT ONE’S PAST—ONE’S HISTORY—IS NOT THE SAME THING AS DROWNING IN IT; IT IS LEARNING HOW TO USE IT. AN INVENTED PAST CAN NEVER BE USED; IT CRACKS AND CRUMBLES UNDER THE PRESSURES OF LIFE LIKE CLAY IN A SEASON OF DROUGHT.”

Love yourself and set clear boundaries. It’s okay to say no. You have to keep yourself safe and healthy. You know what you are able to do. You may need time to recharge or you may need to be with people to be energized. Anti-racism work can be very tiring. You’re constantly working against the established norms, which have been set for centuries. You have not been in existence for as long. It’s also okay to say yes and to take on this big work of dismantling racism! Take care of yourself. Stay hydrated. Get some good sleep. Read a good book. Spend time outside. Enjoy your time with family and friends. Celebrate you.

WE GROW FROM OUR DISCOMFORT.

Know that even though your intentions were kind, the impact of your mistake is lasting and affects folx beyond yourself. Listen to others when they call you in and out. And learn from those moments and mistakes. Work on not repeating them and try not to let them deter you from doing the work.

Anti-racism is how we get free. Our liberation comes when we can express love and joy without fear and judgment and punishment. It comes when our institutions are for everybody, not just those who are in the dominant culture. When we who exist outside of the box have the resources we need to create our own institutions, we will all be free. Racism is so deep within us. It is all around us and we have to be constantly aware of it so we don’t get consumed by the smog. It is so easy to rest inside of it, especially if you benefit from the system that has been designed for you. (I’m speaking to you, white and white-passing folx.) We can’t sit still and consciously breathe in racism anymore. We have to use our lens of anti-racism to help us see the world more clearly now, and we have each other.

Our paths are different because we are not the same. Our paths will meet because we are working for the same thing. It may feel uncomfortable when our different paths connect because our experiences and histories are different. We have different strengths and those will come in handy as we build a strong coalition of solidarity partners… I AM LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN FOR YOU, PLEASE LEAVE IT OPEN FOR THE FOLX WHO COME AFTER US.