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November 7 - December 20, 2020
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE SEEN AND UNDERSTOOD WITHOUT HAVING TO COMPROMISE WHO YOU ARE.
Some of our identities hold privileges and disadvantages at the same time. Because I am cis female, I don’t have to think about which restroom I will be able to use. I have agency. But because I am female, I do not have the same privileges a cis male has. I am more likely to be overlooked for a position of leadership and get paid less for the same amount of work. While many cis heterosexual men can confidently walk alone at night, I cannot without feeling some fear that I may be harmed. Although I do not have the same privileges as a white cisgender male, I do have privileges trans and
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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.
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 SYSTEMISC MISUSE AND ABUSE OF POWER BY INSTITUTIONS
People play a big role in keeping racism going. If we do not work to recognize our prejudices, we remain a part of the problem. When we become aware of our biases and our role in racism, then we can begin to understand how we are a part of a system that is much bigger than us. RACISM IS A PART OF OUR SOCIETY, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE.
When you only read one account of history through a single lens, you do not have the whole truth.
WE MAKE ASSUMPTIONS BASED ON WHAT WE DO NOT SEE OR KNOW.
If stories of resistance and accomplishments are purposefully left out of our history books or told from the perspective of those in the dominant culture, we have no voice. No one knows who we are and that we exist. The legacy we are left with is one that has been shaped by the oppressors.
On June 14, 2017, a fire broke out in an apartment on the fourth floor. It was caused by a faulty freezer. Residents did not hear fire alarms because there were none. The 350 folx living in the 127 apartments were encouraged to “stay put” unless there was a fire inside their home. As the tower became quickly engulfed in flames, many residents were trapped and 72 folx (mostly BIPoC and those living close to and in poverty)7 died.
This leads to a sense of internalized inferiority in patients, who are less likely to seek the support of medical professionals. Without training to notice biases and address them, Folx of the Global Majority will continue to have a lower life expectancy. Remember: institutions rely on people to maintain or change racism.
It’s our communities being purposefully divided by city architects, with the support of government offices and banks. It’s evidenced by the higher rate of Black folx being incarcerated than white people. It’s left the median white family with 41 times more wealth than the median Black family.27 The legacy of enslavement has left us with racist attitudes being our everyday normal.
In America, the history we carry with us is the Indian boarding schools started in 1860. The goal was to assimilate Indigenous folx into the “American culture.”
Children were taught the values of the dominant culture (and the Protestant religion) to become “civilized.”
In 1893 a court ruling declared mandatory education for Indigenous youth. This was enforced by the police and government agents who took children from their families. When communities resisted (which they did), their food rations and resources, which were controlled by the government, were withheld.
Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, who served as headmaster for 25 years. He is known for saying “Kill the Indian, save the man.”28 He believed in completely removing children from their families and homes on the reservations and keeping them fully immersed in white society in order to assimilate into the dominant culture.
In 1978 Native American families were finally granted the right to choose the type of education their children received and were able to keep them on the reservation and with their families.
These schools were the model for the residential schools in Australia and New Zealand. In 1814 they were set up by Christian churches and funded by the British government. These schools were created to assimilate and train Indigenous, Aboriginal, and Maori children to do service jobs. The last residential schools were finally closed down in the 1980s. The children who were forced to attend these schools are known as the “stolen generation.”
The court’s decision was that Black children should have the same resources available to them as white children. But one of the results of this was the schools for Black children were closed and Black teachers lost their jobs. This resulted in Black children being left with all white teachers who held the belief that Black folx are inferior to white people. They did not understand their new students because they looked at them through a racist lens. We are still feeling the effects of this today with over 80% of the teaching population being white while about half of the student population in
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In 1959 Prince Edward County in Virginia, choosing not to integrate its schools, closed down the whole school system for five years. Private schools were opened for white children in the county. These were supported by state taxes. Black children were denied an education because of the color of their skin. Five years is a long time.
While Haiti has a long and complicated history, like all countries that were once colonized, we celebrate the stories of resistance and hope from our first Black republic.
“TRANSFORM YOURSELF FIRST… BECAUSE YOU ARE YOUNG AND HAVE DREAMS AND WANT TO DO SOMETHING MEANINGFUL, THAT IN ITSELF, MAKES YOU OUR FUTURE AND OUR HOPE.”
Today, those of us who were born after the Loving case can call ourselves the “Loving Generation.” I much prefer this to being called mixed. I am able to not only honor Mildred and Richard Loving when I refer to myself as a person of the Loving generation, I am also able to center love within my identity.
You have a voice. Use it. Speak the truth. Share it with others. Choosing silence is not an option. Audre Lorde, an American feminist, writer, and activist said, ”MY SILENCES HAD NOT PROTECTED ME. YOUR SILENCE WILL NOT PROTECT YOU.”
YOU CANNOT HEAR SILENCE. INACTION CANNOT BE SEEN. WE CANNOT FEEL THE MOMENTUM OF CHANGE IF NOTHING HAPPENS.
When you are silent absolutely nothing changes. You are reinforcing the dominant culture. You are allowing racism to continue on. You not saying anything also tells others you are complicit (okay) with the status quo (how things are).
If you are white, light (like me), or a non-Black Person of the Global Majority, use your privilege and your proximity (or closeness) to the center of the dominant culture box to fracture the very foundation of our racist society. If you keep doing this and continue to put more cracks and dents into the structure, you’ll shake it all up so it can crumble.
“IT IS IMPORTANT TO SEE AND ACKNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR STUDENTS ARE DIFFERENT. BY WORKING TO ACTIVELY NOT SEE THE RACE/SKIN COLOR OF YOUR STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES, YOU ARE DENYING THEM. YOU ARE DENYING THEM THEIR HISTORIES. YOU ARE DENYING THEM THEIR RACIAL AND ETHNIC BACKGROUND. YOU ARE BASICALLY SAYING YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT WHO THEY ARE. YOU ARE TRYING TO MAKE THEM THE SAME, AND FIT INTO THE IMAGINARY BOX. YOUR CLASSROOM ONLY TEACHES THE DOMINANT CULTURE OF WHITE SUPREMACY.”
You are not alone even if you are the only one using your voice and speaking truth at the moment.
COMFORT WILL NOT END RACISM.
However, institutions continue to misuse power to maintain a racist foundation against Black, Brown, and Indigenous folx. Therefore, the only people who benefit from that are white people.
There is no action in being non-racist. You may be conscious of not saying racist statements and you yourself may feel like you are making a difference by sharing a quote from an African poet on social media. The reality is: inaction will do nothing other than maintain the old normal. Action, being anti-racist, will make change.
As you continue to wake up, grow into your superpowers, and take action, you will notice some folx will want to collaborate with you and others will distance themselves from you. You may find that you disagree with folx on how they want to disrupt or that the folx you are collaborating with may want to do things differently. This is okay. Know who you are. Have a vision. Listen to the folx who are impacted by your actions, and go forth.
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.
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.
My adjacency to the dominant culture is my power in undoing it. And I can use this to keep the doors that have been opened for me wide open for those who are on the margins. You can do this too—especially if you are a person in the dominant culture. Black feminist and racial justice activist Brittany Packnett tells us to “SPEND YOUR PRIVILEGE.”
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,”
About 7% of all new YA and children’s books are written by Authors of the Global Majority.
Go to movies that are directed by BIPoC, that portray Black and Brown folx in a positive way rather than as a stereotype, and celebrate Actors of the Global Majority.
Redistribute resources and support the work of BIPoC. You can donate funds or time to an organization led by and for Folx of the Global Majority or purchase goods (art, food, clothing) from Black- and Brown-owned businesses.
As Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Sudanese-Australian presenter and writer, shares, “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.”
“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.” BE YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF.
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.
A nti-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.
Our ability to disrupt our own complicity and the comfort of others has already begun to create little cracks within the system of racism.
