Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor

by Layla F. Saad

People with white privilege who are in positions of leadership have a great deal of responsibility. In addition to the white privilege that they already hold, they also have the ability to have a greater impact on how BIPOC are treated, because their voice carries more weight, and their authority means that they sometimes have the ability to create or influence policies and practices.

When you are so focused on making sure that other people know that you are not racist, you simply continue to practice racism through behaviors like white exceptionalism, tokenism, optical allyship, and white saviorism.

White privilege is a bubble that protects you, rewards you with unearned advantages, gives you the belief that you are entitled to be in all spaces all the time, shields you from showing up for BIPOC, and grants you a feeling of authority and power.

“The relevant question is not whether all Whites are racist but how we can move more White people from a position of active or passive racism to one of active antiracism.” —BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM, WHY ARE ALL THE BLACK KIDS SITTING TOGETHER IN THE CAFETERIA?

Superficial attempts to heal racism, like color blindness, tokenism, and white saviorism, protect you from having to feel this pain.

all the learning and aha moments in the world do not mean anything if they are not followed through with committed actions for change.

Systems do not change unless the people who uphold them change,