Anti-racism, or facing up to your past, is not a vaccine. It’s not a one-shot option. It’s a process that you need to continue to go through, and it will change generationally. …
America really is the only country in the world that didn’t claim to be founded by accident. … The U.S. claims to be founded on these ideals that it violated at its conception. And that is the problem that we really have to face.
—Susan Neiman, author of Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil,
in an interview in the New Yorker
In the past few weeks, I’ve discussed the idea of coming to terms with the past (as individuals) and how we can all begin working to overcome racism in the United States by educating ourselves and recreating scenarios in our minds.
Even while we are in the midst of educating ourselves and performing our thought experiments, we can begin speaking up and becoming allies. It is important to remember that all the study in the world can’t change anything—only action can.
I know it can be scary to speak up about anything. I stayed quiet a lot during my childhood and teen years when I saw bullying, because I was scared. And sometimes it makes sense to not speak up and to not make ourselves targets. But generations of people of color (POC) in our country have been made targets even while not speaking up and while doing their best to remain as invisible as possible. Sometimes you become a target whether you want to be or not.
That’s why allies are needed. White people in our society have privileges that POC don’t, and if we want to come to terms with and overcome our nation’s history of racism, we need to use that privilege—and all other tools at our disposal. Below, I’ve compiled a list of actions you can take, from the small to the large, to help you begin. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and many organizations listed in one section could be listed in multiple sections, but it is a place to start.
Donate
Many organizations already exist to fight for justice and equality. Donating money to such organizations can help them continue the fight. It can also help you feel that you are doing something even while you are still learning, or if you have been fighting the fight but have become burned out. Below are some popular choices, but remember that if you don’t feel aligned with these, there are many more.
Sign Petitions
Just like organizations, many petitions exist. Finding and signing them is easier now than ever before. Here are just a few:
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- Justice for Breonna Taylor. Breonna Taylor was an African American EMT and first responder in Louisville, Kentucky. She was shot and killed by police in her home.
- Justice for Tony McDade. Tony McDade was a black transgender man in Tallahassee, Florida. He was killed by police.
- #JusticeforFloyd. George Floyd was a black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was killed by police officers kneeling on his neck for seven minutes.
- Justice for Ahmaud Arbery! I Run with Maud! Ahmaud Arbery was a black man in Glynn County, Georgia. He was chased and killed by two white men while out for his morning jog.
- Black Trans Lives Matter. Trans POC are especially vulnerable to violence. This is a list of petitions created in the names of several individuals.
- Make Juneteenth a National Holiday in 2020. Juneteenth is a Texan holiday that recently came to national attention. The creator of this petition believes that the holiday “can be a unifier because it recognizes that slaves didn’t free themselves and that they had help, from Quakers along the Underground Railroad, abolitionists both black and white like Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, soldiers and many others who gave their lives for the freedom of the enslaved.”
If you don’t see a petition that you really want to support, you can even start your own at change.org and find people to sign it.
Follow and Share on Social Media
Protest
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- Know your rights, and protest safely
- Stay resilient (take care of yourself first)
Vote
Choosing not to vote may seem like a way to make your dissatisfaction known, but it is the same as sitting in silence. If no one sees you sitting silently, no one will ask you to speak up. This is your chance. Vote.
Heal
Continue, always, to heal your own hurts and work on yourself. When we hang on to hurts–even little ones–we become triggered. And when we are triggered, we are likely to retreat, stuffing more pain inside our souls, or to lash out. Neither reaction helps you—or the world. Instead, healing ourselves so we can be present in every moment and can respond mindfully can help us be the best allies possible.
One of the easiest and most powerful ways I have found to clear these triggers is to practice the Ho’oponopono, a Hawaiian practice. Find one of your triggers or pain points inside, focus on all aspects of it you can, and feel into it, repeating these words of reconciliation and forgiveness to yourself and all other people and things involved:
I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
Additional Resources
https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/whiteaffinitygroup.pdf
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/ally-black-lives-matter-racial-injustice/
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