Buffalo Happened. What’s An Aspiring Antiracist To Do?

Feel your feelings. I'm feeling defeated (by the effectiveness of white dominant culture, the well-organized right, the specter of minority rule). I'm feeling frustrated that my efforts to support well-meaning white folks don't reach far enough. I'm feeling slumped.

Keep doing what you're doing. I make lists of what I am doing: I volunteer my labor weekly, I pay a gentrification tax each month to local low-income housing efforts, I continually shift my business to more boldly embody my racial equity commitment, I keep reading. The list-making is not an act of self-congratulation, but a reminder of momentum and a foundation to build on.

Do more. Right now I'm evaluating my antiracist efforts in terms of a continuum: short term impact on one end (e.g. my weekly foodbank shift) and long term impact on the other (e.g. the new workshop I'm developing for antiracist whites). Turns out much of what I do focuses on the longer-term dismantling of structural racism, so I'm going to find another way to more immediately support people most impacted by oppression

Show up. We both show up when you sign up for Racial Equity Coaching with me. Or when you come to the virtual We Are Well-Meaning White Folks conversation I hold every month on the 15th. Keep your eye out for new workshops and longer, more in-depth offerings on my Events page or by signing up for my newsletter.

So was this all a clever marketing ploy?

Nope. This isn't about my commitment to my business. I'm in this to keep people from dying. We need to hold each other accountable in this effort, so you and I can show up with our skills, commitment and power to change this system that keeps us white people comfortable while ravaging the lives of so many others.

June 2022

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