Getting Our (White) Selves to DO
My writing this month is geared toward white folks, or anyone wrestling with internalized whiteness.
Let’s say you’ve read a few books & listened to some great podcasts about how white supremacy culture works. In your family or in your community, you see how white-identifying people on the whole do not face the same historic or current struggles people of color face. You want to do something to make things more equitable, more humane, less unfair.
But what do you do?
I get asked this question all the time by clients, workshop participants, family, friends. I used to ask it all the time myself. Now I have some answers to share.
Identify what gets you most riled up & focus your action on it. Pay attention to what makes your blood boil: lack of affordable housing, underfunded schools, overfunded law enforcement, voting restrictions, treatment of asylum seekers, etc. Or look at what makes you joyous: pop-up health clinics, BIPOC-run hiking groups, newly established unions. The more energized you are, the better.
Find BIPOC-run grassroots organizations in your community and ask what they need. Gear your efforts toward what the people living closest to oppression say they need. Offer your time, skills, or resources, and show up ready to listen, follow, and humbly contribute. Do a search for local mutual aid organizations or nonprofits that are run by and serve Black, Indigenous or people of color
Look at where harm happens most & balance your efforts between changing the system and helping the harmed. Volunteering at a food bank helps get meals on the table; volunteering at a food justice advocacy organization helps shift policies so people aren’t hungry. Feel out where you feel most useful or needed, or do a bit of both.
Build your muscle to endure making mistakes & making apologies, without slithering away in embarrassment or guilt. Being in settings with people with racial identities different than yours is unfamiliar for many to us. Likely you’ll find you’ve said the wrong thing or unintentionally offended someone. james boutin & I designed our workshop Not Getting It Right specifically to do this muscle building.
Do what I suggest each month ☺️. Check out the new Everyday Anti-Racism segment of my newsletter or blog section of my website, where I lay out a concrete anti-oppression, pro-equity action you can take.
Then mid-month, come talk about how it’s going at We Are Well-Meaning White Folks (every month on the 15th). You’ll be in good company.
Jan. 2023 Back to Blog Home
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