RelationDigest: [New post] 11 Thought-Provoking Gems From Black Writers For Any White Person Committed to Antiracism Work

11 Thought-Provoking Gems From Black Writers For Any White Person Committed to Antiracism Work

by Banchiwosen

Sometimes words can help you put words to action, which might be exactly what you need.

Sometimes words can be daggers that pierce through injustice.

They can disarm you with love.

When tackling such a thorny issue of race and racism, words are powerful. They can unify or divide us.

Sometimes words can cut through race and racism with more insight and clarity. Sometimes words can have an electrical impact. They can help you broach uncomfortable conversations about race and racism. About identity and representation.

Sometimes words can help you work towards a better world for black people from all walks of life.

Sometimes words can leave you with inspiration to help create personal and societal transformations. Sometimes they can help you put words to action, which in this day and age, might be exactly what you need.

Here are 11 thought-provoking gems from black writers I've read.

1.

"We're told non-stop that if we want to be more successful, black women should modify their behaviors in this way or that. We should use this tone or avoid using those words so people don't think of us as angry or aggressive." – Sophie Williams, Millennial Black

When you're a black woman, people assign layers on your shoulder.

When you raise your hand and speak of your frustrations on pay rise inequality, they wonder why you're so angry. So aggressive. So emotional. So sensitive. You're speaking in a mild tone. Even then, the 'angry black woman' stereotype chills your room.

Men air their grievances in meetings. They challenge authority or institutional practices. People hear them. They empathize with them. No one interrupts them. Every one allows them the space and time to speak up.

But when we do the same thing, we are called:

. Aggressive

. Bossy

. Bullish

. Intimidating

. Hysterical

. Overreacting

. Feisty

. Spicy

. Abrasive

Double standard much?

What I see lurking behind these labels is the darker reality that everyone wants to diminish our thoughts and words and control our expressions. It's not the specific word that causes the harm. It's your conscious or unconscious bias. It's your perception of black women. Our very humanity and right to express emotion that does the damage.

If you really want to be an ally to a black woman, don't assign her this pervasive stereotype.

2.

"Whiteness is an advantage and privilege because you have made it so, not because the universe demands it." – Michael Eric Dyson, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon To White America

Antiracism work begins with acknowledging black people as human beings.

If you want to be an ally to a black person, think about this sentence:

Whiteness is not the human standard.

3.

"White people think it is a compliment when they do not 'see' you as a black person." Morgan Jerkins, This Will Be My Undoing

Stripping away our blackness is not a compliment.

Here's something to think about:

I don't want you to strip away my race. My blackness. When you say, 'I don't see color,' you're saying, 'Who you are does not matter and I don't see you for who you are.' You're choosing to minimize and erase the impact of my skin color.

4.

"How can a white person imagine what it feels like to be black? That's virtually impossible." Rebecca Stevens, One Thing That Every White Person Need To Do At Least Once

You can never walk in our shoes. To say that you share our experience strips our unique experiences. I've never had the privilege of believing my racial identity can smooth over or compensate for the oppression associated with being a black woman.

This fear is not yours to know.

Sure, you might realize a black woman is targeted because she is black. But that understanding is an abstraction. When an experience is contained within your black body, well, that is different in a way you will never be able to wrap your head around, because you don't have to.

Antiracism work begins when we recognize our differences first.

These differences are best articulated when you actively listen as a black woman talks. When you ask questions, not to guide a black woman somewhere but to better understand.

5.

"Our humanity is worth a little discomfort, it's actually worth a lot of discomfort." – Ijeoma Olou, So You Want To Talk About Race

You can say you're an ally to a black person you work with and know. But if you avert your eyes when that person starts talking about inequality. If they can't talk about a racist comment or discrimination they experienced with you. If they have to bite their tongues because they don't feel safe in confiding in you.

If you're unwilling to have difficult, but honest conversations about race and racism. If you're unwilling to sit with your discomfort for a while, you're not an ally.

Engaging in this kind of real talk with white people is rare. Most conversations with white friends or colleagues and (God forbid, white bosses) are not that way, that honest and real, with so much truth and vulnerability given to each conversation.

But that kind of conversation is what is needed for antiracism work.

6.

"White silence is violence. It actively protects the system. It says I am okay with the way things are because they do not negatively affect me and because I enjoy the benefits I receive with white privilege." – Layla F. Saad, Me and White Supremacy

The silence of people you know and love and call friends is deadly in its passivity.

Silence is a loud message.

Subtle racism grows and festers when a close white colleague stays silent when we're overlooked for a promotion. Subtle racism grows and festers when a white friend averts her eyes when we start talking about a racial discrimination experience. Subtle racism grows and festers when white people we know are hiding behind their silence.

Subtle racism grows and festers when people we call friends do not show up for us when it matters.

7.

"Black women know what it means to love ourselves in a world that hates us." – Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage

I've noticed something:

Black women bring up all kinds of feelings in people with white privilege: fear, awe, envy, disdain, anger, desire, confusion, pity, jealousy, superiority, and more.

They fail to capture us in the mess, joy, beauty, and femininity of women of other races.

But there's freedom in loving the skin you're born with.

I love my dark features, not because the whims of fleeting trends tell me I am allowed to, but because wishing to be anything different is an affront to who I am. Because there is something beautiful in my curves and hues that contribute to the woman I see in the mirror. Because I'm not going to let someone else tell me what I can and cannot love about myself.

8.

"I have had reviews in the past that have accused me of not writing about white people… as though our lives have no meaning and no depth without the white gaze. And I've spent my entire writing life trying to make sure that the white gaze was not the dominant one in any of my books." – Toni Morrison

Morrison said the above gem to journalists who kept asking her, "When are you going to put aside your blackness and write about things that are more relevant to white people?"

She was being asked when she was going to write books that were not centrally about black people, outside the white gaze.

Recently I was interviewed for a social justice podcast who interviewed mainly black women and women of color. I received the most absurd question from people with white privilege: is this podcast for us?

I wonder:

When a podcast features mainly white interview guests, am I supposed to question whether the podcast is for me?

This is white centering – the idea that when a creation features mainly white people, it is for everyone, but if it features mainly black people, it is only relevant to black people.

We see white centering in movies, books, podcasts, television shows, magazines, wellness spaces, and leaders you come across every day.

Think about this:

Who is overrepresented? Who is underrepresented? Who is seen as the norm, and who is seen as marginal?

If you want to be an ally to black people, ask yourself:

. Do you give more respect and worth to people with white privilege and white-centered narratives over black people and black people-centered narratives?

. Do you dismiss or feel ambivalence toward black people when they interrupt your white-centered worldview?

. Do you add a few more token black employees to satisfy the "look" of diversity without doing the deeper work needed for true inclusivity and representation?

9.

"If feminism can understand the patriarchy, it's important to question why so many feminists struggle to understand whiteness as a political structure in the very same way." – Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race

Most feminist spaces are disappointing.

I'm a teacher and public speaker. I'm confident and vocal, but I still find myself holding back because the gaze of whiteness does so much to silence me. Many times I feel like I have been forgotten and have to come up with strategies to be remembered.

A feminist movement must work to liberate all people who have been economically, socially, and culturally marginalized. That means disabled people. Black people. Trans people. Women. Black women. Non-binary people. Working-class people. LGB people.

This is complicated.

But a true feminist movement must be complicated if we are to untangle the situation we're in.

10.

"Funny. Slave masters thought they were making a difference in black people's lives too. Saving them from their 'wild African ways.' Same shit, different century. I wish people like them would stop thinking that people like me need saving." – Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

When the desire to rescue black people comes from a place of superiority, it's condescending.

This kind of thinking is disempowering to black people.

In your antiracism work, if your intention is to make yourself good or become the hero of the story or have your emotional needs satisfied, then your action is dishonest.

It's a conquest for heroism.

Behind your intention lies the racist ideology that you know what's good for black people and what they need.

There's nothing heroism about that.

11.

"A racist is not who a person is. A racist is what a person is, what a person is saying, what a person is doing. Racist is not a fixed category like "not racist," which is steeped denial. Only racists say they are not racists. Only the racist lives by the heartbeat of denial." - Ibram X. Kendi, How To Be An Antiracist

The Times described Kendi's book as "the most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the western mind." In my opinion, every person, regardless of race, in every corner of the world should read it.

Kendi talks about how inaction follows neutrality.

A white person who claims, "I'm not and cannot be a racist," will never take a single step in making a real change on racism. How can you make a change when your belief has frozen you into inaction? You cross your arms and do nothing. You clutch your belief. But it's just that. A belief. A belief that shields you from taking any action.

In your neutrality, you've fallen into racist passivity.

Antiracism work requires you to do the work even though it's uncomfortable.

Instead of claiming to be not a racist, you can strive to be an anti-racist. You can start making changes. You can start taking small steps or actions.

Action, no matter how small it is, is more than a belief.