SYSTEMIC RACISM AND THE CULTURE OF WHITE SUPREMACY
WHAT IS IT? HOW DID WE GET HERE? AM I COMPLICIT? WHAT CAN WE DO?
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The conversation about Racism, Systemic Racism, the culture of White Supremacy and White privilege is a deep pool to jump into. It can be intimidating. That conversation is long overdue. Those of us who are centered in whiteness need to learn and understand how we are still embroiled in a culture of White Supremacy. This culture has not only repressed, suppressed and oppressed Black, Indigenous and other people of color ("BIPOC") but has also diminished those of us who have been misinformed on the history of our nation and mislead to harboring unconscious bias. |
Step 1- GATHER YOUR COURAGE... Learn about white as a race.
Step 2. - WALK UP TO THE DIVING PLATFORM. Learn about the history of Racism in America.
Step 3.- START CLIMBING THE LADDER- Hear the stories of People of Color and their everyday lives.
Step 4.- STEP ON TO THE PLATFORM. Learn about Systemic Racism
Step 5- WALK TO THE EDGE.... Learn about how to be an Anti-Racist
Step 6- TAKE A DEEP BREATH.... Learn about how to be a White Ally
OTHER LINKS
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So many of us who identify themselves as white or appear white do not see ourselves as "Racist". "I am a good person," "I don't see color" "I love multi-culturism." "Racists are those who hate people of color and are violent against them". So many of us identify with those sentiments, yet, we do not recognize that "white" too is a race and being raised in "whiteness" has provided advantages to those of us that are white whether we asked for them or where aware of them or not.
To start learning about white as a race, what the term "racist" actually means, and how our advantages and unconscious bias makes us "racist" we recommend that you read the book, Waking Up White, by Debby Irving.
To start learning about white as a race, what the term "racist" actually means, and how our advantages and unconscious bias makes us "racist" we recommend that you read the book, Waking Up White, by Debby Irving.
Waking Up White by Debby Irving
For twenty-five years, Debby Irving sensed inexplicable racial tensions in her personal and professional relationships. As a colleague and neighbor, she worried about offending people she dearly wanted to befriend. As an arts administrator, she didn't understand why her diversity efforts lacked traction. As a teacher, she found her best efforts to reach out to students and families of color left her wondering what she was missing. Then, in 2009, one "aha!" moment launched an adventure of discovery and insight that drastically shifted her worldview and upended her life plan. In Waking Up White, Irving tells her often cringe-worthy story with such openness that readers will turn every page rooting for her-and ultimately for all of us. Here is a short clip by Debby Irving on Our Whitewashed History. (11 minutes)
For twenty-five years, Debby Irving sensed inexplicable racial tensions in her personal and professional relationships. As a colleague and neighbor, she worried about offending people she dearly wanted to befriend. As an arts administrator, she didn't understand why her diversity efforts lacked traction. As a teacher, she found her best efforts to reach out to students and families of color left her wondering what she was missing. Then, in 2009, one "aha!" moment launched an adventure of discovery and insight that drastically shifted her worldview and upended her life plan. In Waking Up White, Irving tells her often cringe-worthy story with such openness that readers will turn every page rooting for her-and ultimately for all of us. Here is a short clip by Debby Irving on Our Whitewashed History. (11 minutes)
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.White Fragility by Robin Di'Angelo.
In response to the increasingly polarized ideological climate in the United States, Robin DiAngelo deftly articulates the need for white people to understand and discuss racism. Her book, White Fragility, comes at a time when the topic of racism does make its way into dinner conversations, political debates, social media posts and newspaper headlines. However, most of these discussions are premised on the widely held belief that racism is only perpetuated by individual people in individual situations who show prejudice towards a person of color. DiAngelo masterfully explains how this definition of racism is harmfully limiting and flat-out wrong. Her book clearly lays out how racism is the bedrock of American society and how all white Americans are holding it in place. White Fragility is available wherever you buy your books. Here is Robin talking about Deconstructing White Privilege. (22 minutes) |
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How did America get to such racial divide? The American history taught in our schools and colleges are from the lens of White Americans and distorts or outright skips over the true history of African Americans in the United States. Learn about history from the African American lens.
White Rage by Carol Anderson
“White Rage is a riveting and disturbing history that begins with Reconstruction and lays bare the efforts of whites in the South and North alike to prevent emancipated black people from achieving economic independence, civil and political rights, personal safety, and economic opportunity.” – The Nation
White Rage is available wherever you buy your books.
Here is a workshop that Carol Anderson gave on White Rage. (52 minutes)
“White Rage is a riveting and disturbing history that begins with Reconstruction and lays bare the efforts of whites in the South and North alike to prevent emancipated black people from achieving economic independence, civil and political rights, personal safety, and economic opportunity.” – The Nation
White Rage is available wherever you buy your books.
Here is a workshop that Carol Anderson gave on White Rage. (52 minutes)
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The Truth about the Confederacy in the United States
(1 hour 40 minutes) President Trump claims that removing Confederate symbols amounts to erasing history. False. This is about whether we as a nation choose to honor those who made their names fighting for white supremacy and slavery. Jeffery Robinson will speak about the dark history of the Confederacy and the monuments built in public spaces around the country – what these symbols really mean and how they’ve been used by politicians to rewrite history and incite racial violence. View the video here. |
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The 1619 Project
The 1619 Project is a program organized by The New York Times with the goal of re-examining the legacy of slavery in the United States and timed for the 400th anniversary of the arrival in America of the first enslaved people from West Africa. It is an interactive project by Nikole Hannah-Jones, a reporter for The New York Times, with contributions by the paper’s writers, including essays, poems, short fiction, and a photo essay. Originally conceived of as a special issue for August 20, 2019, it was soon turned into a full-fledged project, including coverage in the newspaper and on its website. Since it's publication, liberal and conservative historians have called the publication fraught with unsubstantiated positions and fraught with errors. Below are the links to the publication and several articles about the repudiations. The 1619 project by the New York Times can be found here in print form or here as a podcast. Historians Clash with the 1619 project- The Atlantic magazine article here. |
Black Parents Explain How to Deal with the Police | Cut
This 5 minute video shows parents explaining to their children how to act around the police in order to stay as safe as possible. |
Amber Ruffin talks about her interactions with the cops (5 minutes)
Amber Mildred Ruffin is an American comedian, writer, and actor. She has been a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014. When she joined the show, she became the first black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the United States. More stories here. |
What is White Privilege? You might have heard the term "white privilege" recently. Lots of prominent people including chat show host James Corden and England manager Gareth Southgate have referenced it in recent weeks. But what exactly is white privilege and where does it come from? (several 3 minutes videos)
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13th- The Ava DuVernay Documentary
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality and the intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans. Titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery throughout the United States and ended involuntary servitude except as a punishment for conviction of a crime. Watch the Documentary Here. |
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Caste, the origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson- In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
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White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun- This is a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture that show up in our organizations. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify. The characteristics listed herein are damaging because they are used as norms and standards without being proactively named or chosen by the group. They are damaging because they promote white supremacy thinking. Because we all live in a white supremacy culture, these characteristics show up in the attitudes and behaviors of all of us – people of color and white people.
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How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi.- Mr. Kendi's concept of anti-racism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America--but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.
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How do we love in a time of rage? How do we fix a broken world while not breaking ourselves? Valarie Kaur—renowned Sikh activist, filmmaker, and civil rights lawyer—describes revolutionary love as the call of our time, a radical, joyful practice that extends in three directions: to others, to our opponents, and to ourselves. It enjoins us to see no stranger but instead look at others and say: You are part of me I do not yet know. Starting from that place of wonder, the world begins to change: It is a practice that can transform a relationship, a community, a culture, even a nation.
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The Case for Reparations- Ta-Nehisi Coates
It’s not often that an article comes along that changes the world, but that’s exactly what happened with Ta-Nehisi Coates, five years ago, when he wrote “The Case for Reparations,” in The Atlantic. Reparations have been discussed since the end of the Civil War—in fact, there is a bill about reparations that’s been sitting in Congress for thirty years—but now reparations for slavery and legalized discrimination are a subject of major discussion among the Democratic Presidential candidates. In a conversation recorded for The New Yorker Radio Hour, David Remnick spoke with Coates, who this month published “Conduction,” a story in The New Yorker’s Fiction Issue. |