Anti-Racism Reading List - 14 July 2021

“If you’re someone with a vested interest in eradicating racism, passing up an opportunity to speak out against it—especially with someone with a genuine desire to understand more than they know and to do better—is counterproductive. I’d much rather not have to beat the drum over and over, but if I have to I will. Because this is bigger than me. There’s more at stake here than what I feel like doing.”

“So “decenter” means “This is not about you. For once, this is not about you. Stop making this about you. I swear to God, do not #NotAllWhitePeople this!””

“Low-income Southeast Asian Americans faced a paradox: if they strove for success and achieved it, they were seen as an undifferentiated “model minority”; if they engaged in activism and advocacy, they were racialized similarly to Black Americans and faced comparable rates of policing, disciplinary action, and systemic oppression.”

“When white people come in with the goal of “amplifying” me, there is an underlying assumption on their part that I want access to whatever audience or outlet they’re offering. This may come as a shock in the age of virality, but not every writer’s goal is to be seen by as many people as humanly possible. Making sure my work is in the right place and published under the circumstances I’m most comfortable with is far more important to me than the number of eyes it gets in front of.”

“To catch those who are cunning enough to dissimulate their racism during the interview process, one idea could be to regularly screen employees to detect whether they are racist or not. Where I work, I receive annual training in ethics, risk, and compliance. Why can’t companies do racist screening and antiracism training on a regular basis to catch racists or deter racist behavior?”

“I’ve witnessed White people become enraged at the mere suggestion that they may harbor racist ideals, but these same people can witness injustice and not bat an eyelash. How is that possible? How is it that we live in a world where a label carries more weight than actual discrimination, brutality, and death?”

“Equity is about giving people what they need, which specifically addresses the barriers they face, in order to make things fair.

At times, this will mean giving more to those that need: more time, focus, energy and resources proportionate to their circumstances.

It is the equity piece of anti-racism or even traditional diversity and inclusion which causes the most discomfort.”

“The first step in becoming an anti-racist is simple: when we speak up, particularly in local actions where we take the biggest risks, listen, back us up, and don’t center yourself. In other words, don’t make it about you. Stop the indifference and get off the couch and take action with us. Declaring your solidarity on social media with Black and Latino folks was never enough. We need people to speak up. To show up. We need voices. We need numbers. We need unity among us.”

"We need people showing up in physical spaces as well as online spaces, and doing work when it isn't visible, the work behind the scenes, having those hard conversations."

“For too long, powerful people have expected the people they have mistreated and marginalized to sacrifice themselves to make things whole. The burden of working for racial justice is laid on the very people bearing the brunt of the injustice, and not the powerful people who maintain it. I say to you: I refuse.”

“The larger point is, if it stings – go talk to your fellow “white people,” your network of “men” or “Boomers” or “cis-gendered, heteronormative Evangelical Christians.” Work to fix the nasty little underlying truths of the stereotypes from within, because maybe it’s not a group you chose membership in and it’s not a group you can easily leave, but it is a group that you are best suited to talk to in terms it will understand.”

“In reality, insisting that people “hate America” when they speak the truth about the past is just another mechanism of control. Your true friends aren’t “yes men” who shower you with praise even when you don’t deserve it. True friends are those that care enough to have the courage to tell the truth.”