If you have been having trouble crying up until this point in the reflection, queue up 13th and let the tears flow. It was a powerful and eye opening documentary that is directly related to this content. Below is one quote that came up during the portion on mass incarceration, and it was too good not to share:
"Having people truly understand that when Black Lives Matter, everybody's life matters. Including every single person that enters this criminal justice system and this prison industrial complex. It's not only about just black lives, it's about changing how this country understands human dignity."
- Malkia Cyril, 13th
"The opposite of criminalization is humanization."
- Unknown, 13th
Allyship - "an active, consistent, and challenging practice of unlearning and reevaluating, in which a person of privilege seeks to work in solidarity with a marginalized group" (PeerNetBC)
White Apathy - lacking empathy or a sense of urgency to dismantle the system of oppression, or dis-associating from the problem because you're not BIPOC
White Centering - "the centering of white people, white values, white norms, and white feelings over everything and everyone else"
Tokenism - "practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within a workforce"
White Saviorism - "the phenomenon of well-intentioned white missionaries and volunteers traveling to countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to help 'rescue' BIPOC from their country's poverty and lack of development"
Optical Allyship - "allyship that only serves at the surface level to platform the 'ally,' it makes a statement but doesn't go beneath the surface and is not aimed at breaking away from the systems of power that oppress"
This is one where I want to include a few of the notes on suggestions for being an ally, as opposed to an optical ally:
"Taking on the struggle as your own
Standing up, even when you feel scared
Transferring the benefits of your privilege to those who lack it
Acknowledging that while you, too, feel pain, the conversation is not about you"
Call Out/Call In - "Call out culture refers to the tendency among progressives, radicals, activists, and community organizers to publicly name instances or patterns of oppressive behavior and language use by others... calling in means speaking privately with an individual who has done some wrong, in order to address the behavior without making a spectacle of the address itself"
"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."
- Maya Angelou
Where are you beginning to see your biggest challenge is when it comes to your personal antiracism work?
Vocally and actively speaking out against racism in person. I think I am witnessing more effects of racism now than I was before, and its easy for me to put my thoughts down here. It is still a challenge for me to speak up in person outside of people I know.
Where are you starting to do your own work, and where are you still holding back?
I'm continuing to digest podcasts, Netflix series and movies, and other BIPOC authors to become more well rounded and better informed. I am revising the books I would like to next read to include more BIPOC authors, and I'm at least cognizant of white centering and looking for topics outside of that realm.
What other dots have you started connecting when reflecting on the work you have done so far?
I think the biggest thing at this point is the noticing of the privilege that I experience in my life. I think when people see me they expect I'm going to try hard and have good intentions. When I interact with anyone, I am trying hard to assume the same.