WE NEED TO BE "ANTI-RACIST"

There is NO excuse for not speaking up against the racial injustices happening every day to BIPOC in our community. As a white woman, I can ignore my privilege and pretend that “this stuff doesn’t happen here” or I can value and LISTEN to the black voices that are CONSTANTLY being silenced by a system that was designed to oppress BIPOC. 

This isn’t about you being a bad person, or “oh I don’t do that, that’s only in the states” - it’s about recognizing that you were born into a system that was built by white colonialism for the success of white people. If you care about making a change, educate yourself on the ways that the system oppresses marginalized communities. Uplift the voices that have been silenced. 

As a white person, I can never even begin to understand the trauma and suffering of the black community - but we CAN bring their voices to the forefront of the conversation, drop our ego, and admit that the system we are living in right now NEEDS to change. 

The word ally is a verb; we need to vow to work towards understanding the ways we’ve internalized racism, the ways that racism is active in the spaces around me; and constantly work to recognize our OWN mistakes and shortcomings in this fight while putting BIPOC voices before ours. This isn’t about being an optical ally - we need to work.

I’m here to learn, listen, and SUPPORT in ANY WAY that I can. These are just some of the resources I’ve started compiling from the BIPOC community to further my knowledge of systemic injustice and the charities/organizations working to combat it - I urge all my white followers to do the same.

THIS IS BY NO MEANS an extensive list and I’m actively looking for more suggestions (SPECIFICALLY from the BIPOC community!!!!) Please direct message me with suggestions. 

RESOURCES/CHARITIES

• BLM Resources Card (!!!) with petitions, numbers to text/call, places to donate, and more resources. 

  • VERY extensive. 

• Resources for non-Black folks to support Black Communities in Canada 

• No White Saviours

• “10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship”

• FUND RACIAL JUSTICE - six organizations to donate to 

• “’Shut the F*ck Up.’ A Blue-Haired Cartoon Explains Why This Harsh Advice Can Make Us Better People.”

•  “Questions I ask myself as a white person when posting on social media”

BOOKS 

• “19 Books About White Supremacy & How To Combat It”

• List of Anti-Racism books from @jane_mount

• Follow 

• @almostbookclub on IG for book, podcast, and resources recommendations.

• ‘White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism' by Robin DiAngelo 

• ‘White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide' by Carol Anderson

• “Black Girl Dangerous on Race, Queerness and Gender” by Mia Mackenzie 

• “So You Want To Talk About Race” by Iljeoma Oluo

• “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi

• “Cross and the Lynching Tree” James H. Cone

• “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander

There is no doubt I’ve always been for equality and strongly against racism, but as I started reading “How to Be An Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi, I realize now I was not being as actively anti-racist as I can be. It’s not enough to just “not be racist” - we all need to be anti-racist. 

“What’s the problem with being “not racist”? It is a claim that signifies neutrality: “I am not a racist, but neither am I aggressively against racism.” But there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of “racist” isn’t “not racist.” It is “antiracist.” - Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be An Antiracist

Educate yourself. Listen to the BIPOC around you. Actively challenge what has been hailed as “normal”. Silence = violence.