Let me start by saying that I am a white woman that grew up in the Midwest, in an area that was predominantly white. So, I am NOT the ideal person to be teaching on racism. Without even knowing what was happening, I’ve been brainwashed into subconscious inherent racism. This is the unfortunate case for many white people in America. Decades of systemic racism has led us to believe that people of color are inferior. So what do we do?
Well, we start the work of becoming an anti-racist. According to Ibram X Kendi, historian and author of the New York Times bestseller, “How to be an Antiracist”, an anti-racist is someone who is willing to admit when they are being racist and willing to recognize the inequities and problems in our society. There is so much unlearning to be done. Beyond the work we all need to do on ourselves, we also need to be intervening in the systemic racism brought upon our younger generations. The earlier we can teach them to be antiracists, the sooner change can be effected within out society as a whole. This job is a tall order, but we all need to be doing it, not only in the month of February to honor Black History Month, but on an ongoing basis over the course of many years. After all, for most of us, the systemic racism has been ingrained in us over many years, so it will take at least that much time to reverse it.
Continue reading “Working Against Racism – 5 Resources to Help You Become an Antiracist”
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