Issue 10: From Non-Racist to Anti-Racist

Last issue, I wrote about ‘privilege guilt’… after the past fortnight’s events, it seems appropriate to write more specifically about my experience of white privilege…

There’s a quote from Angela Davis that captures for me the ‘sin of omission’ rather than commission of which I have been a part: “it’s not enough to be non-racist; we must be anti-racist.”  Whilst I’m not aware of ever having actively participated in racism or discrimination, I also haven’t actively participated in its eradication. I haven’t prioritized it in my attention and my actions. If I really believe in equality and inclusion, then, as a member of the dominant race, it is incumbent upon me to actively participate in the abolition of my privilege. By implicitly accepting the power of my whiteness and all the advantages it gives me, I am tacitly supporting the perpetuation of an unequal system.

An analogy for me is the climate crisis. The majority of humanity still seems to be participating in what psychologists call ‘the bystander effect’, awaiting action from others rather than taking it themselves. The first step I took towards addressing my own passivity was reading several books about climate ‘change’ seven years ago. It only took one book to inform me sufficiently to feel drawn to action. Once you take the time and effort to read about the climate crisis or the black experience of racism, you are compelled to action because it becomes too painful to be a bystander. Perhaps it’s because we intuit how profound the effect may be that we choose to look the other way…

So what action have I taken in the last fortnight to enact my anti-racism?

  • Forcing myself to watch the video of George Floyd’s murder and fully engaging with my embodied experience of this
  • Reading a book about racism (eg White Fragility) and reflecting upon its relevance to me
  • Listening to podcasts about racism, especially those involving conversations between whites and people of colour (eg Tara Brach, Dan Harris, Ezra Klein)
  • Discussing the topic in the formal groups of which I’m a part (eg re-interrogating our implicit biases, articulating our feelings about being white in a racist world, exploring our possible responses)
  • Reaching out to my (too few) friends of colour to see how they’re doing and whether they’re up for discussing the issue
  • Posting my reflections on Facebook and LinkedIn, and responding to others who are too

It’s exactly the same as with the climate crisis (and, of course, the two are inextricably linked). These small actions aren’t going to eliminate the issues overnight, but they are at least actively engaging with the issue rather than neglecting it. If we all step up our involvement and, most critically, keep up the momentum, we will be moving a lot closer to a future in which we can just say ‘lives matter’.