How To Be A Better Aly
(NOTE: This post originally ran on NGO STORYTELLING, where I'm a co-editor.)
The way Black and brown people are being treated in America and other parts of the world is unacceptable. It's never ok for people to be discriminated against, marginalized, paid less, beaten, or killed because of the color of their skin. It's also never ok for the people who do those things that to them to get away with it.
Everyone is a little racist. We've been trained by society, media, and a system of benefits to be that way. It's not ok and needs to be unlearned.
Here are some resources that can help us be anti-racist:
Take Courses & Training
Desiree Adaway from the Adaway group teaches courses on Building Equitable Organizations, Whiteness at Work, and the Social Justice initiative.
Rachel Cargle, an academic, activist and writer, is leading an online course called The Great Unlearn about unlearning racism. Sign up here. You pay what you can afford.
Groups
The Healing Solidarity collective is a space to gather around the work of challenging injustice in our practice and re-imagining International Development, to resist the working practices that overwhelm and exhaust us, re-group, reflect and sustain ourselves and to access the Healing Solidarity conversations. One of the regular topics in this group is anti-racism.
Podcasts
NPR’s Code Switch on Twitter — This is the National Public Radio show about race and identity
Not How that Works podcast is an exploration of diversity, inclusion, and equity and how these things show up, (or don’t) in our personal and professional communities.
Seeing White podcast that addresses the notion of “whiteness”. Where does itcome from? What does it mean?
About Race is a lively multiracial, interracial conversation about the ways we can’t talk, don’t talk, would rather not talk, but intermittently, fitfully, embarrassingly do talk about culture, identity, politics, power, and privilege in our pre-post-yet-still-very-racial America.
Read Books
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson — Stevenson’s memoir about legally representing poor, mostly black defendants from injustice, including one black man sitting on death row despite stacks of evidence showing he was nowhere near the crime scene. The movie adaptation came out in 2019.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates — A letter from the author to his son about his feelings being a black person in the United States.
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo- Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.
The Anti-Racism Project - Book & resources list by the Anti-Racism Project
Read Articles
“America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer | Atlantic (May 8, 2020)
”White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Knapsack Peggy McIntosh
Follow On Social Media
Now White Saviors: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Shaun King: Twitter| Instagram | Facebook
Ebony Janice: Twitter| Instagram |
Antiracism Center: Twitter
Audre Lorde Project: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Black Women’s Blueprint: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Color Of Change: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Colorlines: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Conscious Kid: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Authority Collective on Instagram — A group of women/non-binary/gender non-conforming photographers; they recently put out a guide to inclusive photography and a resource for photographers and beyond on anti-racism
Courtney Ahn on Instagram — Graphic designer in Oregon; she recently wrote and designed an excellent guide to white privilege
Support & Follow Organizations
Black Lives Matter — There are chapters all over the United States.
The Sentencing Project — Another nonprofit working to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system.
The Bail Project — An organization that pays bail for people accused of crimes. Here is a Vox article explaining why bail is unjust.
The Black Women’s Health Imperative — A nonprofit protecting and advancing the health of Black women and girls.
The Burns Institute — A national nonprofit working to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. juvenile justice system. (Full disclosure: Laura has done communications consulting work with this organization.)
If you are looking for ways to take action as a white person, this is a great resource with action items and things you can do right now to help.