Anti-Racism
Anti-Racism: An active and consistent process of change to eliminate individual, institutional and systematic racism. An active way of seeing and being in the world, in order to transform it.
I cannot claim this identity. I have not taken consistent action against the injustice of people of colour in our society. I have been passive. I have been nice. Glennon Doyle defines nice as a “mask we slowly die behind”.
The recent spotlighted deaths of Breonna Taylor (Louisville), Ahmaud Arbery (South Georgia), and George Floyd (Minneapolis) are among 1,252 black Americans shot and killed by police since 2015 according to The Washington Post's database tracking police shootings. Today will mark the 10th night of anti-police brutality protests across the United States. People are rallying together to make their voices heard. Voter registration is being encouraged. Americans are angry/hurt/frustrated/fed up and want to see CHANGE. Some of these protests have turned violent. Whether this was intended or not, unfortunately violence has a way of demanding attention. Meanwhile, Trump is inciting just the same, threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy the military to “dominate the streets” and “quickly solve the problem”.
I am a white Canadian woman. I have been living in Nashville, Tennessee on a performance visa for the past two and a half years. I pretty much fled America when the threat of COVID-19 became undeniable. I have been living on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia since mid March. I love Nashville. I love America. I felt indifferent about leaving the city I now call home. While my family and free health care for all was appealing, a tornado had ripped through my neighbourhood just two weeks before, and the city was uniting in a time of crisis (as it has a beautiful reputation of doing). Part of me felt like I was abandoning my community and it took me a few weeks to accept the decision I made. Fast forward two months, and I am extremely grateful to be in Canada.
Since I left, I have kept up to date on the daily COVID numbers in Tennessee, along with the local politics and the well being of my friends. I was heartbroken to hear that a peaceful protest downtown turned into looting and rioting on Saturday. That city, like so many across the country, is struggling. I am struggling to know what to do, how to act, and what to say from far away. Over the past two days I have taken a deep dive into North America’s systemic and institutional racism issues (believe me, this includes Canada). I have learned the following definitions:
Individual Racism: a form of racial discrimination that stems from conscious and unconscious personal prejudice… learned from broader socio-economic histories and processes and supported and reinforced by systemic racism.
Systemic Racism: the policies and practices entrenched in established institutions, which result in the exclusion or promotion of designated groups… No individual intent is necessary.
Whiteness: a set of normative privileges granted to white-skinned individuals and groups; its operations are "invisible" to those privileged by it (but not to those oppressed/disadvantaged by it).
Individualism: a belief that everyone is free to choose; that their destiny is in their own control, and that choice and determination are all individually determined and ultimately achievable despite social, economic, racial and cultural circumstances.
Liberal Racism: when one individualizes a situation rather than approaches it with a systematic analysis. The preference of seeing racism as an isolated, overt, or extreme incident rather than an ongoing and often unintentional set of attitudes which lead to structures of domination.
… and many more. I have learned that I need to learn more about how racism affects the lived experience of people of colour and Indigenous peoples. About how racism is systematic and can be manifested in both individual attitudes as well as formal and unspoken policies and practices. About how people who are not affected by racial discrimination, AKA white people, AKA myself, often unknowingly participate in racism.
I thought I was aware of my privilege. I thought it was enough to facilitate and participate in tough conversations surrounding oppression and segregation. I was sure I was not racist because of the diversity of my friends. Because of my kindness and inclusion of all. I was wrong. Racism is not only an individualized action, rather it is the inherent inaction of someone who does not experience racial bias.
I used to think this was not my conversation to have. I now understand that my silence is screaming my passivity from the rooftops. I am not OK with the current state of our North American culture. I do not accept the lack of progress made. I will not continue to ignore the hundreds of years of oppression of people of colour, that still persist today. Maya Angelou said "do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." I am 31 years old, and just realizing the systematic racism that lives within me. Now that I know better, I will do better.
(Some) Petitions to sign:
#Defund the Police (Black Lives Matter)
DEMAND JUSTICE FOR GEORGE FLOYD (NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.)
#JusticeforFloyd (Color of Change)
#JusticeforBre (Justice for Breonna)
Resources:
Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre
Teaching Your Child About Black History
”White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (Peggy McIntosh)
The 1619 Project (The New York Times)
The American Nightmare (Ibram X. Kendi)
Premier Resources For Black Businesses