recap created by: Jessica Pollock
Juneteenth: The day when union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas that African Americans had been freed from slavery ( amore than TWO years after Pres. Abraham Lincoln has issued the Emancipation Proclamation)
Professor Ibram X. Kendi, the author of How To Be Anti Racist., and his children’s book “ Anti Racist Baby” which is a book he created so he can talk to his daughter about racism, and open up the conversation with children at an early age. Children as early as 2 begin having racist beliefs. Children are not color blind, and to teach that to children is harmful to our future.
Professor Kendi tackles racism by asking the simple question of “What is a racist thought?”, and asks those he encounters to define words like racist thought, or anti racist thought. The reason that is so impactful is because it shows that there is no “middle hierarchy” it’s either the beleifs one holds is rooted in a person, or group being less than/ more than another, and an anti racist thought is when a person or group is equal to each other.. There is no gray area in that, and the beliefs that a person or company has will either be clearly racists ( by have beliefs or policies that promote the ideology one group is less than) versus beliefs and policies that promote equality.
Racism is not just a few bad apples, and it cannot be viewed as isolated incidents, because POC experience these issues often.. These incidents cannot be titled micro aggressions because these instances are abuse, and hugely impacting those of color.
And just because a POC experiences racism, does not make them experts on racism, and reaching out to friends or co workers who are black, can be a very harmful response, as POC are in a state of grief when things like major coverage of police brutality are covered by the news/ social media.
Take time to educate ourselves, by reading books, or essays written by experts on the subject. White privilege cannot be recognized unless the person wants to recognize it. The advanatges white people have are so built into our daily lives that unless we empathize with POC, we will not be able to understand the trials and tribulations they experience.
Companies are able to create a safer environment by creating policies that are anti racist, that way when a person speaks up against racism in the workplace, the speaker has the support of the company behind them, and it’s not individual vc individual.
EX:
Company is wanting to hire more POC, and a an executive replies “black people just aren’t qualified”
When you speak up against that statement, you as a person are not speaking up against the racist comment, you as part of the “X” company are, and it creates a very clear line that’s not to be crossed, and will not be tolerated if it is, and you are able to quote the policy presented by the company in support.
Professor Kendi also says that racism is like an addiction.. The heartbeat behind racism is denial, and in response the heartbeat to anti racism is confession.. So be honest when you looking at yourself, and the ways you think about people..racism is learned, and engrained, and you won’t just wake up one day not being a racist, like one day you won’t just wake up being addicted to drugs.
Call out racism simply by asking the question “How do you define a racist, or a racist thought?”
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