Five* Things

TO DO AFTER ACKNOWLEDGING RACISM AND WHITE SUPREMACY EXIST

Madeline compiled this list based on actions recommended by people who have far more knowledge and experience

Remember white tears don’t help.

If your friend or cowoker who is not white needs to talk, listen without piling on your feelings or knowledge. (Skip to the last point if you do need to talk about your feelings.) Amplify voices of non-white people. We’re stuck in a system where we mainly hear from white people.

Take action.

Is joining #IRunWithMaud to be seen running as important as providing security and being sure that other non-white runners in your community are safe? Follow the lead of people who are providing support to a neighbor who was afraid to walk his dog. Share your time, skills, knowledge, connections, etc.

Ask for change.

Figure out if your local police precinct trains with evidence-based de-escalation tactics. Advocate for it. Attend townhalls and meet-and-greets with politicians. Ask what they are doing to reform the criminal justice system. Advocate for school funding to include staff and materials needed to promote inclusion. When you see stories of people encountering racism at stores, schools, etc., contact the institution to tell them how upset you are by the story. Have your local politicians’ email and Twitter accounts handy so you can constantly remind them you are not seeing the changes you’d like to see.

Fight for a fair economy.

Support black businesses. Start with WeBuyBlack, The Black Wallet, and Official Black Wall Street if you need help online. Donate to anti-white supremacy work such as your local Black Lives Matter Chapter and others listed in the sidebar.

Don’t support businesses that profit from prison labor, like Whole Foods and Walmart. ReturnToNow.net has a list. Divest from banks, like Wells Fargo, that finance the Dakota Access Pipeline. Talk to your company, place of worship, city, etc. about divesting from private prisons and detention centers. Contribute to nationalbailout.org and local organizations.

Delegitimize racist institutions

is one of the core strategies of Showing Up for Racial Justice, a group aimed at breaking white silence. Deciding not to hate anybody isn’t enough. Becoming anti-racist means becoming aware of all the ways one might be expressing or supporting the system that keeps white people in power. For those who are not ready to take action, “white spaces” online allow people to talk about conscious and unconscious biases. Change takes work every day, so no one should be expecting perfection from themselves or anyone else—but there will be no change without work.

THIS LIST IS UPDATED REGULARLY:

https://medium.com/equalityincludes-you/what-white-people-cando-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234