The Collective Liberation Project
6 ways to engage in Anti- Racist Practise
1) Learn about the history of racism, colonialism, whiteness and intersectionality
→ Take responsibility for your own continued learning. Do not expect Black/Brown people to educate you. There are many resources available on these topics including books and documentaries.
2) Listen to Black & Brown people’s experiences of racism
→ Listen attentively to people of colour when they talk about racism. They are the experts.
→ Do not interrupt, play devil's advocate, get defensive or compare their experiences to your life. This is hurtful.
→ Acknowledge that you do not have the same lived experience.
→ Take the initiative to research your questions and queries.
3) Work with white people in your community
→ Every day aim to challenge ignorant comments amongst your family and friends.
→ Use your privilege to interrupt racism when you see it happening.
→ Instigate conversations about racism with your peers and strategize about what you can do to dismantle it.
4) Assume racism is affecting everything, all the time.
→ Notice which people are in positions of power in your office/ school/ organisation.
→ Who is present and who is missing? Which voices dominate decision making? How are people treated differently?
→ Support the just redistribution of power in the spaces you access.
5) Respect Black and Brown Spaces
→ These safe spaces are needed for people of colour to heal emotionally and mentally. They are not a personal attack on you. Please respect their autonomy and encourage other white people to do the same.
6) Find ways to express your feelings safely (Affinity Group)
→ Racism and systems of oppression affect everyone emotionally, albeit in different ways.
→ Release your emotions! Peer counselling, meditation, dance and movement can be great ways to release complex emotions about these issues.
→ If you are white, express your feelings to other white people you feel safe with, ideally in an affinity group. This is a space for people of a shared identity to support each other educationally and emotionally. It’s a great format in which to develop anti racist practise.
Resources
Anti-racism organisations with Educational Resources
• www.raceequitytools.org
• www.showingupforracialjustice.org
• www.collectiveliberation.org
• www.whiteawake.org
Books
• Mike Davis, ‘Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the making of the Third World’
• John Newsinger, ‘The Blood Never Dried: A People’s History of the British Empire’
• Reni Eddo-Lodge, ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’
• David Olusooga, ‘Black and British: A Forgotten History’
• Michelle Alexander, ‘The New Jim Crow’
• Paul Kivel, ‘Uprooting Racism’
• Nell Irvin Painter, ‘The History of White People’
• Noel Ignatiev, ‘How the Irish became White’
• Dr Joy DeGruy, ‘Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome’ * (She has lectures on Youtube)
• Rae Johnson, ‘Embodied Social Justice’ *
• Ta-Nehisi Coates, ‘Between The World and Me’
PDFs
• http://criticallegalthinking.com/2017/10/31/britain-empire-never/ [British colonialism]
• http://nationalseedproject.org/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack
• www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/whiteaffinitygroup.pdf
Documentary/ Film
• Black and British: A Forgotten History *BBC iPlayer*
• Generation Revolution (2016)
• The Hard Stop (2015)
• The 13th (2016) *Netflix*
• The House I Live In (2012) *Netflix*
• The Colour of Fear (1994)
Training & Consultancy:
www.thecollectiveliberationproject.com ; [email protected]