An Attempt To Explain Antiracism

11 Jun 2020 -

To my conservative friends and family, this is an attempt to explain antiracism. I have observed enough examples of white people trying to prove they aren’t racist and getting supported by their white friends about how kind and compassionate they are and I’ve seen enough calls from folks of color asking white people to step up and try to help explain the situation to our friends and family. So here’s my attempt to translate what I’ve learned about antiracism.

Not racist isn’t antiracism. No one expects you to admit you are racist based on the definition we’ve all been taught. (That being racist is being openly hostile towards others based just on their race.) What you are being asked to do is accept that there is another, well documented and frequently used, definition of racism. This definition says that any system is racist if it is leading to disproportionate outcomes for people of different races. If someone calls you racist for benefitting from that system or from being naive to this definition they are using their definition, not yours. You move towards racism if you dismiss this definition as the wrong one and insist that your definition is right and other groups of people don’t get to define a word in a way that better describes their lived experiences. It moves toward antiracisim if you accept this definition and use it to consider how you navigate the world.

The majority of people aren’t going to call you racist for your initial reactions. Most won’t think you are racist for initially being confused about why so many people were upset about Trump’s decision to have his first campaign rally in months in Tulsa during Juneteenth. Most won’t think you are racist for wondering if voting fraud would happen if we expand mail in voting. Most won’t think you are racist for expressing support for the police based on your own individual experience with law enforcement. Some will call you racist for these things, some will call you ignorant, and you will likely feel like some are just trying to shut you down. Please don’t let this stop you from hearing why there is outrage at the examples I mentioned above. When you see please consider thinking about the reasons why people are getting upset instead of criticizing us for being too sensitive.

I am not a liberal because of mainstream media. My liberal values have been informed through years of working in education and with communities who feel the reality of inequities and divisive rhetoric every day. And most of the other white liberals I know have similar reasons. We aren’t being brainwashed by anyone, our resolve to support a liberal agenda has been developed through the daily observance of injustice and deep hurt in Americans who see messages every day from their president and his supporters that dehumanize them.