From Sojourners, comes this steady advice to white people about how to be good allies to BIPOC people., written by Courtney Ariel. Based in the Christian tradition and a person of colour, Ariel responds to white friends asking, ‘how can we become better allies?" Her advice is clear, steady, and accessible. Read what she writes. Do what she does. White people need to be part of the solution.
Read MoreHow to be a good ally? It's about actively being inclusive of diversity across the spectrum - from lgbt+ folks, black and brown folks, disabled and neurodiverse folks, and people from other marginalized groups. But here are a few ways that we can work to unlearn our natural prejudice, recognize our privilege, and work to make the world more equitable in spite of them.
Read More‘To Ally’ is to take intentional action, like listening, learning and uplifting those around you to ensure all voices are heard and respected. Chescaleigh offers 5 Tips for Being An Ally delivered with wit and humour. We can all be allies, whoever we are. Ally is a noun and a verb.
Read MoreCompassion is the active regarding of life through the eyes of love, seeing value in all people and situations. This committed work of mind and heart restores one’s own equilibrium and sense of belovedness,
allowing for ourselves, and all others, to be known as valued members of humanity. We see through the eyes of love the world brought to life, and in it, we welcome a new richness into our own earthy adventure.
As America marks 400 years since people of African descent were first brought to our shores in chains, some politicians, academic institutions, communities of faith, and individuals are beginning to wrestle with the atoning possibility of reparations. The institution of the church is uniquely positioned to shape this movement of reckoning.
Read MoreYou can’t think about something if you can’t talk about it, says Eula Biss. The writer helpfully opens up lived words and ideas like complacence, guilt, andopportunity hoarding for an urgent reckoning with whiteness. This conversation was inspired by her 2015 essay in The New York Times, White Debt. This podcast is from On Being with Krista Tippett, in Conversation with Eula Biss, 'Talking about Whiteness'.
Read MoreSpoken word artist Matthew Strange shares a powerful spoken word poem about his experiences as a white man with a black wife and mixed children. Strange uses his platform and privilege to write a wake-up call to white people in Dear Caucasia. The piece he wrote in 2016 is as real and relevant as ever.
Read MoreWhat if white people led the charge to end racism? Diversity fatigue is real: people of color are tired of leading the fight. White allies are tired of being told they're doing it wrong. No wonder we don't have equity yet! In this inspiring talk, Nita Mosby-Tyler explains why we need "unlikely allies" in the fight for justice, and why people who are experiencing inequality first hand must be willing to accept the help.
Read MoreThroughout history people with privilege have stood up and fought back alongside marginalized groups. We call these people allies. When athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed the Black Power salute during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, they sent out a powerful message that resounded around the world. But there was another man standing with them that day. This is the story of Peter Norman.
Read MoreFresh Start at Kingsway-Lambton welcomed Rev. Michael Blair with his sermon "Why Our Lives Matter" on John 4:1-26. Rev. Blair's sermon explores the question, "Can saying Black lives matter be a theological statement, or is it limited to a statement of solidarity with the BLM movement?" Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and his affirmation of her particular life, calling those who follow Jesus to affirm particular lives as well.
Read MoreSome people cling desperately to the myth that we are living in a post-racial society, that the election of the first Black president spelled the doom of racism. In fact, racist thought is alive and well in America - more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues in Stamped from the Beginning, if we have any hope of grappling with this stark reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society.
Read MoreIn How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a just and equitable society.
Read MoreThere is no such thing as being "not racist," says author and historian Ibram X. Kendi. In this vital conversation, he defines the transformative concept of antiracism to help us more clearly recognize, take responsibility for and reject prejudices in our public policies, workplaces and personal beliefs. Learn how you can actively use this awareness to uproot injustice and inequality in the world -- and replace it with love.
Read MoreIn the iceberg model, the piece of the structure that appears above the surface represents a single “event.” Just below the surface, a deeper level of examination reveals patterns of events, or “trends.”
Racism and particularly Anti-Black Racism works in the same way as the iceberg model - what appears on the surface can be dramatic and shocking, but what happens beneath is deep and damaging.
Read MoreOur lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. We also miss the plethora of possibilities that that is obscured by a single lens. This is an important understanding for all anti-racism work.
Read MorePeggy McIntosh, founder of the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum, which seeks Educational Equity & Diversity in the USA, writing way back in 1989 observed: “I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was ‘meant’ to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions. . . ”
Read MoreRobin DiAngelo’s bestselling book White Fragility has provoked an uncomfortable but vital conversation about what it means to be white. As protests organized by the Black Lives Matter movement continue around the world, she explains why white people should stop avoiding conversations about race because of their own discomfort, and how 'white fragility' plays a key role in upholding systemic racism.
Read MoreA lot of bias circles around race. But what is race? What is ethnicity? Aren’t they the same? Race and ethnicity are often used interchangeably, but have different meanings. Race is an externally-imposed categorization based on certain physical features such as skin color and hair texture, a common ancestry, and cultural and moral attributes. Ethnicity is a self-defined group identity based on shared kinship, history, and culture.
Read MoreOne of the basic concepts that needs exploring in anti-racism is implicit or inherent bias. If you have a brain, you have bias. Bias shapes the way we see the world but it doesn’t have to take over. Implicit bias exists when people unconsciously hold attitudes toward others or associate stereotypes with them.
Read MoreIn a new book, “White Fragility,” Dr. Robin DiAngelo attempts to explicate the phenomenon of white people’s paper-thin skin. She argues that our largely segregated society is set up to insulate whites from racial discomfort, so that they fall to pieces at the first application of stress—such as, for instance, when someone suggests that “flesh-toned” may not be an appropriate name for a beige crayon.
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