A Getting Started Guide for White Folks (Part I)
The past few weeks have been eye-opening for many white folks. From the disproportionate impact of COVID on communities of color, to the shameful abuse of privilege in Central Park, the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, the murders of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and George Floyd in Minnesota by police. To some, it might seem like the protests and rioting happening across the country are coming out of nowhere, or an overreaction, or even irrational. To others, they understand the underlying institutionalized and systemic issues that have led to this expression of frustration, angst and helplessness but don’t know how to help.
I’m one white woman on a journey, who found a place to start, but I by no means have all (or even most) of the answers. Last year I wrote a post on being a better ally, but in this one, given how acutely visible the anguish and inequity of the Black existence is in this country in this moment, I want to focus in and share a few starting points in a variety of mediums that can help someone else who is horrified by the what they’re seeing on the news but don’t know where to begin.
Check out other posts in the series: Podcasts, Voices and Organizations, Videos, Documentaries and Film, and Workshops and Classes and Books and Articles.
PART I: The Basics
For the folks who feel like the current uprising is an overreaction or unwarranted, let’s start with the the very, very basics (or feel free to skip ahead to the recommendations below).
- Understand everyone has racist thoughts and racist (in)actions. There is no such thing as “not racist”. You are either racist (inaction is complicity) or anti-racist by taking actions, however small, to interrupt and dismantle systems of oppression. If we can’t see and name it, we can’t fix it. Lots more on this in the recommendations.
- Understand intersectionality. It’s not a synonym for inclusion. It is a word that describes how multiple marginalized identities overlap and combine to create greater disadvantage. For instance, I experience discrimination as a woman. A Black woman experiences discrimination as a woman and as a Black person. A Black lesbian experiences discrimination as a woman, as a Black person and as a homosexual… For the best explanation, watch this TED Talk by Kimberlé Crenshaw, the lawyer, scholar and advocate who coined the phrase in the late 1980s.
- Understand privilege. I’ve observed this as a triggering word initially among white folks. It’s not saying that because you’re white you got a free ride. It doesn’t discount the sexism, heterosexism, classism, ableism, sizeism, ageism or any other area where you’ve experienced challenges or oppression based on your membership in a marginalized group. Unless you are a cishet, able-bodied, wealthy, thin, white male between the ages of 18–45, you’re experiencing subordination in some area in your life*. Privilege is simply the areas of your life where you’re a member of the dominant group. For instance, while I am female who grew up in poverty who is fat and pushing 50, I am also cisgender and white. It is in my areas of privilege where I can use my power, whereas in my areas of marginalization, allyship is both appreciated and necessary to challenge the status quo and change the systems that oppress. A great starting point on understanding privilege is Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.
- Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. This work is not easy. You will need to relearn US history because what you learned in school is incomplete, inaccurate and sanitized. You will have to confront many parts of yourself and feel the sting of embarrassment on current and previously held beliefs and actions. You’ll likely burden a POC with your feelings as you try to process all that you didn’t know. Accept it now, that’s the journey. Your alternative is do continue being complicit and upholding the systems of white supremacy every single day.
PART II: Recommendations
Here are a few recommendations from a list I’ve been building over the past several years. Because this is meant to be a get started guide, I’ve tried to include multiple mediums to overcome the inertia of people who don’t do books (I know, it’s crazy to me too, but I’ve encountered LOTS of them.)
Films, Series and Videos
Check out the Video Edition post for a full list of talks from antiracist activists, as well documentaries, docuseries and movies chronicling the history of police brutality, mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex in the United States.
- 13th, a documentary on the history of mass incarceration in the United States, and When They See Us, the story of the vilification and eventual exoneration of the Central Park Five, both from Ava DuVernay and available on Netflix.
- Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Netflix)
- Truth and Power: “Prisoners for Sale” (ep 4)
- United Shades of America (CNN Series) — W. Kamau Bell
- Deconstructing White Privilege — Robin DiAngelo
- Race Matters: 25th Anniversary — Cornel West
- Why “I’m not racist” is only half the story — Robin DiAngelo
- So You Want to Talk About Race — Ijeoma Oluo
Articles
- White Racial Identity and Anti-Racist Education: A Catalyst for Change — Sandra M. Lawrence & Beverly Daniel Tatum
- The Right Hand of Privilege — Dr. Stephen Jones
- Things that anti-racism allies need to stop doing — David Campt
- Letter to My Son — Ta-Nehisi Coates
- The Injustice of This Moment Is Not an ‘Aberration’ — Michelle Alexander
- White Fragility — Robin DiAngelo
- All articles by Ibram Kendi — The Atlantic
- All articles by Tim Wise — Medium
Podcasts
Check out the Podcast Edition post for a full list of podcasts from leading voices on bias, anti-racism, and learning to think of white as a race (rather than “normal” or not having an ethnic heritage).
- New York Times: 1619 Project (iTunes)
- Commonwealth Club of California:
Jennifer Eberhardt - Understanding Bias (iTunes)
Ibram X. Kendi — How to Be an Antiracist (iTunes)
An Evening with Dr. Cornel West (iTunes) - Speak Out with Tim Wise:
The Psychological Effects of Police Violence, Racism & Inequality in America (iTunes)
Talking About Race in a Time of Turmoil: The White Ally Toolkit for Constructive Dialogue (iTunes)
Affirmative Action, the Model Minority Myth & Right-Wing Divide-and-Conquer (iTunes) - California Institute of Integral Studies
Franchesca Ramsey — That Escalated Quickly (iTunes)
Ijeoma Oluo — So You Want To Talk About Race (iTunes)
Angela Davis: A Life of Activism (iTunes) - City Arts & Lectures
Angela Davis & Ibram X. Kendi (iTunes)
Stacey Abrams (iTunes) - Next Economy Now
Chris Crass — Anti-racist Work for White People (iTunes)
Debby Irving — How White People Can Advocate For Racial Justice (iTunes)
Voices
Check out the Voices and Organizations Edition for more details on these important voices and ways you can engage.
- Ijeoma Oluo — T: @IjeomaOluo | IG:@ijeomaoluo | F: Ijeoma.Oluo | Ijeoma Oluo
- Tim Wise - T: @timjacobwise |F: timjacobwise | Tim Wise
- Ibram Kendi — T: @DrIbram|IG: @ibramxk | F: ibramxkendi | Ibram X. Kendi
- Layla Saad —IG: @laylafsaad, Layla Saad
- Robin DiAngelo —F: RobinDiAngeloOfficialPage | Robin DiAngelo
- Michael Skolnik — T: @MichaelSkolnik |F: OfficialMichaelSkolnik | Michael Skolnik
- Dr. David Campt — T: @thedialogueguy |F: david.campt | IG: @thedialogueguy | Dr. David Campt
- W Kamau Bell — T: @wkamaubell | IG: @wkamaubell | W. Kamau Bell
- Debby Irving
- No White Saviors —T: @nowhitesaviors | IG:@nowhitesaviors |F: nowhitesaviors | No White Saviors
- ZORA —T: @zoramag |IG: @zora | F: zoramagazine
- Blavity —T: @BlavityPolitics | IG: @blavitypolitics | F: Blavity | Blavity
- The Marshall Project — T: @marshallproj| IG: @marshallproj| F: TheMarshallProject.org| The Marshall Project
Organizations
Check out the Voices and Organizations Edition for more details on the organizations and their missions.
- Color of Change — T: @colorofchange | IG: @colorofchange |F: colorofchange | Color Of Change
- Southern Poverty Law Center — T: @splcenter | IG: @splcenter |F: SPLCenter | SPLC
- Fair Fight — T: @fairfightaction| IG: @fairfightaction | F: FairFightAction
- Real Justice (do your own homework) — T: RealJusticePAC |F: realjusticepac | Real Justice PAC
- Showing Up for Racial Justice — T: @showup4rj | F: ShowingUpForRacialJustice | IG: @ShowingUpForRacialJustice
Workshops
Check out the Workshop Edition for full details on online workshops and in-person classes and conferences.
- 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge — Eddie Moore Jr and Debby Irving
- White Privilege Conference — Eddie Moore Jr
- White Ally Toolkit — David Campt
- Diversity & Social Justice Certification — City College of San Francisco
- Good Ancestor Academy — Layla Saad
Books — Please order from Black-owned online bookstores
- Education
So You Want to Talk About Race — Ijeoma Oluo
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor — Layla Saad
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do — Jennifer Eberhardt
White Fragility — Robin DiAngelo
Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race — Debby Irving - Anti-racism
How to Be an Antiracist — Ibram X. Kendi
AntiRacist Baby — Ibram X. Kendi (new children’s book) - Mass incarceration
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness — Michelle Alexander
Are Prisons Obsolete? — Angela Davis - Memoirs
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made For Whiteness — Austin Channing Brown
Between the World and Me — Ta-Nehisi Coates - History of Race
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide — Carol Anderson
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America — Ibram X. Kendi (or the abridged young adult version, Stamped)
Let me know what I’ve missed! I want to publish rather than wait for this to be perfect, so I’m sure there are some really obvious holes and I’d love suggestions and feedback.
*Not to say that this fictitious white male doesn’t also face challenges, there are lots of -isms and there are no shortage of ways folks can be marginalized.
