Personal Anti-Racism Update

Last year, I committed to learning better anti-racist allyship. Doing social impact work inclusively and intentionally is so important to me, and as the nonprofit initiative I started, Techtonica, mostly serves BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), it’s especially important that I as a leader am aware of and working to eliminate bias. I had learned a lot but wanted to do better. I’m giving an update here so people know that I took that commitment seriously and am dedicated to continuously learning and improving long-term. I also hope that sharing my journey is helpful to others.

Last year, as promised, I:

• Donated to the Anti Police-Terror Project, Equal Justice Initiative, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and others
• Supported petitions and fundraisers for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Atatiana Jefferson, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Andrés Guardado, Dominique Fells, Nina Pop, Sean Monterrosa, Riah Milton, Tete Gulley, Robert Fuller, and others
• Attended an inclusive allyship class, an antiracism panel, weekly DEI Community calls, Trabian Shorters’ asset-framing webinar, and Change Catalyst’s weekly allyship webinars
• Worked through Layla Saad’s workbook, Me and White Supremacy, by July 4th, alone and with family members and coworkers

Also as promised, I read all the articles and books and watched all the videos listed at bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES, which has nearly 200 resources. Some highlights include:

• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie
• Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• Dr. Robin DiAngelo discusses ‘White Fragility’
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
• Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
• When They See Us

Since making those commitments last year, I also:

• Donated to Color of Change, Techqueria, Las Americas, Movement for Black Lives, Center for Policing Equity, We the Protesters, New England Blacks in Philanthropy, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Refugee & Immigrant Center for Education & Legal Services, Stop AAPI Hate, AID India COVID-19 Relief, Tech By Choice, Black Voters Matter, Kao Saelee Reentry Fund, Fundraising for Oke Obi-Enadhuze’s family, Black Women’s Freedom Sanctuary, #Supplies4FarmWorkers Kids & Families, Sogorea Te’, and National Bail Out
• Supported petitions, open letters, and fundraisers for The Movement for Black Lives and the end of forced removal of Palestinians, Uyghur Muslims in China, Allen Russell, Oscar Grant, the end of voter suppression, Joy Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, the Trans Day of Visibility, the Lakota People’s Law Project, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, and others
• Joined oneaction.today and followed through on the daily calls to action
• Completed Dr. Akilah Cadet’s The Ally Nudge
• Attended and helped organize bi-weekly anti-racism meetings
• Had conversations about anti-racism with white people
• Advocated for and mentored BIPOC speakers
• Attended “The Journey Continues: Including ALL Women in ‘Gender Diversity’ Initiatives” with Pam Nonga Ngue, “Disability and the Workforce: Exploring Access, Intersectionality, and D&I Efforts,” “How inclusive are your gender diversity efforts?” with Susanne Tedrick, “Holding Companies Accountable for D&I,” Hollaback’s Bystander Intervention training, “The Model Minority Myth and AAPI Solidarity in CS and Tech,” two events with #StopAAPIHate, Conversations on Diversity in Silicon Valley with Shellye Archambeau, a march against racism, and others
• Dug into and apologized for past management mistakes and set up systems for regular feedback and improvement
• Worked hard to be aware of current events that could adversely affect BIPOC and hold space for the BIPOC around me
• Collaborated with Techtonica staff weekly on action items for a safer community
• Scheduled and spent time each month reflecting on my progress and what I can do better
• Learned about the blue wall of silence, the weapons effect, how affirmative action has not done what it was supposed to do, Detroit activism, the ubiquity of white supremacy, the ways white people get defensive, the three levels of social change, companies using prison labor, spiritual bypassing, wedge issues, broken window policing, and more

And I watched:

• Coded Bias
• Asian Americans
• We Need To Talk About Anti-Asian Hate
• LA 92
• Say Her Name: The Life And Death Of Sandra Bland
• Happy Birthday, Marsha!
• The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
• Explained: The Racial Wealth Gap
• Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
• Human Flow
• Amend: The Fight for America
• Angry Inuk

And read:

• The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table by Minda Harts
• How to Be An Inclusive Leader: Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive by Jennifer Brown
• My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
• Articles shared on social media and oneaction.today

With each new action, I have hope that better informing and involving myself will contribute to an anti-racist future. Of course, becoming actively anti-racist is a long-term individual and shared journey. I commit to staying on that path and invite others to do the same. Over the next year, I will:

• Donate to the causes named above and more, including The Black Fairy Godmother
• Support additional petitions, fundraisers, rallies, policy changes, and protests
• Continue attending and following up on weekly DEI Community calls, Change Catalyst’s weekly allyship webinars, Kapor Center Diversity Advocates events, and anti-racism groups and personal reflections
• Continue doing the oneaction.today calls to action, having conversations about anti-racism with white people, and advocating for and mentoring BIPOC
• Continue to inform myself and hold space for BIPOC in the midst of hurtful current events, examine and address mistakes, regularly give and request clear feedback, and create and follow up on action items
• Work to heal and enable others to heal personal trauma so we don’t pass it on to others (utilizing the lessons learned in My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies)

I’ll also read or watch:

• Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators by Susanne Tedrick
• White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum
• Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics by Marie Gottschalk and Janet Metzger
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
• Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg
• We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina L. Love
• Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
• How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide by Crystal M Fleming
• Killing Rage: Ending Racism by bell hooks
• They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
• White Tears, Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
• Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latino/a Activism edited by Uriel Quesada, Letitia Gomez, and Salvador Vidal-Ortiz
• Wake: the hidden history of women-led slave revolts by Rebecca Hall
• American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
• The House I Live In
• Race: the Power of an Illusion
• The Wellbriety Movement: Journey of Forgiveness
• Birth of a White Nation

Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences with me, sent me resources, patiently held space or joined me for this journey, generously forgiven, acted as good examples, and more. Having such a meaningful personal focus has been humbling, infuriating, painful, enlightening, and hopeful. I’m grateful for the continued opportunity to fill in my anti-racism knowledge gaps, reflect on past actions, make amends, and work to make myself and the world better. ❤️