This pandemic has magnified American's racial and economic disparities even more. My eyes are continually opening to my privilege and how I can be a better ally to the BIPOC community. I am compiling a growing list of resources to support white people in my community do the same.
Checkout the growing Document Here. Have Suggestions? Pls share with me below and I will add to the list.
Back in January, 2020 I joined a White Ally group where we have met monthly for the last 5 months to explore our racial biases. We are currently reading Waking Up White by Debby Irving and during our group calls we explore different themes, prompts and inquiry processes to do our own introspective work. To be honest, before joining the group, I first held the belief that I am not racist and of course I am a black ally. However, being in this affinity group has opened my own eyes to ALL the ways I am still blinded by my biases and where I am instilling structural racism on a day to day basis. Being a part of this group has given me more confidence to use my voice and have more conversations with friends and family members around racism and actions we can take to make a difference.
As a white person, I believe my journey to being an authentic ally to BIPOC is a journey. I don’t believe reading one book, signing a few petitions or even making a few social media posts makes me an ally. It is all about how I take my awareness and put it into daily action. It is NOT about being perfect. I have learned my silence creates more harm.
If you are a white person reading this and notice you feel scared or nervous about making sure you are taking the “right” steps, know you are not alone. That is a really common fear and belief that has held a lot of white people back from taking action. My biggest recommendation would be to find a White Affinity group so that you can be in community as you do this very important work of untangling from your own biases.