Begin or Deepen Your Journey Towards Developing an Anti-Racist Identity
|
|
The United States was founded on white supremacy which is a system (political, economical, legal, and cultural) rather than just individuals from extremist groups, that assumes that white people are superior. In this system whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources. White people benefit from the system and anyone who is in proximity to whiteness. In this system whiteness is viewed as good and anything else is viewed as inferior. There is a deep anti-blackness sentiment in white supremacy culture based on the enslavement of black people to build wealth in the United States hundreds of years ago. Even when black people were freed from slavery, additional forms of oppression continued such as lack of reparations to help reduce the impact of generations of slavery; lynchings, jim crow laws, redlining which deepened segregation, unequal access to GI bill for returning military.
After the civil rights movement racism went underground but continued to operate in laws that disproportionately affect people of color and has led to mass incarceration (modern day slavery and the new jim crow.
Check out this video about the history of racism. Take a moment to center yourself and check in with yourself before watching any video. Decide what is self care and what is avoidance within your body.
After the civil rights movement racism went underground but continued to operate in laws that disproportionately affect people of color and has led to mass incarceration (modern day slavery and the new jim crow.
Check out this video about the history of racism. Take a moment to center yourself and check in with yourself before watching any video. Decide what is self care and what is avoidance within your body.
|
|
|
The system of white supremacy leads to white privilege and racism. Racism ranges from indifference and minimization to overt racism, calls for violence and genocide. Need a primer on what is white supremacy and white privilege? Check out the video below
|
|
Meditation and Self-Inquiry Exercise to connect to body, mind, and feelings
- SIFT through your experiences as you watch the videos on this page
- Sensations, Images, Feelings, Thoughts
- What do you want to deny?
- What is easy to hear?
- What is hard to hear?
- Where do you see yourself?
- Where do you see your loved ones?
- Utilize RAIN Meditation to deal with any distress that arises- Recognize, Acknowledge/Allow, Investigate, and Nuture/Nonattachment
Here is a classic article from Peggy McIntosh called "Unpacking the invisible knapsack" which talks about white privilege
White supremacy and racism negatively impacts all of us. The reality is that we are all are conditioned into racism unless we take an active and ongoing stance to become anti-racist. I ask myself daily if I am making choices that dismantle white supremacy or support it.
As a white person will you use your voice and your privilege to make a difference? As a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) how will you challenge the internalized racism that causes you stress, trauma, and grief? We can dismantle racism by starting on the bottom of the pyramid, by waking up to what's happening in our household and local communities.
White supremacy and racism negatively impacts all of us. The reality is that we are all are conditioned into racism unless we take an active and ongoing stance to become anti-racist. I ask myself daily if I am making choices that dismantle white supremacy or support it.
As a white person will you use your voice and your privilege to make a difference? As a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) how will you challenge the internalized racism that causes you stress, trauma, and grief? We can dismantle racism by starting on the bottom of the pyramid, by waking up to what's happening in our household and local communities.
Here are some ways to learn more and develop your identity as an anti-racist
- Explore your own racial identity. How does your racial identity interact with other identities you have about yourself. What identities are privileged and what identities are oppressed?
- If you are a white person do not rely on people of color to educate you on the history of racism and how it shows up in daily life.
- Remember that white silence harms. Privilege allows you to stay quiet; to not be aware of what is happening to BIPOC. Better to say something that you don't think is perfect than to say nothing at all. BIPOC notice the silence.
- Develop the skills to have difficult and often emotional conversations with your circle of influence. White supremacy is maintained by every day choices people make to keep the system alive or being indifferent to the system.
- Learn about microaggressions.
- Read some of the books below or listen to a podcast
- Create an affinity group (people with similar racial identity) to support each other in becoming anti-racist
- Diversify your life. Challenge yourself to go to different neighborhoods. Support BIPOC businesses, art, books.
- Donate to the organizations already doing racial justice work
- Listen to what people of color are asking for.
- 75 things white people can do now
- whiteawake.org/
- 21 day racial equity habit challenge
White supremacy continues because of liberal, moderate whites... Learn more in this video
Dr. Edmond provides some tools for having conversations about race in this video
It's ok not to know... at first. It's ok to be afraid. Becoming an anti-racist is a journey that involves a lot of self inquiry and exploration so that you can navigate the multiple truths of power and privilege. It requires humility and willingness to stretch past your comfort zone. Challenge the conditioning that we all learn from living in the United States. Becoming an anti-racist applies to all white people as well as BIPOC individuals and clinicians. BIPOC individuals can also not have an anti-racist lens because have internalized the racism of the larger society.
UPCOMING TRAININGS with Dr. Edmond
Free 2 part series "Uncovering the Trauma of Racism" on 7/13 and 7/20 from 7 to 8:30 pm. Hosted through the Princeton Library and Not In Our Town (NIOT). Led by Dr. Nathalie Edmond. Save your spot here
Free Talk "Seeing through the lens of race" with Dr. Nathalie Edmond on 7/15 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Hosted by Bambu Yoga (Hamilton) and Yogasphere (Newtown). Save your spot here
Join Dr. Nathalie Edmond in a webinar series:
"Mindful of Race: Becoming an anti-racist"
"Mindful of Race: Becoming an anti-racist"
- SERIES IN JULY- Thursdays 9, 16, 23 from 4 to 5:45 Register here.
- based on first section of Ruth King's book "Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out"
- developing mindfulness skills and finding out ways you can make a difference today in different areas of your life
- do self-inquiry work to see how we are conditioned, what are our blindspots, and what we need to change
- explore concepts of white supremacy, power analysis, nonviolent communication, microaggressions, intersectionality of identities, unconscious bias, how you may be complicit in maintaining racism, equity vs equality, how you can transform your workplace, church, business to be more inclusive and center social justice and the voices of BIPOC
- Expectations for series to help guide discussions and self-inquiry: read first four chapters of Mindful of Race by Ruth King and watch following videos which you can find on this page: untold story of racism, white supremacy and privilege, and RAIN meditation. More videos will be shared during the course of the series.
- Cost is based on what you can pay:
- $80 (scholarship level), $120 (pay for yourself) or $160 (covers the cost for yourself and $40 donation to Minnesota Freedom Fund)
- Begin registration here and you will get more details on how to pay and complete registration.
Anti-Racism Fundamentals Workshop on Saturday, 8/8 from 1 to 4 pm via zoom with Dr. Nathalie Edmond
- learn about white supremacy and white privilege
- learn about black lives matter movement and how to support
- explore what it means to be an anti-racist in your daily life
- learn how to have mindful and compassionate conversations with others about race
- Cost: $100; $70 (Scholarship level)
Schedule a consultation with Dr. Nathalie Edmond to learn how you can build an anti-racist/anti-oppression lens, achieve true diversity and inclusion in your business, church, schools, local community.
Interested in joining a supervision group for therapists wanting to infuse anti-racist lens to your clinical work contact Dr. Edmond.
Interested in joining a supervision group for therapists wanting to infuse anti-racist lens to your clinical work contact Dr. Edmond.
Conversation about healing racial trauma Reflections on internalized racism by Dr. Edmond
|
|
|
A conversation between Dr. Edmond and her spouse about their journey of being anti-racist
Want resources for parenting from an anti-racist lens. Check out Embrace Race
Check out how to be an anti-racist parent panel from First Unitarian Society in NYC
Books
- Waking up White by Debbie Irving
- Mindful of Race: Transforming racism from the inside out by Ruth King
- White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
- How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi
- Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
- Why I am no longer talking to white people about race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
- When They Call You a Terrorist (a black lives matter memoir) by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
- Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister (chronicles the feminist movement)
- My grandmother's hands by Resmaa Menakem (explores how trauma lives in our body/white body supremacy)
- White Like Me by Tim Wise
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (explores criminal justice issues for communities of color)
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michele Alexander
- Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- On the Run by Alice Goffman
- Evicted by Matthew Desmond
- Locking Up Your Own by James Forman
- Americanah by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie (fiction)
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (fiction)
- The Hate U Give (fiction) book or movie by Angie Thomas
- Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation by Rev Angel Kyodo Williams
- Skills in Action: Radicalizing your yoga practice to create a just world by Michelle Cassandra Johnson
- Any James Baldwin books and documentary "I am not your negro"
|
Movies and Other Resources
Why protest? Timeline and explanation of racism by policing over centuries which builds rage. Article here Video by Trevor Noah about contextualizing the broken social contract and domino effect of racism leading to protests.
|
Podcasts
Black parents having "the talk"
|
Seeing through the lens of race: Black Lives Matter presentation at Main Line Yoga Shala