A recent NPR article indicates that for the past 7 years, there has been a growing and significant shift amongst white liberals about the realities of racism and white supremacy, with the Black Lives Matter movement being a major force in this shift, and then Trump being another force.
It is is easy to read the NPR article’s headline and questionable assertions. It’s also easy to be dismissive of where many white liberals are in working toward being anti-racist including how much further along most of us wish more white liberals were. For those of us committed and heart- and soul-driven, this is our ministry for anti-racist/racial justice organizing in white communities: to unite large numbers of white people to multiracial movements for collective liberation. This is important.
Important to remember is how powerful are social movements like Black Lives Matter—and all of the anti-racist work in white communities—on a scale far beyond anything I’ve seen in the past 30 years of doing this work. Also important is that we remember the impact of our collective work so as to keep building our momentum and believing in winning, and to keep evolving and growing with the shifting conditions in the United States.
This is not a declaration of “see, it’s all good.” Instead, it’s a call to increase our fire, our passion, our strategic thinking, our organization and infrastructure building. To persist with our educational work, our one-on-one’s, and our dreams of building a truly mass, multiracial majority for a governing progressive agenda. To deepen our assessment of where white people are— liberal, leftist, moderate, totally outside official politic, unengaged—and to keep organizing in these times.
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More from Chris Crass here on GMP:
Notes to a White Person Trying to Figure Out How to Talk with Other White People About White Privilege
How can we generate a deep passion and hunger for racial justice?
White Supremacy Must be Eradicated
Charlottesville makes this all too clear.
Ending the Spiritual Poverty of Racism in White Communities, and Reviving the Culture of Solidarity
Our primary task is to awaken as many white people as we can to the nightmare of white supremacist capitalism.
Be Courageous for Racial Justice, Courageous for Collective Liberation
Chris Crass asks white people to be enraged by verdicts that echo the thousands of anti-Black racist verdicts before it.
More on the topic of Racism:
The Reality of Whiteness and Justice for All
A white, straight, cis-male professor discusses his privilege and how other men like him can make a difference.
We Can’t Stop at Simple Apologies for Black Face
Understanding and dismantling the system that created black face is better than apologizing for it.
How to Use Your White, Cisgender, Male Privilege for Good
How will you use your privilege to create a world in which everyone shares those same privileges?
You, White Males, Don’t Get to Define Whether You Are Racist or Not
What’s it going to take for white men to start talking about race?
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