From the Publisher

This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work

WAKING UP: UNDERSTANDING AND GROWING INTO MY IDENTITIES

You are the only you there is. There’s so much that makes you who you are. Your identity is what makes you, YOU: it’s all the parts that make you unique.

OPENING THE WINDOW: MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD

My history begins before me. It begins before the stories I know and the ones I long to know. My history begins hundreds and hundreds of years ago... and so does yours.

CHOOSING MY PATH: TAKING ACTION AND RESPONDING TO RACISM

When you are silent absolutely nothing changes. You are reinforcing the dominant culture. You are allowing racism to continue on. You not saying anything also tells others you are complicit (okay) with the status quo (how things are.) Being aware isn’t enough. You must take action. You can do this in many different ways.

HOLDING THE DOOR OPEN: WORKING IN SOLIDARITY AGAINST RACISM

But how do you go forth? How can you work in solidarity with others? When we bring our whole selves to the table we’re bringing our different social identities, our oppression, our agency, our superiority and privilege, our experiences, and everything else that makes us who we are.

AND STILL, TODAY, EVERY DAY IT LOOKS DIFFERENT.

I am always working to understand who I am. What does it mean for me to be a light biracial Black cis female? Action takes the form of being aware and noticing injustice and checking stereotypes. It’s using my lens of anti-racism, figuring out what it is I’m seeing, and taking action.

Remaining silent is not okay. It is not an option. Black folx, Brown folx, Indigenous folx, and Folx of the Global Majority are being harmed, oppressed, and killed every day. If you are white, light (like me), or a non-Black Person of the Global Majority, use your privilege and your proximity (or closeness) to the center of the dominant culture box to fracture the very foundation of our racist society. If you keep doing this and continue to put more cracks and dents into the structure, you’ll shake it all up so it can crumble.

ACTIVITY: LET’S GO BACK TO THE IMAGINARY BOX

In your notebook, draw a box. Inside of it write down the identities you hold that are a part of the dominant culture. On the outside of the box, write down your identities that are marginalized.

Those identities of yours that are inside the box are where you hold power. This is the privilege you can spend. Use the agency that comes with those identities to work in solidarity with folx who exist outside the box.

Those identities of yours that are outside the box are where you are marginalized. This is where you have been systematically oppressed. While you do not hold privilege and power here, you do have experience and knowledge.

Sharing this, if you are able to, can be powerful in building solidarity with folx who do have agency in their identities.