Anti-Racist Resources

My own consciousness was raised with Trayvon Martin and, subsequently, the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Not that I didn't think about racism before, just that the movements that started after Martin hit me differently, more than likely because they dovetailed with my own work on gender as I navigated parenting my trans son.

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Similar to how I approached that work, I started following folks on Twitter who were talking in nuanced if sometimes blunt ways. I craved that honesty, because I believe sharp honesty is the only thing that would have shattered my subconscious settings, the ones that continually told me that white, heteronormative supremacy was natural and good.

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Here's the thing: You can look at that sentence and say to yourself: That's not me.

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But what I learned quickly in my own personal work is that it is me; it is all of us who aren't keeping ourselves conscious of this nation's history and the ways in which white supremacy, heteronormativity, neurotypical bias, to name a few, are everywhere and all-encompassing. Without active work and vigilance, I believe it's next to impossible to make any true progress.

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           Read some of my personal exploration on being more aware and anti-racist. 

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My entry was following Ta-nehisi Coates on Twitter. I don't even remember how I came upon his feed, but his profile picture was General Ulysses S. Grant and though I might not have been his target audience, I followed in silence and began diving deeper into history I hadn't thought about in years against the backdrop of a nation in crisis.

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Am I sometimes ashamed that the more earnest work, the more serious personal growth, took me until my 40s? Truthfully, yes. But that's tempered by the idea that at least the work is happening.

 

I'm awake now and there is no going back to sleep.

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Where I Started

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​The links I'm sharing are to articles and content that was foundational for me as I started to think about my place in this world, as well as the ways white, heteronormative, neurotypical, patriarchal supremacy shaped my experiences and understanding of both myself and myself in relation to others.

 

This work is delicate and vulnerable. These readings might not resonate fully with you and where you are, and they are not the entirety of my reading. This is work I still do today; it's work that really has no end.

 

But when I think back to some of the first pieces of writing that really shook me out of my fog (and still does today), I think of Ta-nehisi Coates's The Case for Reparations and Karen E. Fields's and Barbara J. Fields's "Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life."

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The below reading might not do the same for you. But, my hope is that you'll find a starting point that will lead you to do the deeper work necessary for personal growth. 

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My best piece of advice is to go slow. When you feel your defenses rising and you want to deny "x" happened or that "y" couldn't possibly be a person's experience in and of America, lean into that feeling and sit quietly. Often, when you're honest, it's not that you can't believe it but that you don't want to believe it. When possible, doing this work in community can be helpful.​

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