Anti-Racism Resource Guide

The next step in the anti-racist journey is confronting racist interactions between yourself and others. This means being able to talk about race and intervene when racist moments occur. 

Talking about racism is hard, but being uncomfortable is required for a productive dialogue. Racism is a loaded topic because of our different backgrounds. Dialogue can trigger people, especially when their racial norms are disrupted, making them feel uncomfortable or even threatened. When someone or their actions are called out as being racist, it could be taken as an insult or an attack on a person’s character - which might create hostility. It could be easy to disengage from conversations about racism because they may be challenging. Remember - racism affects everyone; it requires everyone’s participation in these conversations to dismantle it. Use the topics below to learn more about navigating and talking about racism.

Before beginning a discussion on race, it is vital to assess your comfort level on the subject. Part of becoming comfortable with the discomfort of talking about race and racism is understanding our own beliefs and dealing with our own fears. Therefore, before initiating any group discussion, do a simple self-assessment from Stanford’s IDEAL Engage framework (Adapted from Teaching Tolerance). Consider the following statements and select the one that best describes how you feel:

• I would rather not talk about race/racism.
• I am very uncomfortable talking about race/racism.
• I am usually uncomfortable talking about race/racism.
• I am sometimes uncomfortable talking about race/racism.
• I am usually comfortable talking about race/racism.
• I am very comfortable talking about race/racism.

Then finish the following two sentences:

• The hard part of talking about race/racism is…
• The beneficial part of talking about race/racism is...

After reflecting on your comfort level, think about how you will stay engaged when the topic of race arises. For example:

• Ask questions and actively listen.
• Join a support group/take a class to build skills and share experiences/tips.
• Learn from and use provided resources.

Even after you conduct your self-assessment, you must not rush into the conversation. Talking about race requires cultivating a trusting, humble, and accountable relationship and culture. For BIPOC individuals, dialogue may be greeted with trepidation due to an informed concern about their own psychological, professional, or physical safety. It can also be perceived as a burden for BIPOC individuals, who are disproportionately asked to speak on racism, prove their experience of racism, or educate others about racism. 

Cultivating a culture of trust and safety to speak on race requires you to practice humility, empathy, and personal accountability. It is crucial to lay out methods to mitigate discomfort, such as setting boundaries, asking to revisit the conversation later, redirecting the conversation to an ally, or seeking support from trusted colleagues. Use the resources to learn frameworks and additional tools when navigating these conversations.

In your anti-racist journey, you will inevitably make a mistake and get called in on it. When confronted about a mistake, one typical response is to focus on the intention of your statement —reinforcing one’s “goodness”—rather than focusing on the impact of the words or deeds. This is an understandable response for people who have learned that racism is morally wrong but have not been taught the complex ways racism operates. This reaction is known as white fragility. White fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. This fragility can come out in different ways. For example,

• You may experience an outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, or guilt.
• You may argue, be silent, or leave the situation or conversation.
• You want to get back to no conflict and no inner feelings of dissonance, so you reinstate white racial equilibrium. White racial equilibrium is a social, historical, and cultural location where white people feel comfortable with how race, racism, and whiteness are (and often are not) being presented (Drustrup et al., Investigating the white racial equilibrium and the power-maintenance of whiteness, 2022).

It is important to remember that good people live in a racist society. Just because someone identifies your words or actions as racist does not mean you are a terrible person. Defending your “goodness” forestalls productive conversation by centering the dialogue on the defense of intentions and character rather than how words and actions impact another person or reinforce inequitable systems. The inability to tolerate one’s discomfort thwarts productive dialogue. 

Trust your ability to navigate this discomfort when discomfort arises from a place of fear and unfamiliarity with a new idea or another experience, attempt to tolerate it, and tap into humility and accountability. Be BRAVE. Once these moments of conflict arise, apologize and move on. 

Guilt and defensiveness can make talking about racism difficult. Keep trying. White people, and others with race privilege, may wrestle with feelings of guilt when they begin to confront the idea that their race affords them certain privileges at the expense of people of color. They may feel angry and defensive when their hard work, struggle, and success seem undermined by suggesting that they have benefited from unearned privilege. This is a false dichotomy. One can have worked hard to succeed and overcome tremendous adversity AND STILL benefit from a system that elevates whiteness. 

Emotions such as guilt and defensiveness can stifle progress and understanding in racial dialogue(s). If these emotions arise in you, try to identify them, tolerate the discomfort, and persist in conversations focusing on active listening and humble inquiry. If these emotions occur in someone else and the conversation becomes unproductive or hostile, consider revisiting the discussion with a facilitator after a cooling-off period.

Unlearning your racist thoughts and actions, being able to talk about race, and overcoming your racial guilt are all essential steps to becoming an ally. The Anti-Oppression Network defines allyship as an active, consistent, and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating, in which a person in a position of privilege and power seeks to operate in solidarity with a marginalized group. Allyship is a verb, not an identity. Like being anti-racist, it is a process of continued actions and learning. It is about using your privilege because it is the right thing to do, not out of guilt. Some responsibilities of being an ally include:

• Actively acknowledging our privilege and power and openly discussing them.
• Listening more and speaking less. Allies hold back on our ideas, opinions, and ideologies and resist the urge to “save” the people we seek to work with as, with adequate resources and support, they will figure out solutions that meet their needs.
• Work with integrity and direct communication. Allies take guidance and direction from the people we seek to work with (not the other way around), and we keep our word.
• Not expecting to be educated by others. Instead, allies continuously learn and research the oppressions experienced by the people we seek to work with, including history, news, and what realities are created by systems of oppression.
• Build the capacity to receive criticism, be honest and accountable for mistakes, and recognize that being called out for making a mistake is a gift—in honor of trust to receive a chance to be a better person.
• Embrace the emotions that come out of the process of allyship, understanding that we will feel uncomfortable, challenged, and hurt.
• Understand that our needs are secondary to the people we seek to work with. Allies are responsible for our self-care and recognize that part of the privilege of our identity is that we have a choice about whether or not to resist oppression. Therefore, allies do not expect the people we seek to work with to provide emotional support (and we’re grateful if they do).
• Allies do not expect awards or special recognition for confronting issues that people have to live with every day and redirect attention to the groups we are supporting and the issues they face when we do.

It is essential to follow all these steps; otherwise, it is possible to practice performative allyship. Performative allyship is the actions that make yourself better and do not look at your responsibility within a community. Actions that are self-gratifying and make you feel like you are “not racist,” rather than taking accountability for your racist actions and giving something up to help marginalized people, knowing it will not benefit you.

For example, in 2020, when Black Lives Matter activism erupted after the murder of George Floyd, a popular trend took off on Instagram, where people posted an image of a solid black square on their feed. While the image was supposed to symbolize solidarity for the movement, it did more harm than good. People’s feeds were flooded with these squares instead of seeing posts sharing helpful information - like resource sharing for protestors or spreading the news of how people were affected by police violence. This practice was not a useful way to be an ally; instead, it was people being reactionary and potentially posting with personal gratification to show solidarity without thinking about how to help the movement effectively.

Performative allyship is done to make yourself feel better, to “prove” you are not a racist, to create a perception of yourself for others, and to be trendy. An ally’s actions should benefit someone other than themself. You will only accomplish true allyship after it is no longer popular or trending to speak up; it is standing up for things knowing that the result will not benefit you.

In navigating everyday life, anti-racist allies recognize that our collective experience is rooted in decades of prejudice and racial bias. As a result, this matriculates into our daily lives unintentionally, including in what we say and our actions. Microaggressions can be defined as everyday, subtle invalidations, slights, insults, indignities, or behaviors that historically marginalized groups face on a day-to-day basis. Often unintentional, this behavior is usually derived from implicit bias towards racial groups. Microaggressions are different from Macroaggressions, which are large-scale, overt discrimination, in that many portrayers of microaggressions are not even aware of the impact of their actions.  

Commenting on how well someone speaks English, following someone around the store without probable cause, switching sides on the sidewalk, and feeling unsafe around someone based on their skin color alone are all examples of microaggressions. Although these may be unconscious, the “micro” in these microaggressions do not negate the life-altering implications they can have on people of color. This video below speaks more about the impact that experiencing too many microaggressions has on a person of color's mental, emotional, and physical health:

There are three types of microaggressions, as defined by The Cleveland Clinic: 

1. Microassaults: Microassaults are deliberate and intentional slights or insults meant to hurt the intended victim through name-calling, avoidant behavior, and purposeful discriminatory actions. Microassaults are pretty common, and the person committing the microassault often does not realize the severity.
2. Microinvalidations: Microinvalidations occur when someone attempts to discredit or minimize a person's experiences from an underrepresented group. 
3. Microinsults: Microinsults are rude, insensitive comments that subtly disrespect a person’s racial heritage or identity. This could be assuming a person is not intelligent based on appearance or implying that certain groups/people lack morals. Microinsults can be an alienating tactic, suggesting that someone does not belong or may struggle due to racial assumptions.

Identifying and challenging microaggressions and macroaggressions can be hard to navigate, but creating a better base of understanding the root of these actions and their impact on a person of color is a place to start.

Use the action continuum as you move along in your journey to becoming an anti-racist ally and confronting oppression. The action continuum is a self-assessment tool to help identify where in your journey you may find yourself against oppression. The spectrum has two poles, actively supporting oppression and actively confronting oppression. See below for a graphic showcasing the continuum and an explanation of each step (Information pulled from the Step Up Program and adapted from Adams, M., Bell, L., & Griffin, P. [1997]. Teaching for diversity and social justice: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.)

• Actively Participating: Telling oppressive jokes, putting down people from target groups, intentionally avoiding target group members, discriminating against target group members, and verbally or physically harassing target group members.
• Denying: Enabling oppression by denying target group members are oppressed. It does not actively oppress, but by denying that oppression exists, it colludes with oppression.
• Recognizing, No Action: Is aware of the harmful effects of oppressive actions by self or others but takes no action to stop this behavior. This inaction results from fear, lack of information, and confusion about what to do. Experiences discomfort at the contradiction between awareness and action.
• Recognizing, Action: Is aware of oppression, recognizes oppressive actions of self and others and takes action to stop it.
• Educating Self: Taking action to learn more about oppression and the experiences and heritage of target group members by reading, attending workshops, seminars, and cultural events, participating in discussions, joining organizations or groups that oppose oppression, and attending social action and change events.
• Educating Others: Moving beyond educating oneself to questions and dialogue with others. Rather than only stopping oppressive comments or behaviors, engage people in discussion to share why you object to a comment or action.
• Supporting, Encouraging: Supporting others who speak out against oppression or are working to be more inclusive of target group members by backing up others who speak out, forming an allies group, or joining a coalition group.
• Initiating, Preventing: Working to change individual and institutional actions and policies that discriminate against target group members, planning educational programs or other events, working for passage of legislation that protects target group members from discrimination, being explicit about making sure target group members are full participants in organizations or groups.

Depending on which community you are showing allyship towards and based on your own intersecting social identities, you can be in multiple places on the spectrum. Consider the following questions: What work am I currently doing? How could I change it to move further along the continuum? Do I put adequate time into stages further along the continuum?

By the time you reach the “Initiating, Preventing” stage, your work has started to move beyond the interpersonal level as you begin tackling institutional and structural change. It is time to start thinking about how you will use your knowledge and skills in talking about and confronting racism to focus on change that moves beyond your everyday interactions. Still, it tackles the policies and institutional structures you influence.