All The Book Blog Names Are Taken: Me and White Supremacy Book Talk

Showing posts with label Me and White Supremacy Book Talk. Show all posts

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Book Talk Summary: Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

First off, thank you to everyone who participated in the discussions from the book over the last twenty eight days. I love that discussions occurred here, as well as via Twitter, Facebook, and even over the phone.

These are heavy, uncomfortable topics. But, they are also massively important topics. If we want to be allies to our BIPOC Sisters and Brothers, we must confront all aspects of white supremacy and tear it down.

There are several posts I have not yet added my answers to, and I confess that sometimes it is exhausting to think about - truly think about and figure out how to do better and be better. But I remind myself that if this is all exhausting to THINK about, how absolutely awful must it be to LIVE with the consequences of white supremacy as part of your daily life as a BIPOC?

I will be adding my own answers to those posts where I have not done so yet and I hope we can continue to have these conversations. I have learned from others already, and I hope to continue to do so.

Here is the link to all 28 days' worth of posts for you to peruse and mull over, and I look forward to continuing these important conversations with you.

In solidarity,

Sarah

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 28

I began this book last week and would love to have discussions based on the prompts provided within the book. The book is set up so that after each day's reading, there are a handful of prompts to respond to. Feel free to respond to as many or as few as you like. I would love for this to be a discussion and a place where we can learn and grow together. Please be honest, because that is the only way anything will change.

Additionally, I have been compiling a list of books under the #BlackLivesMatter Reading List tab. I am usually adding books daily that I find, or are recommended by others. Please leave a comment on that page if you have titles to add. I hope you can find titles on this list that you will learn from as well.

Day Twenty-Eight Commitments

1. Write three concrete, out-of-your-comfort-zone actions you are committed to taking in the next two weeks toward antiracism.

Saad offers some examples, stressing the importance of making these actions as specific as possible both in the who/what/where/when/why and how you will hold yourself accountable for these actions

uncomfortable conversations you need to have
significant changes in your life you need to make
someone you need to call in/out
sincere apologies you need to make
organizations you need to begin volunteering at

2. Starting today and over the next week, begin to write down your commitments to this work

Saad offers the following prompts to aid in crafting commitment statements.

I am committed to showing up for this lifelong antiracism work because...
I am committed to challenging my white fragility by...
I am committed to using by voice for antiracism work by...
I am committed to challenging racism in other people with white privilege by...
I am committed to uplifting, supporting, and centering BIPOC by...
I am committed to financially supporting the following BIPOC movements and causes...
I am committed to decentering myself as a person with white privilege by...
I am committed to continuing my lifelong antiracism education by...
I am committed to the following values that will help me practice antiracism...
I am committed to breaking through my white apathy by...
I am committed to showing up even when I make mistakes by...
I am committed to using my privilege for antiracism by...
I am committed to challenging my optical allyship by...
I am committed to being a good ancestor by...

Saad also encourages readers to place these statements where we can see them each day. She also recommends holding ourselves accountable by sharing these statements with others in our lives who are also committed to doing this lifelong antiracism work.

Thank you to everyone who has joined in the conversation over the last twenty-eight days. Some days these questions were really hard to answer honestly, but I hope that anyone who read the posts, commented, or worked through the prompts in private has found value here. I learned a lot about myself and had some very eye-opening moments.

We can all do better. We MUST do better. It is not enough to be "not racist". We must be firmly and loudly antiracist.

In solidarity,

Sarah

Friday, July 24, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 27

Day Twenty-Seven Prompts

1. In what ways will your privilege need to change in order for you to consistently practice antiracism?

2. How will you need to change the way you take up space for and with BIPOC?

3. How will you need to show up differently for BIPOC?

4. What risks must you be willing to take? What sacrifices must you be willing to make?

5. What comforts must you be willing to lose?

6. In what ways will you need to take greater responsibility?

7. How will you need to decenter whiteness and the white gaze?

8. How will you need to lose privilege and safety in your friendships, workspaces, businesses, families, spiritual communities, and other white-centered spaces?

9. Are you willing to lose your white privilege after everything you've learned here?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 26

Day Twenty-Six Prompts

1. To what extent have your values helped your ability to practice antiracism?

2. What contradictory values do you hold that hinder your ability to practice antiracism?

3. What new core values and beliefs do you feel you need to integrate after doing this work in order to better practice lifelong antiracism?

4. How has your desire to be seen as a good person with white privilege prevented you from actually being "good"?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 25

Day Twenty-Five Prompts

1. How do you feel about speaking up against racism and white supremacist beliefs and actions to your family members?

2. How have you excused or ignored your family members' racist behaviors because addressing them seems too difficult and you want to keep the peace?

3. How have you excused your elders' racism because they are "from another time"?

4. If you are a parent, how do you speak to your children about racism beyond "we don't see color"? How early did you or will you speak to your children about racism and white privilege? How early did your parents or caregivers speak to you about racism and white privilege?

5. What racist beliefs have you internalized from your family?

6. To what extent do you place white comfort over antiracism in your family?

7. What are some ways in which you can begin to have deeper conversations with your family about racism?

8. How do you allow perfectionism to get in the way of having racial conversations with your family?

9. In what ways do you (or can you) organize your family to show up for BIPOC in your communities? Not from a place of white saviorism, but rather by volunteering at and donating to antiracist movements and organizations being led by BIPOC in your communities?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 24

Day Twenty-Four Prompts

1. How have you responded when you have witnessed racist words and actions from people in your life?

2. How have you stayed silent or made excuses for them in your mind?

3. How have you thought it was not worth the hassle because of the discomfort of rocking the boat? Or how have you seen it as your responsibility to address it with them since you have more influence over them because of your friendship?

4. Are there certain people you feel more comfortable speaking up to than others? Why is that?

5. Are there certain people you continue to stay in friendship with even though they are problematic and refuse to change?

6. How have you risked these relationships by calling in/out racist behavior, even if nobody was going t thank you for it?

7. How do you feel about your friends who are not doing their own personal antiracism work?

8. What efforts have you made to invite your friends into doing antiracism work with you?

9. How have you allowed your friends to influence you not to engage in antiracist work?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Monday, July 20, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 23

Day Twenty-Three Prompts

1. Knowing what you now know about white supremacist behaviors across Days 1-22, how do you respond when you witness white leaders behaving in these white supremacist ways:

When white leaders tone police BIPOC?
When white leaders claim color blindness?
When white leaders use anti-Black tropes or racist stereotypes?
When white leaders practice cultural appropriations?
When white leaders practice optical allyship and white saviorism?

2. When you have witnessed white leaders practicing these behaviors, how do you own your white fragility and white silence get in the way of you asking them to do better?

3. How does your fear of loss of privilege and comfort hold you back from asking white leaders to do better?

4. How aware have you been of whether white leaders you follow are doing deeper antiracist work? How much of a priority has it been for you to push them to go beyond the visual effect of diversity?

5. If you are in a leadership position, how do you plan to respond to your own behaviors going forward? How do you plan to hold yourself accountable to doing better?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 22

Day Twenty-Two Prompts

White feminism - an epithet used to describe feminist theories that focus on the struggle of white women without addressing distinct forms of oppression faced by ethnic minority women and women lacking other privileges (definition given at 69%)

1. To what extent has your idea of feminism been under the issue of gender only?

2. How has your feminism neglected or minimized the issues of BIPOC?

3. How has your feminism rejected, discounted, or simply ignored BIPOC leaders?

4. How has your feminism been white-centered?

5. If you are someone who has called yourself an intersectional feminist, in what ways have you been centering BIWOC?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 21

Day Twenty-One Reflections

1. What more have you learned about yourself and your unique, personal brand of white supremacy?

2. In what ways have you realized behaviors you have thought were "not that bad" were actually very harmful?

3. Where are you beginning to see your biggest challenge is when it comes to your personal antiracism work?

4. Where are you starting to do your work, and where are you still holding back?

5. What other dots have you started connecting when reflecting on the work you have done so far?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Friday, July 17, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 20

Day Twenty Prompts

Call in/call outs - methods of calling attention to problematic, harmful, and oppressive behaviors with the ultimate aim being changed behvior and the making of amends (definition at 64%)

1. What have you felt, thought, said, or done when called in/out? How have you centered yourself and your intentions over BIPOC and the impact of your actions?

2. If it has not happened to you yet, how do you think you will react when it happens, based on your level of self-awareness, personal antiracism work, and white fragility?

3. When you have been called out/in, how have you handled apologizing and making amends?

4. What are your biggest fears about being called out/in?

5. Think back over the topics we have covered so far in this book. What behaviors and beliefs most get in your way of being able to respond appropriately to being called out/in?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 19

Day Nineteen Prompts

Allyship - an active, consistent, and challenging practice of unlearning and reevaluating, in which a person of privilege seeks to work in solidarity with a marginalized group (definition given at 49%)

Optical allyship - allyship that only serves on a surface level to platform the 'ally', it makes a statement but doesn't go beneath the surface and is not aimed at breaking away from the systems of power that oppress (definition at 62%)

1. How have you practiced optical allyship when it comes to antiracism?

2. What benefits have you sought out and/or received by practicing optical allyship?

3. How have you responded when called out for optical allyship?

4. How have you felt when you have not been rewarded for your acts of optical allyship?

5. How has your motivation to show up in allyship been dependent upon what other people think about you or how you are perceived?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling Systemic Racism Day 18

Day Eighteen Prompts

White saviorism - the belief that people with white privilege, who see themselves as superior in capability and intelligence, have the obligation to "save" BIPOC from their supposed inferiority and helplessness (definition at 59%)

1. What white savior narratives have you noticed yourself buying into (whether consciously or unconsciously)?

2. In what ways have you believed that BIPOC are helpless and require intervention from people with white privilege?

3. In what ways have you tried to intervene or offer instruction or guidance, believing that your (superior white) view would offer the best solutions?

4. In what ways have you spoken over BIPOC or for them because you felt you could explain their needs and experiences better than they could? In what ways have you put BIPOC words through a white filter?

5. How have you unconsciously thought about dismantling racism as something that you needed to give your "help" to as a good white savior?

6. what has your reaction been when BIPOC have told you or other people with white privilege that they do not need your "help" and that instead they need to you listen, do the work, and follow BIPOC leadership? What reactions have you noticed coming up (e.g., white fragility, tone policing, white exceptionalism, white superiority, etc.)?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 17

Day Seventeen Prompts

Tokenism - the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especilly by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality within the workforce (definition at 57%)

1. How have you justified your racism by using your proximity to BIPOC?

2. How have you tokenized BIPOC to prove your words, thoughts, or actions are nor racist?

3. How have you tokenized or weaponized one BIPOC against another BIPOC?

4. If you are a business owner, how have you tokenized BIPOC or BIPOC culture in your brand?

5. If you believe you have never tokenized BIPOC, how have you stayed silent when you saw it happening?

6. when you have lauded organizations or events for being diverse because they appear to have a few BIPOC, how much farther have you looked into their actual practices and policies toward BIPOC? How have you mistaken the look of diversity for actual inclusivity and equity?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Monday, July 13, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 16

Day Sixteen Prompts

White centering - the centering of white people, white values, white norms, and white feelings over everything and everyone else (definition at 54%)

1. How is your worldview a white-centered one?

2. How have you reacted when whiteness or you as a white person are not centered in spaces and conversations?

3. How have you judged BIPOC when they do not measure up to white-centered standards?

4. How have you centered yourself as a person with white privilege in nonwhite spaces and conversations?

5. What are you beginning to understand about how white centering affects BIPOC?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Book Talk |Dismantling White Supremacy Day 15

Day Fifteen Prompts

White apathy - the choice to stay in the warm and safe comfort of white supremacy and the privileges it affords (51%); arises as a self-preservation response to protect oneself from having to face your complicity in the oppression that is white supremacy (50%)

1. In what ways have you been apathetic when it comes to racism?

2. In what ways have you observed people who hold white privilege in your communities (family, friends, work) being apathetic when it comes to racism?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 14

Day Fourteen Reflection

1. What have you begun to see that you cannot unsee?

2. What have you begun to unearth about yourself when it comes to white supremacy?

3. What have these last thirteen days (and especially the last six days) shown you about how white supremacy works through you?

4. What have you learned about the dehumanizing ways you think about and treat BIPOC and why?

5. What have you learned about yourself and anti-Blackness?

6. If you are biracial, multiracial, or a Person of Color holding white privilege, what has this week brought up for you? How can you find grounding and self-care for yourself after this heavy week?

7. If you came to this book thinking you were "one of the good white people" or an ally to BIPOC, how do you feel about that now?

8. How are you thinking differently about your white privilege, white fragility, white tone policing, white silence, whiter superiority, and white exceptionalism now?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Friday, July 10, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 13

Day Thirteen Prompts

Cultural Appropriation - the adoption or exploitation of another culture by a more dominant culture, such as its objects, symbols, motifs, rituals, artifacts, and other cultural elements (definitions at 45 and 46%)

1. How have you or do you appropriate from nonwhite cultures?

2. What actions have you taken when you have seen other white people culturally appropriating? Have you called them out? Or have you used your white silence?

3. Have you been called out for cultural appropriation? How did you respond?

4. How have you profited (socially or financially) from cultural appropriation?

5. How have you excused cultural appropriation as being "not that bad"? How do you feel about it now having done thirteen days of this work?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 12

Day Twelve Prompts

What have you learned about you and racist stereotypes? Begin by making a list of the different racial groups of people found in your country. Where possible, break these down into countries.

1. What are some of the national racial stereotypes in your country - spoken and unspoken, historic, and modern - associated with Indigenous people and non-Black POC?

2. What are the racist stereotypes, beliefs, and thoughts you hold about different racial groups of people? In what ways do you paint them all with one brush rather than seeing them as complex individuals?

3. How do you think about POC who are citizens in your country differently from those who are recent immigrants? How do you think about those who are more assimilated versus those who are less assimilated (e.g., if this practice your country's social norms, if they have accents that sound like yours, etc.)?

4. How do you think about and treat Indigenous children and non-Black children of color differently from white children?

5. How do think about and treat darker-skinned Indigenous people and POC differently from those who are lighter-skinned?

6. In what ways have you superhumanized parts of the identities of Indigenous people and POC while dehumanizing other parts?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 11

Day Eleven Prompts

1. Think about the country you live in. What are some of the national racial stereotypes - spoken and unspoken, historic, and modern - associated with Black children?

2. How do you think about Black children who are citizens in your country differently from those who are recent immigrants?

3. How have you viewed or how do you view Black children when they are young versus when they get to their teens and young adulthood?

4. How have you treated Black children differently than white children? And how have you treated darker-skinned Black children differently from lighter-skinned Black children?

5. How have you tokenized or fetishized "cute Black kids" or "cute mixed kids'?

6. How have you wanted to "save" Black children?

7. If you are a white or biracial parent of Black children, what antiracism work have you been doing on yourself and in your communities to make the world a safe space for your children? Do you protect your kids when someone others your Black children, or do you retreat into white silence?

Let's talk!

Sarah

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Book Talk | Dismantling White Supremacy Day 10

Day Ten Prompts

1. Think about the country you live in. What are some of the national racial stereotypes - spoken and unspoken, historic, and modern - associated with Black men?

2. What kinds of relationships have you had and do you have with Black men, and how deep are those relationships?

3. How do you think about Black men who are citizens in your country differently from those who are recent immigrants?

4. How have you treated darker-skinned Black men differently from lighter-skinned Black men?

5. What are some of the stereotypes you have thought and negative assumptions you have made about Black men, and how have these affected how you have treated them?

6. How have you excluded, discounted, minimized, used, tone policed, or projected your white fragility and white superiority onto Black men?

7. How have you fetishized Black men?

8. How much freedom do you give Black men in your mind to be complex and multilayered human beings?

Let's talk!

Sarah