Me & White Feminism

I’ve learned that what I understood feminism to be was actually white feminism. White feminism has been fighting for equality and justice for white women first, but never coming back to fight for or recognize the needs of BIWOC. Nothing included in my education ever mentioned non-white feminism. I have read Alice Walker, bell hooks,…

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Me & Optical Allyship

My internal dialogue when approaching or speaking to BIPOC is often, “Whatever you do, don’t fuck this up by saying the wrong thing! Act natural! Be cool!” That script is far from helpful and usually creates anxiety that makes me stick my foot in my mouth anyway. I thought that doing my work meant not…

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Me & White Saviorism

#WhiteSaviorism Even though I am committed to this challenge and have been doing my work each day… Just yesterday a white friend and I spent several hours brainstorming a podcast that would “give voice” to stories of BIPOC. I read an article where a Native American woman said the best thing she could be offered…

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Me & Tokenism

I’ve tried to create and maintain relationships with BIPOC to benefit from their perspectives and as a way to change the fact that most of the people I know are white. I am guilty of trying too hard to build these friendships too quickly and aggressively rather than allowing a natural progression so I can…

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Me & White Apathy

The biggest gut punch when it comes to me and white apathy is that I didn’t previously see any personal benefit to looking very closely at my own racism. To be brutally honest, I didn’t care enough to make it a priority. What motivated me to start caring was that I agreed to do a…

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Me & White Supremacy: The Halfway Point

I’ve made it to Day 14 of 28 of the #meandwhitesupremacy challenge. This is the halfway point recap of what I’ve been learning about myself. I’ve taken a few days off because to really do justice to this work, I end up spending 3-5 hours a day writing, re-writing, reading, listening and educating myself. I…

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Me & White Supremacy

What I’ve learned so far about White Supremacy is that it applies to and includes me. That seems so obvious when I write it down, but it certainly was not obvious to me before so I needed to write it down and remember it. I am a product of white supremacy and a bigger part…

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Me & White Silence

One of my most dangerous mistakes regarding racism has been to view the word itself as vulgar and it’s meaning only as overt expressions of hatred, superiority over, or prejudice against of BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color.) With that definition, there was no way that it applied to me. Not questioning, reevaluating or expanding…

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Me & Tone Policing

What I have learned about myself and tone policing is that I center myself, my comfort and feelings over the content & context of what is being expressed to me. I have pushed back from conversations (and friendships) because I have thought to myself, “All they ever talk about is race.” “I can’t handle the…

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