Jemel Roberson

It’s not an accident or a mistake that Illinois police shot security guard #JemelRoberson, who risked his life to protect others as he apprehended a drunk, violent gunman. It’s systemic racism. Black, indigenous, people of color die/get shot when white people ignore, deny or are blind to our racial bias. It takes continuous work to…

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Tone Policing

If you feel the need to say “Not all white people,” you should watch this video. It’s not only aggravating to the very people you are opening your mouth to say that you are down with, it’s also counter-productive, unnecessary, and an exhibit of white privilege to believe that you have the right to demand…

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Me & White Supremacy • Post Week 3

This week I’ve become aware that my brand of white supremacy is ignorance. Not being in spaces to hear BIPOC communicating with each other about current events. I haven’t sought out, heard or listened to the outrage, pain and devastation about the black & brown lives that are lost and how exhausted BIPOC are from…

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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 & 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 Exceptionalism

My White Exceptionalism is a seductive force tempting me back into ignorance every time I widen my lens and begin to grasp the magnitude of racism and the reach of white supremacy. Exceptionalism is behind every urge that I have to make a case for why my racist behaviors are a misunderstanding or somehow justified,…

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Me & White Superiority

Yesterday I had a white fragility meltdown…the kind described by author Dr. Robin DiAngelo in her definition of white fragility. I’m still pretty unglued today staring my White Superiority in the face. I started, stopped and started over 6 different times in my attempt to dig deeper and be all the way honest about my…

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