When someone asks you to condemn white supremacy, you do it. 

By Guimel DeCarvalho
Vice President of People & Culture and Chief Diversity Officer

Blog Image Photo Credit: Oregonian/Oregonian Live File

Below find a link to the Anti-Defamation League’s clear definition of white supremacy and an article from The Atlantic digging into the nuances of white supremacy and how how white supremacy shows up in our current culture. Lastly, find out how to “join the fight for justice, inclusion and fairness for all by reading The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights’ 10 concrete action items you can take to combat white supremacy.

Read the Anti-Defamation League‘s clear definition of white supremacy:

White supremacy is a term used to characterize various belief systems central to which are one or more of the following key tenets: 1) whites should have dominance over people of other backgrounds, especially where they may co-exist; 2) whites should live by themselves in a whites-only society; 3) white people have their own “culture” that is superior to other cultures; 4) white people are genetically superior to other people. As a full-fledged ideology, white supremacy is far more encompassing than simple racism or bigotry. Most white supremacists today further believe that the white race is in danger of extinction due to a rising “flood” of non-whites, who are controlled and manipulated by Jews, and that imminent action is need to “save” the white race.

Learn the language of white supremacy. White supremacy reveals itself in the nuances of how it shows up in our current culture. Read how in The Atlantic’s piece “The Language of White Supremacy.”

Do something to stop it. The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights lists 10 concrete action items you can take to stop white supremacy. 

The post One Anti-Racist Action You Can Take Today: Condemn White Supremacy appeared first on Wayside Youth & Family Support Network.

Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, marks the day when Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas to announce the end of the Civil War and slavery. It was June 19, 1865 and although the Emancipation Proclamation had freed slaves more than two years earlier there was minimal enforcement in Texas due to a lack of Union troops. 

Each year, Juneteenth is a day for Black people to celebrate freedom. This year Juneteenth carries deeper meaning in the wake of Black lives lost to police brutality in the last few weeks and months. It’s hard to think that freedom is on the minds or in the hearts of Americans after the murder of George Floyd, after demonstrations for liberation or after the President was planning a political rally today.

Black and Brown people are calling on white people to stand with them and take action. They’ve been fighting too hard and too long. ​​​It made us think about what do we want white people to do to celebrate Juneteenth? 

10 Things We Want White People to Do to Celebrate Juneteenth

1. We want white people to deeply consider the wound of racism on the hearts of every Black American.
2. On Juneteenth we want white people to read, study Black history, Black poets, Black leaders, Black achievements.
3. We want white people to do things about racism as readily as they do things for their own children.
4. We want white people to make a list of resolutions, of promises, of vows about what will it take for them to use their power, their privilege, their platforms of power to give space to Black and Brown leaders.
5. We want them to find an accountability partner and make the list public of what actions they will take. They CAN do this on social media. A lot of those actions will be giving up privilege and making room for folks who they may not have noticed have no room at all.
6. We want white people to stop talking about how uncomfortable it is to talk about racism or police violence.
7. We want white people to stop being afraid of their own internalized white supremacy. We want them to search and look within at hard facts of thought and deed. Who cares about being comfortable? What about being true, brave and real instead?
8. Then we want white people to stop talking and listen to what needs to be done.
9. We want white people to plan on spending time in spaces with folks who are not like you.
10. We want white people to hold other white people accountable not on social media, instead with measured voices that call folks in to look and wrestle – to change. We are interested in courageous conversations, in hearing folks out and in allowing themselves to feel terrible and to let that feeling be a crucible for change.

The post 10 Things We Want White People to Do to Celebrate Juneteenth appeared first on Wayside Youth & Family Support Network.