This tuesday the anti racism group presented. Their presentation was both entertaining and educational. One part that stood out to me was the anti-racist part; they said something along the lines of it should not be racist and non racist, it should be labeled racist and anti racist. That really made me understand what needs to happen to reduce or even stop racism. We should not just say “oh i’m not racist, I treat everyone equally”, instead we should actively be not racist by standing up to those who are racist. Everyone I associate with is not racist (that I know of), but how many of them are actually anti racist? How many of them will stand up against racism because they truly believe it’s wrong. Their presentation even made me reflect about my own actions. I am not racist and like to think I lean towards anti racist, but now I need to learn how to be completely anti racist. What approaches can I take and things can I do to actively stop racism, and not have it be in a performative way? I feel like the term anti racist created more questions for myself, rather than answers, but I think questions are always a step in the right direction. Another thing that really stood out to me from their presentation was the privilege tally activity. I went in thinking I would have little tallies since in most popular categories like race, gender, and religion, I am a minority. I was surprised to end with 17/24 tallies. I realized that privilege is much more than physical appearance and that I should use the privileges I do have to advocate for those who don’t. Big thank you and good job to the anti racism group, you guys really made me pause and reflect about a lot of things!
2 thoughts on “How can I be anti-racist?”
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Hi!
I agree with you, I really enjoyed the privilege tally activity. There were so many statements that I wouldn’t even consider being a privilege! Being righthanded, for example! I ended up with 21/24 tally marks. I was not really surprised by this number, I kind of expected it. I think I understand that I am very privileged, I just didn’t really think about it until now. I think this activity is going to make me more conscientious about my privilege, and now I understand what goes into being privileged.
This is such a great reflection, and after the presentation by the anti-racism group I had many of the same thoughts. I especially love how you think about the people you are close with and if they are actually anti-racist. This is definitely something I will be thinking about in the future, as well as finding more ways that I can be anti-racist and not just “not racist”.