How to be anti-racist

Image source: UUCSJ

I usually try to make this newsletter a respite from the news, but today it feels like a moral obligation to talk about the events of this week. We all have an obligation to pay attention and not turn away.

Non-black people may think that this doesn’t affect them and so they don’t have to care; that it’s not their problem. But that in itself is a privilege: the privilege to be able to look away because it doesn’t affect you is a luxury that black Americans do not have.

I included the image above, which I’ve seen on social media a lot this week, because I know many white people who think “racism” means the things at the top of the chart: the KKK, Nazis, very overt acts of racism. But there are many behaviors that are racist, on the bottom part of the chart, that white people often try to say are “not racist” when they are, in fact, forms of covert racism.

As they say: you can’t just be racist or not racist. “Not racist” presumes there is some neutral position on racism. You can be either racist or anti-racist. And being anti-racist doesn’t just mean thinking racism is bad; it’s actively fighting against racism. It’s calling out your white friends and family when they make racist jokes, even though it feels uncomfortable. It’s taking a look at your social circles, and if your friends are all white, questioning why that is. It’s thinking about what people really mean when they say “good schools” and “bad schools” and good and “bad” neighborhoods, and understanding a) what those coded terms really mean, and b) the forces that led to certain people living in certain areas and how it ended up that way — it’s not an accident that your suburb is virtually all white. It means investing in making the public school system better for everyone instead of sending your kids elsewhere to “better” (aka: more white) schools. It’s supporting your black colleagues, friends, neighbors, teammates. It’s supporting organizations that fight for racial equality with your dollars. It’s questioning and challenging your own unconscious biases towards black and brown people. It’s understanding why you should say “black lives matter” instead of “all lives matter.” It’s understanding that the story of this week’s protests is not about violence or property damage — that’s distracting from the real issue people are protesting, which is police brutality. Instead of shaking your head at protesters and wondering why there has to be violence, it’s doing what you can to speak up against police brutality to. Instead of invoking MLK, it’s understanding that the Civil Rights movement was not non-violent. Because, as my colleague Dylan Scott summed it up yesterday: “The protests will eventually end. But state-sanctioned violence against black Americans won’t.”

It’s not enough to just be “not racist.” We all need to actually show up.

Quarantine Cooking

This week I had a chicken parm craving so I made this recipe (and subbed in storebought marinara, b/c storebought is fine!). I also made these lamb tzatziki pitas and honey-chipotle shrimp tacos.

What I’m reading

Who are we reopening for?, Eater. I want nothing more than to be able to go to a restaurant, but even if restaurants reopen, it’s still risky.

Surviving it all, The Cut. Just an incredible piece; make time for this one.

From fruit-at-the-bottom to keto: how yogurt in America reflects its food trends, Vox.

Groundhog Day was a horror movie all along, The Atlantic.

How the pandemic turned Brene Brown into America’s therapist, Texas Monthly.

White women need to do better, Buzzfeed News.

Is it safe to keep employing a house cleaner? Wrong question, lady, New York Times. Roxane Gay is the new Work Friend columnist!

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