A Common Mistake in Social Justice Work

One of our Conscious Anti-Racism training participants recently asked if we offered a sort of 'Cliff Notes' 1-pager version of our training for them to refer to when needed. Our online training has 8 hours of video content, so it was an understandable request!

I've had similar questions myself, in particular when interviewing some of my podcast guests. On more than one occasion, I have found myself asking things like "What are the top 5 takeaways that my listeners should know when finding anti-racist books to read?" The guests, without fail, respond that this work can't be broken down into easy, chunkable to-do lists. We can't 'check the box' on learning about and fighting racism and other forms of oppression. It has to be a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing the world. We have to integrate it into everything we do, even if that happens more slowly than we'd like.

Here are some fairly simple things that I have personally found super helpful in keeping this work top of mind and integrating it into my day to day life, and I will offer them to you as an invitation.

I invite you to look at your social media feed, tv shows/movies you watch, podcasts you listen to, and books you read. As I've learned from my brilliant and insightful podcast guests, we tend to connect with things and people that we already resonate with. Lots of times those people/accounts that we connect with may look like us as well, so we keep exposing ourselves to more of the same. Following new social accounts for People of Color and people with other identities different from our own can be so so powerful and a daily exposure to ideas and perspectives that can reinforce this work. Also, being intentional about reading books by Black authors and authors from other different identities, listening to podcasts with hosts from different identities, and watching tv shows directed by and starring people from different identities.

If you already do some/all of these, maybe this can be an opportunity to take your practices even further. (For example, I follow a lot of Black people on social media, but I don't follow as many Latine or Indigenous people as I could.)

And just as importantly, I invite you to do 2 things when consuming this new content:

1. Stay in observer mode. This is a time to listen and learn about perspectives that are different from your own. If you don't agree, or if you think what they are saying doesn't apply to you, there's no need to share that in the comments. Find people in your own community that you can debrief with, or do a google search to learn more.
2. Notice your own physical and emotional reactions to what you read/heard. If something you read or hear irks you, it's a great opportunity to dig deep and ask yourself why. While it doesn't always feel good, I promise you will learn *so much* from this practice.

I'd love to hear from you what your favorite social media accounts, podcasts, books, or TV shows are- where have you learned the most?