Becoming an Anti-Racist

Racial justice advocates have persuasively argued that those of us who want to engage in the cause of ending racial discrimination need to do more than not be racist—we need to be anti-racist. This means more than changing attitudes. It requires action. Toward that end, here are some thoughts about how these concepts and the table from Part 1 can apply to this work. 

ANGER

If we notice ourselves feeling anger about racial injustice perpetrated against black people: 

• Observe the emotion in a non-judgmental and open way. As we notice the emotion, it may shift into other emotions, memories, thoughts, and action urges.  
• Identify if there is a specific wrong that increases the anger. We can ask ourselves if we are willing and able to do something in the face of this wrong. 
• We can ask ourselves if doing something in response to the anger will hurt people in a vulnerable or weakened position. If so, we can reconsider the action and see if there is another way to express anger without hurting the vulnerable. 

*Remember*

• Anger is powerful and can be hard to control. It can help us get moving and quickly target an injustice, but it is also self-oriented. It quickly closes down the openness to multiple perspectives. This is good and helpful in cases of opposing oppression, abuse, and trauma where there is a clear wrong that needs to be opposed. It can also make it hard to not make the issue about ourselves and our anger. 
• Ruth King, author and speaker on topics of mindfulness and racial conditioning, says, “anger is not transformative, it is initiatory.” We can know if anger and indignation is righteous if it does not include hate for individuals but rather for oppression itself. Love is transformative. Anger can help us protect vulnerable people and help create a more loving world.

GUILT

If we notice ourselves feeling guilt about racial injustice perpetrated against black people: 

• Observe the emotion in a non-judgmental and open way. As we notice the emotion, it may shift into other emotions, memories, thoughts, and action urges.  
• We can identify any specific belief, action, or inaction on our part that is related to the guilt.  
• If the guilt is justified, we can let the emotion guide us to repair, change, or fix that specific wrong. Allowing guilt to guide us toward our values will typically require a “living amends” and a commitment to do our best to not fall back into the same behaviors that generated the guilt.  
• If there is not something specific, we can shift our focus from guilt to what we can do to become more educated about forms of racial injustice. Awareness in these areas may bring guilt or other emotions that can help guide us.

*Remember* 

• Ignoring or avoiding guilt can spoil it and turn it into shame or resentment, which are more toxic emotions. Shame comes with pervasive negative feelings about ourselves and resentment related to negative feelings toward others. 
• Guilt that leads to powerlessness can be overwhelming and can often get us stuck, cause us to give up, or to avoid our emotions in more harmful ways. 

POWERLESSNESS

If we notice ourselves feeling powerless about racial injustice perpetrated against black people: 

• Observe the emotion in a non-judgmental and open way. As we notice our emotion, it may shift into other emotions, memories, thoughts, and action urges.  
• Powerlessness often communicates, “there is nothing I can do.” We can check the facts of this thought. Are we truly lacking any power or ability to act? If not, then the emotion does not fit the facts. It may be true at some level but not in an absolute way. 
• Remember that small things can be big things. Remember the quote “Think globally and act locally.” Awareness of large-scale problems can be overwhelming and lead to powerlessness. But if we focus on our individual spheres of influence, we can be guided to small and specific things to do. If we don’t know where to start, we can ask a trusted source. Sometimes asking a black friend or family member can be difficult for them as they are often asked by non-black people for help in these matters. Before asking a black person, we can do our own research online or in books where practical tips are given on what we can do. 
• Powerlessness is often helped by appealing to a higher power (God), or a higher sense of purpose for those that don’t believe in God. We can use our spiritual practice (prayer, meditation, scripture reading, etc.) to find out how we can be anxiously engaged in ending oppression and racism in our areas of influence. 

*Remember*

• If our spiritual practice soothes away uncomfortable emotions related to injustice in the world – it is possible that this practice also keeps us disconnected from the pain of people who need our understanding, strength, and help. Avoiding painful emotions may help in the short term, but it may also prevent us from acting toward our values.

Learning to experience and work with our emotions is critical in living a values guided life. Emotions can be compared to miraculously fast neurobiological algorithms that quickly take in information, synthesizes it, and prepares our mind and body to act in the dynamic contexts we inhabit. We know that emotions can cause problems. Sometimes we avoid the pain of emotions or react from emotion to quickly. None of us are perfect in this regard. Let’s not lose sight of how helpful emotions can be when we learn how to use our logic and emotions together to move toward purpose and values.