What is Anti-Racism?
Excerpt from What it Means to Be Anti Racist by Anna North, VOX News
“The term itself has come to be used to describe what it means to actively fight against racism rather than passively claim to be non-racist. Anti-racism involves ‘taking stock of and eradicating policies that are racist, that have racist outcomes and making sure that ultimately, we’re working towards a much more egalitarian, emancipatory society.’
Part of that work is acknowledging our own positions in a white supremacist system. So I should acknowledge that I am a white woman, and as such, I can’t talk about what it feels like to experience racism, or to fight against it as a person of color. But it’s also not the responsibility of people of color to fix racism or explain to white people how not to be racist.
The concept of anti-racism has its roots in abolition, Ranganathan said — not just the end of slavery but also the call for structural changes in a post-emancipation society, like the eradication of prisons.
To be an anti-racist, requires an understanding of history — an understanding that racial disparities in America have their roots, not in some failing by people of color but in policies that serve to prop up white supremacy. The coronavirus pandemic, during which black and Latinx people in many communities have been disproportionately likely to become ill and die, is just one example.“
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