Week 6:
Becoming Fearlessly Anti-Racist

You’ve developed your white identity. You’ve recognized your white privilege. You’ve accepted your complicity in white supremacy. And you’ve developed tools to work through the emotions that arise when you’re looking to become an accomplice in the fight against white supremacy. You’ve done the work of looking within. Now it is finally time to do the work of reaching out to other white folks in your circle of friends, your family, and your community. It’s time to practice and perfect your pitch, connect with your community, and commit to daily anti-racist practice. It’s time to become fearlessly anti-racist.

A group of people leaping into the air, silhouetted at sunset.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Identify and address any lingering fears about taking anti-racist action.

  • Flawlessly deliver your anti-racist ‘elevator pitch.’

  • Engage your community in dialogues about race and racism.

  • Commit to daily anti-racist practice.

  • Live a fearlessly anti-racist life.

Glossary

Anti-Racist: A descriptor of ideas and actions meant to actively counter racism. Also used as a descriptor of individuals who make a consistent practice of engaging in such ideas and actions.

Dialogue: The practice of sharing your own experiences and listening to those of others, with the goal of liberating humanity from all forms of oppression.

What’s Holding You Back?

Before we dive deep on what it looks like to engage in fearlessly anti-racist action, we first want you to take a moment to pause and reflect on where you are now — and where you’ve come from.

Reflection: How have your beliefs about race, racism, and your role in disrupting white supremacy changed since the beginning of this program?

We’d also like you to take a look at what, if anything, may still be holding you back from living your fearlessly anti-racist life. Are you ready to take action to disrupt white supremacy? Are you ready to have conversations with friends and loved ones about race and racism? Are you ready to admit to your own implicit bias, passive racism, and white privilege, when challenged by others?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no’ — or if you have other fears that are holding you back — we encourage you to make use of the support system embedded into the structure of this program. Reach out to your accountability partner, make use of the Facebook group, or connect with us directly via email. If you need to, go back and re-examine some of the earlier lessons. We’ve also provided a few common fears below, along with advice on how to manage these fears. We all want you to be fearless, and we are all here to support you in your journey.

  1. I’m afraid of being called racist if I say or do the wrong thing.
    You’ve already done the hard work for admitting to your own implicit bias and passive racism. You’re also equipped with the tools you need to reframe your thoughts from “I can’t admit I’ve made a mistake!” to “This person is offering me an opportunity for growth, and I should gratefully accept their help.” If your goal is to never be called racist, you’ll never talk about race. But if your goal is to be fearlessly anti-racist, then you will get called racist from time to time, and some of the time the person accusing you will be right. That doesn’t make you a bad person, it just makes you human. Learn from your mistakes and do better next time.

  2. I’m afraid I’ll get called out for taking the platform away from people of color, if I talk about race and racism as a white person.
    White supremacy is a white problem. White people need to solve it. All of our friends and colleagues of color have told us — repeatedly — how tired they are of teaching white people about race and racism, and how white people need to be the ones taking up that burden. And it is a burden. Remember that most BIPOC do not engage in anti-racist education for fame or glory — they do it to educate people, and as a matter of survival. And most of them are not going to begrudge white folks for doing the work. In fact, black anti-racist educator Resmaa Menakem —whom we learned from last week — explicitly suggests that white people seek out the teachings of white, professional anti-racist educators like Robin DiAngelo and Tim Wise, and form white affinity groups (like this one).

  3. I’m afraid that by trying to do good I will inadvertently do harm (i.e., I’m afraid I don’t know enough to be an effective anti-racist).
    You know everything you need to know to talk to other white people about race and racism. As we’ll see below, dialogue (i.e., asking questions) is your best tool for giving yourself the time to recall everything you know, and to deploy it effectively. Now that you have learned — and unlearned — what you need for effective anti-racist action, inaction is no longer an option. You now know that there is no such thing as “do no harm” when it comes to racism. As white folks, we are always engaging in passive racism, unless we take proactive, anti-racist action. All that said, if you’re worried you don’t know enough — and especially if you think you do know enough — keep educating yourself! Our Resources page provides a great place to start.

 

If you’re still afraid that BIPOC will resent you, a white person, for talking to other white people about race and racism, Jasmine Roberts-Crews is here to set you straight (and give you a little refresher on several concepts we’ve covered in this course!).

 

Be Fearless. Be Anti-Racist. Be Fearlessly Anti-Racist.

Being fearlessly anti-racist consist of two elements.

The first is being fearless.

Much of this course has been dedicated to stripping you of your fear of talking about race and racism, and of taking action to interrupt racism when you see it. So much of our fear as white folks has to do with not wanting to ever be seen as racist. But being racist is an inevitable result of being raised in a white supremacist society. Once we accept our own racism, and recognize that we can be good, moral people and also be racist, we can sidestep the trap of trying to avoid being called racist. To be clear, acknowledging our racism — our complicity in white supremacy — does not mean that we are actively racist, nor does it mean that we cannot engage in anti-racist practice. But it does mean that we are no longer subject to the fear of being labeled as racist, because we have owned that label already. We are fearlessly anti-racist racists. And that is not a contradiction.

The second is being anti-racist.

You have been engaging in anti-racist action since you started this course (and possibly much longer). You have been working hard to rid a racist person of their racist tendencies. You have been slowly revealing to this person that they, in fact, have racist tendencies, despite their resistance to this idea. You’ve helped them to recognize and accept their white privilege and their complicity in white supremacy. (If it’s not clear at this point, the person we are talking about is YOU!) Everything you have learned and unlearned — all of the work you have done — has been anti-racist practice. First, it has been practice in the sense that you are practicing anti-racism like a doctor practices medicine. You have been doing the work. And do not sell yourself short — doing the work to improve yourself is still absolutely doing the work. Second, it has been practice in the sense that you are practicing anti-racism like an athlete practices their sport. You are preparing yourself to do this same work with other white folks, out in the world. You are ready.

Perfecting Your Pitch

The goal of this week — and this course — isn’t to make friends with BIPOC (though if that happens organically, great) or to show BIPOC what you have learned. The goal is to take your fearlessly anti-racist self into your community, amongst your family, friends and colleagues who also identify as white, and create sustained dialogues around whiteness and white supremacy.

Part of why we, as white folks, are so uncomfortable talking about race and racism is because we feel like we don’t know what to say. Or, more to the point, for those of us who have done the hard work of educating ourselves and working through our own complicity, we feel like we don’t know what to say in the moment. Crafting, practicing, and perfecting your anti-racist ‘elevator pitch’ is a great way to ensure that you never avoid conversations about race simply because you don’t know what to say. Conversations about race don’t need to be ‘off the cuff.’ And by perfecting your pitch before you find yourself embroiled in a conversation about race, you’ll be able to enter into that conversation confidently and courageously.

Think about a great singer/songwriter. They don’t come up with a new song and immediately play it on stage, in front of thousands of people. Instead they practice their song many, many times, both privately and perhaps in front of a smaller audience of friends and family members. Only after they have perfected their performance do they share their new song with the world. In the same way, if you want to be a great anti-racist, you’ll need to practice talking about — and interrupting — racism before you actually do it. Anti-racist practice is called practice for a reason (which we’ll return to later in this lesson).

You’ve been perfecting your pitch with your reflections and homework challenges for the past five weeks. You can think of your pitch as a one minute overview of everything you have learned — and unlearned — about white identity development, white privilege, and your complicity in white supremacy. In accordance with the principles of dialogue (which we will review below), the goal of your pitch should be to share with others what you have learned about yourself, living as a white person in a white society. Your pitch is about YOU, not about THEM.

Reflection: How have your conversations about race gone in the past? What approach did you take to these conversations? For example, did you try to persuade the other person, or to understand their experience?

Your pitch should be designed to begin dialogue with the individual with whom you’re sharing. This means that, after sharing your initial pitch, you should be prepared to step back and listen to the other person’s experience. Even if you disagree with them, it is important to stick to dialogue — to recognize their humanity and want the best for them. Remember that the person with whom you are conversing has lived and breathed the same racist cultural ideas that you have. They are not the enemy. White supremacy is the enemy. You can think of a conversation about racism and white supremacy like an exorcism — you don’t want to hurt the person who is possessed, you just want to banish the demon that is possessing them (their investment in white supremacy).

Galen explains Paulo Freire’s conception of dialogue, as it relates to anti-racist conversations.

Document: Freire on Dialogue

As you engage in dialogue, sharing your ideas and experiences, and listening to those of your community member, friend or family member, it is important to recognize that you will not likely transform a person’s beliefs in one conversation, even if that conversation is a constructive dialogue. It may take dozens of anti-racist dialogues, combined with personal life experiences, and anti-racist books, films, etc. just to move a person from the belief that systemic racism does not exist to the understanding that systemic racism does exist. The important thing is that every conversation — every dialogue — counts.

Here’s some guidance for how to craft the perfect fearlessly anti-racist pitch:

  1. Keep your pitch under one minute (30 seconds is ideal).

  2. Begin your pitch by reflecting on what they said/shared.

  3. Use yourself and your experience as an example to share why you disagree with them in a compassionate way — be sure to use I statements and show some vulnerability.

    If you are talking with a family member or friend, you can use shared memories or experiences to help them connect to your thought process.

  4. Always end the conversation with an invitation for further discussion and dialogue.

If your pitch is designed to disrupt a racist behavior, be sure to focus on the other person’s words and actions, rather than their character. This not only shows your love and respect for the other person (and hopefully keeps them from becoming closed off and defensive), it also keeps the dialogue focused on the system and culture of white supremacy (instead of the other person’s character). And, as Jay Smooth explains below, this is critical to holding the person accountable for their actions.

Jay Smooth explains “How To Tell Someone They Sound Racist.”

Note that you can (and should) have a few prepared pitches for different scenarios you are likely to encounter. A pitch that might be perfect for use with a close family member might not work with a casual co-worker (and visa versa). And not every pitch will be intended to interrupt a racist statement or action. Consider these three examples of pitches you might use in different contexts:

 

In your Community

You’re out running errands and you strike up a conversation with someone you know but are not close with. Eventually they say something like this, “I know this is going to sound racist, but…”

Suggested Pitch

Let me stop you right there. I know you’re a good person (or “you seem like a good person,” if you don’t know them that well), but let’s just own it; if it’s going to sound racist, it probably is. And it’s okay to admit that we carry racist tendencies. We all contribute to racism, myself included. I try my best to recognize my racist habits and interrupt them when I feel them coming on. Most of the time I find they are rooted in my own fear or ignorance. I care deeply for people of color and I do not want to bring any more harm to them through my own complicity in white supremacy. I’m curious — why do you feel like what you were about to say might be seen as racist?  

 

In the Workplace

Your coworker complains, “I am so over all this diversity training. Why can’t we all just get along and move on with our lives. Why does everything have to be about race?” 

Suggested Pitch

Yeah, race and racism can be heavy and feel burdensome, especially as a white person. But I think it is really relevant to the work we do. Did you know that white supremacy hurts all of us, even white people? I find myself uncomfortable when I am working alongside a person of color because I don’t want to say the wrong thing or be considered a racist. But I took this course on fearless anti-racism and once I realized that I was born and raised in a racist society, it made me less afraid to make mistakes, and to admit to them when I do. If you want to talk more about race and racism, I would love to grab coffee and talk more about your ideas on how we can all get along. 

 

With Family

You’re getting ready to host a family dinner and your mom says, “Remember, Uncle Kevin is coming and you know how he gets when we bring up race, so please avoid the subject tonight. I want this to be a fun, relaxing family gathering.” 

Suggested Pitch

I appreciate your feelings Mom, but I think it is important to talk about race, especially since we all identify as white. I love and respect Uncle Kevin and, if the topic comes up, I plan on having an honest and compassionate conversation with him. If we avoid talking about things that make us uncomfortable then black folks and other people of color will continue to suffer from our silent complicity. I have to work against my own complicity in our racist society by having hard conversations with the people that I hold near and dear. If you would like to join me in the conversation with Uncle Kevin, I would really like to hear what your feelings are too. 

Finally, if you’d like some audio examples of what a fearlessly anti-racist pitch might sound like, here are a couple of our pitches:

Remember, just writing out your pitch isn’t enough. Practice your pitch like you would rehearse for a concert or a play. Say it aloud to yourself in front of a mirror, or find a friendly white person who you can roleplay with. The idea is to have your pitch down flat, so that it’s second nature when you find yourself in need of it. And when the time comes, don’t stress over making sure you recite every word or phrase verbatim. Just be sure to cover the major beats of your pitch, and to end with an invitation to dialogue, asking about the other person’s thoughts or experiences.

You got this.

HOMEWORK CHALLENGE #1

Time to practice your pitch (after you’ve perfected it, of course!). This week, find an opportunity to roll out your fearlessly anti-racist elevator pitch. If you’re using a customized pitch for a certain situation or target audience (e.g., workplace, family members, etc.) be sure to use the right pitch in the right situation. Remember that the goal of your pitch is to give you a clear, comfortable path to initiating a dialogue about race and racism with another white person.

Reflection: Were you able to get through your whole pitch? Were you successful in starting a dialogue? If so what did you learn from the other person? How might you refine your pitch, now that it has been “stress tested” in the real world?

Finding Your Footing — Connecting with Your Community

The most important thing that we — as white people — can do to disrupt racism is to talk with other white people, and help them to become fearlessly anti-racist. While it may be tempting to take everything you’ve learned in this program and immediately begin posting on social media, we’re going to encourage you to start ‘small’ with your conversations, by connecting with your family, friends, and local community. Connecting with people you know is important because it’s much easier to recognize the humanity of — and thereby stay in dialogue with — people you know, and especially with people you love.

Using your pitch to engage friends and family members in dialogue about white identity, white privilege, and white supremacy is a great place to start, but it’s also just the beginning. At a minimum talk to people you know intimately. If you’re feeling braver, we’re going to challenge you to push against the edge of your comfort zone and set up intentional spaces or events to dialogue about whiteness in one of your communities (this could be your workplace, your church, a volunteer organization, or even just the folks in your neighborhood). As a member of your community, you are uniquely positioned to create spaces and events that will draw in the most white folks. What does your community look like, demographically? What do the white folks there like to do? Will they be attracted to an outdoor BBQ? An indoor film screening? A casual meetup at the local bar, after work? Can your event be openly advertised as a white affinity space, or do you need to be a little more stealthy? What would your community be receptive to?

Reflection: How does talking with several people about white supremacy feel different to you than talking to just one person at a time? How does your body react to the idea of hosting an event designed to create dialogue amongst a group of white people, about racism? What cognitive distortions (thought fallacies) might be leading to emotions that are holding you back from taking this step?

If you are planning to set up an event in your community that is going to include group dialogue, either in-person or online, here are some things to consider as you prepare for the event.

  1. Make sure the space is accessible. 

  2. Plan your event advance so people have enough time to make arrangements to attend. 

  3. Share expectations for dialogue at the beginning of the discussion.

    Examples for setting up expectations can be found here and here. 

  4. Create a brave space (see below).

  5. Provide an opportunity for follow-up.

Many professionals utilize brave spaces (as opposed to safe space) to hold space for conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion. These spaces encourage respect, inclusion, compassion and courageous intervention. The film The Color of Fear provides a great example of a brave space. The men of color in the film shared their fears and personal stories with David and Gordon — as well as the other men of color in the room — to express their frustrations and anger toward white supremacy. They also did this to illustrate to David and Gordon their complicity in white supremacy and the harm that comes from not thinking about your white identity. Although the film is a great example of people coming together and exposing their humanity and their vulnerability, it may look a little different in an all-white space or mostly white space. This is when you will have to use your fearlessly anti-racist skills to encourage deep and courageous dialogue. Didier Sylvain also provides some additional advice on creating brave spaces in the video below.

 

Life alignment coach Didier Sylvian explains how to use CARE to set up a brave space to facilitate a dialogue about race and racism. [Note the video’s built-in captioning is not perfect, so please use YouTube’s CC if you require closed captioning.]

 

You are uniquely positioned to host a gathering of white folks in your community, to talk about race and racism. This is because you can use your position as a white person to challenge systemic and individual racism. When you do this, one of your white privileges is that you will not be seen as self-serving and your ideas will be given due weight. This is not fair, but it is one of the ‘superpowers’ of whiteness, in the fight against white supremacy. This is why BIPOC need white accomplices to do this work, with other white folks. Talk to your family, talk to your friends, and talk to your communities. You can help each of them to become fearlessly anti-racist.

HOMEWORK CHALLENGE #2

This week, begin the process of setting up a gathering or ongoing white affinity group in one of your communities. We recognize that this process may take a couple weeks, but beginning the process now will solidify your commitment. At a minimum, begin talking to other white people in your community about your idea, so that they will hold you accountable for making it a reality.

Reflection: What lessons did you learn from this experience? What was most challenging about creating an event or affinity group? Where did you find unexpected help or ease? Who could you ask to help you plan the next event? What worked well during the actual event? What could you refine or redesign for next time?

Committing to Daily Practice

The #1 action you can take to live a fearlessly anti-racist life is to commit to daily practice. Without daily anti-racist practice, both your fearlessness and the effectiveness of your anti-racist actions will gradually diminish.

If you want to be an anti-racist, you have to practice anti-racism. I (Galen) played soccer as a child, and I occasionally kick the ball around with my kiddos, but I wouldn’t call myself a soccer player. A soccer player is someone who practices playing soccer all the time. It’s what they do (or at least a big, consistent part of what they do). In the same way, being an anti-racist means practicing anti-racism all the time.

The good news is that you have all the tools you need to engage in fearlessly anti-racist practice every day. Because the most important thing you can do as a white person is to talk with other white people, and to help them develop their white racial identity, recognize their white privilege, and eventually accept their complicity in white supremacy. You can ‘infect’ them with anti-racism and they can, in turn, do the same with other white folks. And when you need a break from chatting with other white folks about white supremacy, you can always work on yourself. Unlearning our own implicit biases and the ideology of white supremacy that we have all inherited is a lifelong endeavor, and one that you will need to constantly return to. But whether you are working on educating and transforming yourself or teaching and learning from others, you should always be engaging in anti-racist practice.

The best way to do this is to work anti-racism into your daily routine, just like exercise, meditation, or eating a healthy breakfast. Here are a few suggestions for making anti-racism a daily habit:

Of course you should still seek out opportunities to engage in dialogue with other white folks, interrupt individual acts of racism as you encounter them, and work toward dismantling the culture and laws that still support the system of white supremacy, but all of those challenges will be much more manageable when you are practicing your anti-racism every day.

Reflection: What type of activity do you think will best encourage you to practice anti-racism daily? What obstacles do you foresee to your daily practice? How might you overcome these obstacles?

HOMEWORK CHALLENGE #3

Time to commit to daily practice. Starting today, begin the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge. To really practice your anti-racism, try to select activities from the Notice, Connect, Engage, and Act categories. And be sure to use the tracking tool to reflect. The challenge is meant to be habit-forming, so don’t feel compelled to stop after 21 days!

Reflection: Which types of anti-racist activities are you most drawn to? Could you ask a friend or family member to join you in the challenge? How can you use what you are learning in your dialogues with other white folks? What would it take to make anti-racism a lifelong daily practice for you?

 
A stop sign.

Before you continue, please click below to take the Post-Survey for the course.

The survey is completely anonymous.

Click here to take the survey
 

Our Commitment to You

Remaining fearlessly anti-racist is a lifelong journey. You’ve taken giant leaps forward in that journey through your investment in this program, but the work doesn’t stop at the conclusion of this course. You may struggle and you may stumble as you move from activist to ally to accomplice, and you’ll learn and unlearn so much along the way.

And we will be with you, in community, every step of the way.

When we designed Fearlessly Anti-Racist, we knew that we wanted to create more than a course — we wanted to create a community. We’ve talked before about the importance of being and staying in community with other fearlessly anti-racist white folks, and we believe in the power of that community. As Resmaa says (seriously, go read his book!), white folks need to create a whole new culture, with group norms, rituals and celebrations rooted in something other than white supremacy. We want fearlessly anti-racist white folks (that’s you!) to be the start of that culture.

Our Fearlessly Anti-Racist Alumni group on Facebook is a great way to stay connected to this community, and we plan to offer in-person retreats for alumni as soon as logistics and public health allow. You can also sign up for our email list to ensure you hear from us each week, or reach out to us directly via email. And, we hope, you can always rely on your accountability partner to challenge and support you (as you will do for them).

Yes, the journey continues, but right now, take a moment for yourself. Look back at where you’ve come from, and where you are now.

Think about your fellow cohort members and the work that you have done, and the dialogues that you have shared — together — to get to this point. Tomorrow you’ll get up, engage in your daily anti-racist practice, and keep forging ahead, fighting to disrupt and eventually dismantle white supremacy. But you’ll do it in community with others, and you’ll do it without fear. Because today, tomorrow, and every day after, you will be…