#travis i need to learn these manifestation tactics

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how it started vs how it’s going

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Becoming White Allies for Indigenous Peoples

Video: CNN

In honoring the Navajo Nation Code Talkers, there is a belief that there has been progress toward a more tolerant society. That if we can honor Indigenous Peoples at the White House, and they can speak with dignity at the White House then the recent injustices against PoC communities have been, to a degree, lessened. 

When I see Trump, I see someone who exhibits racial violence against People of Color (PoC). And when liberal whites see him, they tend to see the same thing. But these same white people, separate themselves from overly racist people, not realizing or perhaps excusing their own racial ideas (Tatum 1994). That epople of color put themselves in their second class status and if they just worked hard enough, then they would be better off (Bonilla-Silva 2003). That black people are criminals, that they are tolerant because they have a few PoC friends, they have cultural appreciation/appropriation rather than cultural respect, and that they too know “reverse racism” (not real btw) if they are in a PoC majority space or when they are called out by PoCs for their racial attitudes/behavior. 

What we have to distinguish between is White People and White Allies. The former are those who participate in passive racism while the latter participates in active anti-racist activism.

But how do White People become White Allies? 

We gotta have a talk about being white.

One thing White People gotta understand is they are white. Maybe they’ve only been in places where the population is predominately white. And in this whiteness is the equating of white to normal and as such free of prejudice or claims of seeing people and not color or they shout all lives matter (Tatum 1994). 

Disintegrating Whiteness and Talking Racism

Photo: Unknown. I found the image on Proyer’s Website, please send a link if you find photographer.

In American we desperately want to believe in meritocracy, the belief that everyone is rewarded based on how much effort put in work, money, restraint, etc. (Bonilla-Silva 2016). But this is a false concept, we have to acknowledge the different forms of racism that function on an individual level as well as a structural level in schools, neighborhoods, police, places of worship, workplaces, and government (Bonilla-Silva 2016, Kivel 2016).

We believe that because we do not see the racism associated with the Jim Crow South of dehumanization and segregation that our society has began to erode its roots in white superiority (Bonilla-Silva 2003). What is not acknowledged is how racism is not a fixed concept, rather it adapts through time and now manifests itself as colorblind revisionist racism, saying they see people not color which in turn refuses to acknowledge racial inequalities that permeates our social, economic, historical, and structural society (Bonilla-Silva 2003). Then there is the equal opportunity racism that states everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve middle class status without understanding that there are those who benefit from white privilege while attacking programs that address institutional racism like affirmative action (Bonilla-Silva 2003). Liberal racism doesn’t acknowledge how our structures and institutions within our society are based in racism, as they maintain the racial hierarchy and continue the oppression of PoCs (Bonilla-Silva 2003). Then there is passive racism/minimization of racism, silence in the presence of other racists remarks/actions, failing to acknowledge the contributions of PoC, etc.  (Bonilla-Silva 2003).

Video: Cut

With knowing how racism adapted to the 21st century, we must also discuss a history of U.S. racial oppression committed by at the hands of White People (European Americans) (Tatum 1994). Indigenous People oppression includes: 

boarding school systems

land allotments acts resulting in land theft and the destruction of sacred sites

violence of school mascots

reservation prison systems

the killing and humiliation of our resistance leadership

punishing those who spoke their traditional languages/practiced culture

moving Natives from their homes to the cities

reservation resource extraction sites that leave behind toxic landscapes

the illnesses caused by these toxic sites

Addressing White Guilt and White Shame

Photo:  Unknown. I found the image on Black Skeptics’ Website, please send a link if you find artist.

The thing that happens as White People learn about historical oppression is how they become aware of their whiteness but as they do so, they also say those were actions of the past, and they aren’t like their ancestors because they supported #NoDAPL. They experience White Guilt, feeling guilty about actions of White People, or White Shame, feeling ashamed of being White (Tatum 1994). And as such they try to distance themselves from their White guilt or guilt by association (Tatum 1994). 

While this is going to be uncomfortable it ins’t helpful.

So White People have some choices: you can resist learning about race and racism or you can explore this discomfort and begin to build yourself into a White Ally (Tatum 1994).

Working Toward White Ally-ness

A White Ally is someone who is supports PoCs in their fight for equality, White Allies are NOT people who are trying to save PoC or become an honorary PoC. White Allies are not White Saviors. We don’t need more White People telling us what to do; PoC people can save ourselves, we have our own leadership, we have our own scholars, we have our own educators, we ask White Allies to remove themselves from the center stage and allow PoC communities to speak for ourselves (Kivel 2016). You have to understand that as White Allies, it is not about you and the progress you’ve made, the PoC ceremonies you’ve participated in, or the feelings of hurt you may experience (Tatum 1994, Kivel 2016). It is about the PoC community and their needs.

Photo: Christoforo, Faye

Other actions to starting White Ally Journey

KNOW THAT YOU CAN UNLEARN RACISM but you are also responsible for your education-- don’t wait for a PoC to educate you

admitting you are racist, biased, ignorant-- PoC are criminal, unintelligent, different from their community (better), well-spoken for their group, etc.

understand the complexities of structural racism  (Kivel 2016)

learn about PoC history that isn’t told in schools

creating a positive definition of whiteness, White Ally (Tatum 1994)

build a community of fellow anti-racists (Tatum 1994)

don’t rely on PoC to educate White People, educate your fellow Whites yourself  (Kivel 2016)

acknowledging and learning about your White Privilege

Use your White Privilege to help PoC (put your body in front of theirs in protests)

become aware of other forms of oppression: sexism, ableism, transphobia, islamaphobia (Tatum 1994)

find other White Allies to use as role models

Viola Liuzzo, James Reeb, Micheal Schwerner, Anne Braden, Forster Durr, Bill Bradley (Tatum 1994)

You will make mistakes, apologize when you do

question racism in pop culture

call out family, friends, co-workers, etc.  (Kivel 2016)

talk to other whites about whiteness (Kivel 2016)

More tactics can be found if you take the time to google.

Be prepared for:

alienation from friends and family (Tatum 1994)

experiencing hostility from friends and family

I’m going to tell White People now. Becoming a White Ally is an ongoing project. It requires commitment and self-monitoring, but it isn’t impossible (Tatum 1994). 

Works Cited

Bonilla-Silva. The Strange Enigma of Race in Contemporary America. Racism without Racists: Colorblind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the U.S. Oxford, New York; Rowman and Littlefield. 2003. Print.

Chiristoforo, Faye. “Heading to @MilionsMarch in #NYC tomorrow...” Twitter. Twitter. 12 December 2014. Web. 8 December 2017.

CNN. "Trump makes ‘Pocohontas joke at Navajo veterans event.” YouTube. YouTube, 27 November 2017. Web. 08 Dec. 2017.

Cut. " Redskin | Native Americans | One Word.” YouTube. YouTube, 24 November 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2017.

Hutchinson, Sikivu Hutchinson. “Sisterhood Ain’t Powerful: White Women’s Rights.” Black Skeptics. WordPress. 4 November 2013. Web. 8 December 2017.

Kivel, Paul. “Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice.”  The Meaning of Difference American Constructions of Race and Ethicity, Sex, and Gender, Social Class, Sexuality, and Disability Seventh Edition. Ed. Karen Rosenblum & Toni-Michelle C. Travis. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 2016. pp. 511-516. Print.

Proyer, Debrorah B. “White Folks Support of ‘Black Lives Matter’ Have Been Told It’s ‘Not Enough’.” EUR ThisNthat. WordPress. 27 July 2016. Web. 8 December 2017.

Tatum, Beverly Daniel. Teaching White Students About Racism The Search for White Allies and the Restoration of Hope. (1994) pp. 277-288. Web. 8 December 2017.