Don’t really need to see #MLK quotes today unless you are living and breathing the fight against anti-Black racism wherever you are. Good will on #MLKDay or any other day is grossly insufficient if you have a shallow understanding of the systems of racism at play. 1/9
In fact, as MLK said, this kind of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. So you must #dothework. Racism is embedded in every societal system. It is insidious and it takes time and effort to understand it and/or be critical of it 2/9
Black folks have to constantly do this work to fix a problem we didn’t create while we live in a system that is stacked against us so the least you can do is do that work as well. Doing that work is not simply soliciting feedback/perspectives or consulting with Black folks. 3/9
Doing the work is reading the work of #criticalrace scholars and mapping that on your social/professional location and then making systemic and ITERATIVE changes to the systems you are a part of. Simply reading “How to be an antiracist” is not enough. 4/9
Doing the work is not asking me who the critical race scholars are when you have google literally at your fingertips. There are no short cuts in anti-racism. What you dedicate your time to signals who you are. 5/9
Doing the work is COMPENSATING the Black folks you ask to sit on committees , to be consultants, to lead task forces and whatever else. Enough with the unpaid labour. That tantamount to modern-day #slavery. If you do this, you are complicit. 6/9
Doing the work is treating #equity the same way you treat your budget. It requires constant review. There is no quick solution to anti-Black racism. You cannot and should not expect that. If you are not committed to the the long-haul, then don’t even bother. 7/9
Doing the work is accepting that your policy changes and solutions may not work and being okay with going back to the drawing board. These are complex solutions so you have to ask yourself if your bottom line is more important than black lives. 8/9
So before you share that quote, ask yourself, “what am I truly doing to disrupt racism in my current location/sector”. Yes, there is racism there! Performative tweets are not needed. #dothework 9/9
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