Reflect on these questions from the past week.
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Hi!
There was an outpouring of questions over this week, so I'm dedicating Saturday emails to answering them. It will also offer a helpful refresher of topics discussed in earlier newsletters, so we can revisit some key topics you may have missed from the past.
Thanks to you, we'll have another writer helping me starting next week! Give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), or you can subscribe monthly on Patreon like you'd subscribe to any other news platform.
Simply reply to any email to submit a question. I try to read all responses, even if it takes me a few days! And as always, your support is so appreciated.
Nicole
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A few things to remember!
I'm more of an anti-racism practitioner, not an educator. I curate current events and news, apply historical contexts, and plug in personal anecdotes from myself or guest editors. It's why I note trends and offer resources from others, but don't do coaching, consulting, or courses. I offered some educators you can learn that from in question #3. You can learn more about me here and here.
Racism is political. Some of you question whether I'm using this email to push political agendas. I'm here to push anti-racist agendas. But our political system upholds systemic racism. It's as much political as it is interpersonal. So I'll be sharing political CTAs, talk about the election, and name our current President's racist agenda often.
Work in protest. Many of you are new and don't know that I started this just three weeks ago in response to the protests! Thanks to your support, I'm hiring our first staff member, but until now it's just been me waking up at 3a in Alaska to write these and deliver each am. So there's often typos because I'm not ahead of the schedule enough for proofreading (despite all of your lovely offers). But I'm getting there, so the content will improve – and I might take you up on your offers. And I'm adding updates and clarifications over on the archives where I mess up.
If "defund the police" is too radical, what can we re-brand it as?
From Defund the police – beyond the slogan sent June 23
Unfortunately, I'm not in advertising anymore so I couldn't say. But I do think diluting the slogan itself may dilute the work that's necessary. Defund the police does mean defund the police, even if it doesn't account for all the important work that follows. I think what will be helpful for us to do is advocate for defunding law enforcement as we advocate for investing in other community care. That will likely look different for local communities, so this shift will be critical for making the movement feel attainable at home.
And the "defund the police" movement has been in place for a long time before it became mainstream (more via Politico). We're not doing the work justice when we try to shy behind the depths of its words.
Action: See what policies are in place for defunding the police in your local community, and how you can best advocate for its impact.
Do we capitalize "brown" when referring to "brown people"?
From Capitalize B in Black and I in Indigenous sent June 25
Brown, another racial classification that colloquially acts as a catch-all for the multitudes of identities that don't fall under "Black" and "White" wasn't mentioned by the AP Style Guide or in any of the articles I referenced. I see this term used interchangeably with "people of color," another catch-all term, which was added and clarified in the AP Style Guide in 2019 (via ACES Editors). It isn't my place to say that it should be used interchangeably because self-identification is important and everyone can choose what they prefer.
I imagine that, based on the arguments outlined by people in favor of capitalizing Black, Brown should be capitalized too, considering people of darker skin colors that aren't Black also often suffer from systemic racism. And, if you prefer to capitalize Black and White to signify them both as races, Brown should be the same. This is just my personal opinion, and I'll keep an eye out for more conversations as they unfold.
Action: Apply the same rules. Also, try to get as specific as possible when referring to communities you're writing about. Ask them to self-identify wherever possible.
I've been told that, as a white person, asking a Black person to educate me on racism is upsetting and offensive. Can you clarify on that?
General question.
This question is a bit meta – a couple people asked me about asking questions to a Black person that's sharing resources on anti-racism, after all! And I appreciate that each of you that asked thoughtfully and with nuanced consideration.
Generally speaking, asking Black people to support you (as a non-Black person) on understanding racism is a no-go. It places additional labor on Black people that are already burdened with the weight of racism and the deep emotions of the events unfolding. And, non-Black people often go to Black people as if they're Google without taking the effort to learn it themselves, which feels like a lack of accountability. More perspectives on this in The Washington Post and Fortune Magazine.
And part of this is because there are so many places where Black people are sharing anti-racism resources! You can learn from incredible anti-racism scholars like Rachel Cargle, Rachel Ricketts, Layla F. Saad, and Austin Channing, find a list of books, podcasts and movies on racism in every publication, etc, like this one from Fortune, and sign up for newsletters like this one! Hi 👋🏾
I invited people to ask questions here because I know 99.9% of readers are already here doing the work, and committed to learn more. I've set up time and space in my life to hold space for this, and I have the capacity to answer whatever questions I choose to answer. But most Black people that get asked questions from non-Black people around racism aren't given that choice. They're just trying to live, and they don't live in service to white people – not anymore.
A helpful resource on this may be Reflect before reaching out to your Black colleagues. that I sent June 8.
Action: Ask questions to those that are offering to support. Do not ask Black people to help you understand racism in unprompted settings.
Why is it important to edit those standard emails that we're sometimes asked to send to our senators in the daily actions?
From Face the bias in facial recognition software. sent June 26
Ah! This is helpful to know for whatever change you're looking to make in your local community. It's easy for tech-savvy politicians to set up filters in their inbox to send some emails straight to spam. For example, I auto-filter any email with the subject including "automatic reply" out of my inbox for this newsletter, because so many of our subscribers are out of office for whatever reason.
When you are prompted to send an email, changing the subject and the body text is recommended so your email lands in the inbox itself, instead of getting lost in these filters. Even if your email isn't read or responded to, it is more likely to be seen and felt by the politician and their team.
What are we calling this anti-racism movement right now?
General question.
I don't know if there's been an official term to call this movement right now – if you see one, let me know. It's certainly a part of the Black Lives Matter movement that's been sweeping the nation for decades (more on its impact in the NYTimes). But I personally think that we're seeing the beginning of a reckoning that will be more widespread, focus on more marginalized people than just the Black community, and bring not just reform but abolition in my lifetime. The Civil Rights Movement lasted over 20 years (via History.com) and although we've been in this work for a while, I have a feeling this wave has only just begun as we grapple with a global pandemic, environmental crises, and what's sure to be a tumultuous election regardless of outcome.
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