End exploitative internships.

This week, Condé Nast resumed its internship program after shuttering it due to a class-action lawsuit in 2013. That controversy sparked a national dialogue on unpaid labor, one that’s important to revisit in these uncertain times. Currently, about 43% of internships at for-profit companies are unpaid (Washington Post), and new research indicates that number may be increasing (NBC News). Yet at the same time, a young workforce is eagerly looking for potential opportunities to gain experience this summer after a year disrupted by COVID-19. How do we reconcile the inequities of the industry with the desire to learn and grow?

Happy Friday, everyone! A dear reader reminded me of this topic this week, which I've been meaning to write about all month. I really dislike how much youth are expected to prove themselves to get a job while they redefine culture and society from their smartphones. I can't stop thinking about how many teenagers have testified during the Derek Chauvin trials. And yet somehow we're still creating barriers to entry-level employment?!

I wrote this today because I've been researching how we can continue to support young writers over here at the ARD. I don't have anything formed yet, but I DO have an open inbox for young BIPOC writers looking for advice. Just reply to this email.

Tomorrow is our weekly Study Hall where I answer questions from the community about what we published this week, or how this work is showing up in your life. Reply to this email to submit your own.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Support Pay Our Interns, an organization advocating for paid internships across all work sectors.
Donate to organizations offering funding to ease the burden of taking internships, like the Black Girl 44 Scholarship and Latinx44 Scholarship Program.
Advocate for the compensation of any unpaid interns at your organization.
If you have the capacity, consider offering mentorship to those entering a new career path so they can generate experience with more flexible terms.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Unpaid internships blossomed in the 1970s, where there was a higher rate of college graduates than ever before. The rise of increased supply was well-timed with a workforce that needed less labor-intensive roles than ever before, thanks to the rise of technology. Internships became a way for companies to get more hungry and skilled workers on projects at a much lower cost, effectively replacing the entry-level job (Time). Over time, entry-level employers grew to expect employees to have this experience.

But these came to a head after the lawsuits referenced above. In 2013, two former interns from W and The New Yorker sued, citing that they were underpaid for the work they contributed at their offices (one individual was paid $1/hour to organize accessories in the fashion closet) (Reuters). Similar lawsuits in fashion and entertainment led to a shift in the industry, and the unpaid internship became less popular, moving to college credit or a small stipend. However, the U.S. Department of Labor still allows employers to offer internships without pay as long as they meet allow employers to offer unpaid internships, on the condition that they can be proven as “educational” (dol.gov). And often, the light compensation does little to change the conditions that make these opportunities untenable.

It’s clear that working an unpaid internship takes a lot of privilege. Many people can’t financially afford to work for free, and are forced to either decline opportunities or work an additional job to sustain themselves (The Eyeopener). It also takes a lot of time privilege; people with kids at home or other time-consuming responsibilities might not be able to get away. But internships like these have more lasting implications, too. Often, entry-level roles are filled from unpaid internships, which means that those with the most privilege to weather these roles are first to be hired (NACE). This can accelerate the lack of diversity and representation at major companies.

But on a broader scale, it starts creating a narrative of worth and value around our youth. There’s a correlation between knowledge and capabilities with having an internship. Young people that can’t get access to an internship may not be perceived as someone that deserves the same level of recognition. When access to internships is already to center those privileged, it’s easy to see how those from marginalized backgrounds can suffer from the insinuation that they are “less than” in the workforce. This subtle form of bias adds to the layers of discrimination that people with marginalized identities face in the workplace.

Important to note that many internships require candidates to be in school, which even further excludes youth that aren’t pursuing a degree and older people that might be starting their careers for the first time.

Some internships offer college credit as compensation. Although that offers some sort of recognition for work completed, it often costs more than it might be worth. Most students still have to pay the university for those credits accumulated, which increases their financial burden instead of eases it (Washington Post). You can argue that they would have had to pay for those credits anyway, but is that justification to extract labor? Some colleges have waived these fees.

"
Experience doesn't pay the bills. An intern cannot go to the grocery store, go to the checkout line, and when the cashier says cash or credit you can't pay with experience. You can't go to your landlord and pay your rent with experience. That's the key thing here. No one is denying that the main purpose of education is to get experience. It is. But people need a paycheck to pay for bills while they're getting that experience.

Carlos Mark Vera, co-founder and executive director of Pay Our Interns, for NBC News

Some people are quick to defend unpaid internships for a few reasons. First, there’s the perception that people have to earn their dues before being compensated for their labor. This reasoning tends to ignore that students who receive internships while in college already earn those dues in class all day – often racking up tens of thousands of dollars of debt in the process. Others admonish that unpaid internships are the only way that smaller businesses with tight budgets can gain extra labor. We know that small organizations often thrive off of volunteer support, and are often necessary to reach scale. However, the normalization of unpaid internships is reinforced by large, multimillion corporations, not small businesses.

If you want to participate in an unpaid internship, by all means. But let’s shift the expectation that everyone can, and must, to thrive. If you’re an employer hiring someone new to your industry, consider placing less emphasis on internship experience during the interview process. If unpaid internships are absolutely necessary for your work, ensure you’re offering as much care and attention to the burden it places on its participants. And most importantly, notice how our appreciation of labor shapes our perception of the worth and value of entire communities.

11/17/2020 | Cancel student debt.

8/17/2020 | Fight for equity in remote learning.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Thank you for all your financial contributions! If you haven't already, consider making a monthly donation to this work. These funds will help me operationalize this work for greatest impact.

Subscribe on Patreon | Give one-time on PayPal | Venmo @nicoleacardoza

Nicole Cardoza 4/8/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/8/21

Learn about COINTELPRO.

COINTELPRO, a shortening of “Counter Intelligence Program,” was a series of covert and illegal initiatives by the FBI designed to disrupt and discredit significant movements in the 1960s. Although it was initially focused on Communism in the U.S., it quickly began to target any movement related to equity and social justice. But one of its main goals was to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of the Black nationalists" (PBS). Under FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s direction, this group either directly or indirectly caused the death and incarceration of major civil rights leaders.

Happy Thursday! As we’ve written previously, the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been whitewashed and sanitized to fit into the image that society wants us to believe, one that is repackaged and resold each year on Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. But another danger of this narrative is the lack of awareness and accountability on his assassination. However, if we fully understand the circumstances surrounding his death – and the fates of other civil rights leaders – we have a more accurate depiction of the true impact of his life. Today’s email is a VERY basic overview, and I highly recommend digging into the articles provided to learn more.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Protect protesters. Watch this video to learn how to identify surveillance technologies at protests, and learn how to protect your identity.
Black activists targeted and surveilled under COINTELPRO are still imprisoned. Support efforts to release Dr. Mutulu Shakur and Mumia Abu-Jamal, activists that advocates emphasize were falsely imprisoned.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Most of its focus was on dismantling the Black Panther Party, which Hoover saw as “the greatest threat to the country’” (Berkeley). Some of their actions were direct: they often organized raids with local law enforcement to kill or displace members. One of these resulted in Fred Hampton’s death, the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. In 1969, Fourteen plainclothes police officers raided the apartment building where Black Panther members and their families lay sleeping, firing over 90 times from pistols, shotguns, and a machine gun (History). Hampton and chapter member Mark Clark were killed, and four others were physically injured during the raid.

But they also created lies and deceit to influence the actions of leaders and those around them. To disarm the Black Panther Party, they seeded false information to create rifts between BPP leaders (most notably, Eldridge Cleaver and Huey P. Newton) and create dissent between the BPP and Black nationalist groups. They also drove the actress Jean Seberg, who financially supported the BPP, to die by suicide. They leaked a fake letter to the press insinuating that she was pregnant not by her husband but a high-ranking official of the Black Panther Party (NYTimes). The stress of this controversy caused Seberg to go into labor early, ultimately losing her child. She ultimately died by suicide.

COINTELPRO targeted many other notable civil rights leaders. Their actions led to the assassination of Malcolm X and drove Assata Shakur out of the country. It spied on famed boxer Muhammad Ali and his relationship with the Nation of Islam for years. Through COINTELPRO, the FBI collected a 1,884-page file about the author and activist James Baldwin.

The COINTELPRO program was disbanded after a group of activists exposed them – with proof. On March 8, 1971, four people broke into an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania, and stole classified documents outlining the program. The group chose this night specifically; it was the night of the “Fight of the Century,” the boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, and they knew people would likely be out of office. They seized over 1,000 documents and promptly mailed them anonymously to newspapers across the country (Zinn Education Project). Betty Medsger is reportedly the first person to break teh story at the Washington Post, and you can read more about her experience here. The burglars’ identities remained a secret until 2014 when three of them joined Medsger in an interview with Democracy Now!

This exposure helped to contextualize the loss of great figures, and, in some cases, encourage the families of victims to speak out. One case was after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated, shot while standing on his hotel room’s balcony. The suspect, James Earl Ray, was arrested a couple of months later. Ray confessed and pled guilty to the murder. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison (Stanford).

But days later, he recanted his confession and said he was coerced by law enforcement (Washington Post). This information, paired with the exposure of COINTELPRO in the early ’70s, led the family of Dr. King to be suspicious of the circumstances of his death. Because COINTELPRO had, of course, been actively surveilling Dr. King, too. Since 1963, the bureau regularly wiretapped King’s home, offices, and hotel rooms. They also sent him a tape of a recording of his sex life, along with a blackmail note threatening to expose him publicly unless he killed himself (NYTimes). Other civil rights leaders who surrounded Dr. King, like Bayard Rustin. More extensive records of surveillance of Dr. King, including FBI investigations of his death, will be released to the public in 2027.

In 1993, another man admitted he was part of a conspiracy to kill Dr. King (History). These claims led the King family to sue for wrongful death for a symbolic $100, as the case was solely about seeking justice. The case, Coretta Scott King v. Loyd Jowers, found that Dr. King was the victim of a conspiracy involving the Memphis police and federal agencies. This was a civil, not criminal case, so no one was charged, nor was the federal government on trial. The Department of Justice subsequently rejected the trial results, and the allegations included (DOJ). Regardless, the family is still adamant about the conspiracy (The Grio).

“

There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. And the civil court's unanimous verdict has validated our belief. I wholeheartedly applaud the verdict of the jury, and I feel that justice has been well served in their deliberations.

Coretta Scott King, The Transcription of the King Family Press Conference on the MLK Assassination Trial Verdict, The King Center

It’s important to remember that COINTELPRO wasn’t the start of violence against civil rights leaders but a more formalized approach to a long history of these kinds of tactics. Much of this work also happened under the War on Drugs led by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (established by Hoover, led by Harry Anslinger). The famed artist Billie Holiday was hounded by law enforcement throughout her life, which ultimately led to her death (28 Days of Black History).

And surveillance continues on civil rights movements to this day. In 2015, it was revealed that the Oregon Department of Justice was conducting digital surveillance on state residents that used the Black Lives Matter hashtag online (Oregon Live). And as protests unfolded across the U.S. last summer, there were a series of reports of law enforcement agencies deploying advanced surveillance technology, including facial recognition, aerial surveillance, and cellular phone exploitation (EFF). More gravely, six activists in the Ferguson, Missouri, community have been found dead in the four years since Michael Brown was killed (CBS News).

Many educational textbooks skip COINTELPRO altogether, which means that many people don’t have this context when they read about the importance of securing our identity in this technologically advanced, connected age. But we can’t forget about the past as we fight to protect our future. COINTELPRO might seem long in the past, but its influence is still causing harm today.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

COINTELPRO was a series of covert and illegal initiatives by the FBI designed to disrupt and discredit significant movements in the 1960s
It is directly responsible for the death, exile, deportation, etc of prominent civil rights leaders of the 1960s
The family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are adamant that the FBI conspired in his death
Surveillance still continues of the current Black Lives Matter movement

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/7/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/7/21

Forget what you know about MSG.

As a former waiter in an Asian restaurant, I know very well how many people claim to be sensitive to monosodium glutamate or MSG. Customers would demand that their meal be MSG-free to avoid the headaches or nausea or weakness they swore they would suffer afterward (Mayo Clinic). Often, they informed me of their MSG-adverse status in the same way they might disclose a life-threatening allergy: not as a preference but as a serious, permanent condition with dire consequences. The MSG-avoidant are real and numerous and often quite militant. I have seen them and served them noodles.

Happy Wednesday! And welcome back. The stigma surrounding MSG is part of the broader anti-Asian sentiment that's been carefully cultivated in the U.S. In order for us to dismantle it, we have to take it apart and analyze all the cogs and wheels that have kept it running. That's why I appreciate today's analysis from Andrew.

Yesterday's newsletter seemed to resonate with many of our readers. I just learned about Rachel Cargle's lecture called "Unpacking White Feminism" which is well-worth watching, along with EVERY educational resource she offers. Also, the posts I referenced were removed from Instagram after I scheduled yesterday's email. I think the content still offers much to learn from.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on our website or Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Read about the history of anti-Asian prejudice and violence in the United States.
Look at the “Know MSG” campaign, which aims to demystify and debunk myths about the common seasoning.
Buy or download “Chinese Protest Recipes” to learn Chinese recipes including some using MSG. All proceeds benefit Color for Change.
Inform yourself about the impact of racism on Asian restaurants during COVID.
Learn about the large variety of non-Asian foods that contain MSG.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

This isn’t just anecdotal evidence. According to one industry group, four out of ten Americans avoid MSG (Washington Post). That means more people stay away from MSG than caffeine, gluten, or GMOs. The cluster of symptoms afflicting the MSG-sensitive is so well-known that its name is even enshrined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “Chinese restaurant syndrome” (CNN).

I’m generally against sweeping statements about what foods other people should or should not ingest. If you’d like to only eat a paleo diet, or Cool Ranch Doritos, or foods starting with a certain letter depending on what day it is (MSN), that’s really none of my business.

With all that being said: if you think you suffer from “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” your actual ailment might be inadvertent racism.

MSG critics largely cite one single study contesting its safety. In this experiment, scientists injected mice with incredibly high doses of MSG soon after birth and found they grew up with health problems (Men’s Health). There are a number of common food ingredients that might be harmful when injected into baby mice, but that doesn’t mean they’re unhealthy for people to eat. Aside from the newborn mouse injection study, almost all the evidence for MSG’s terrible side effects comes from decades of personal reports.

The problem is that “Chinese restaurant syndrome” is only ever reported after eating Chinese food. Nobody gets it from tomatoes or Campbell’s chicken noodle soup or KFC. Sufferers of “Chinese restaurant syndrome” aren’t stricken after eating mayonnaise or potato chips or cheese or beef jerky.

All of the foods just listed contain MSG (Healthline). MSG is chemically indistinguishable from glutamate (FDA), a common amino acid found in almost every living being on the planet. If you feel tired and nauseated after eating a bite of Chinese food but not after eating a few Doritos, the culprit isn’t MSG. If you spend life avoiding Asian immigrant-owned businesses but not hot dogs, we aren’t talking about a medical problem but rather a social one.

Ever since Asian immigration to the United States started in the mid-nineteenth century, white supremacist narratives have associated Asians with disease. The founder of the New York Tribune wrote that Chinese immigrants were “uncivilized, unclean, and filthy beyond all conception” (Time). In 1906, Santa Ana, CA burned down its own Chinatown over fears that one resident had leprosy (LA Times). Last year, a man attacked a Thai woman on a train, yelling “every disease ever has come from China” (CNN). Much American coverage of the initial COVID outbreak in Wuhan centered on the “bizarre and unusual” livestock for sale in the “unsanitary” Huanan Market (FAIR), the equivalent of a Western farmers’ market.

Asians have long been thought to be an invasive, unclean element bringing exotic diseases into the American heartland. This belief is an element in anti-Asian violence, in moral panics over MSG, and in the idea that it’s only white-owned restaurants who can sell the “clean” versions of Asian food (Gothamist). As natural diets and “clean” living gained popularity after the 1960s, it’s no surprise that an “allergy” to a scary-sounding chemical provided a convenient vehicle for a very old racist narrative.

But at a time when both Asian restaurants and Asian people in America, in general, are under attack, it’d be nice if some non-Asian Americans forgot what they “knew” about MSG.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

MSG critics largely cite one single study contesting its safety.
Ever since Asian immigration to the United States started in the mid-nineteenth century, white supremacist narratives have associated Asians with disease.
The “Chinese restaurant syndrome" terminology could easily be applied to unhealthy foods from other cultures, but is specifically reserved for Asian cuisine.

RELATED ISSUES

7/22/2020 | Don't Americanize other cultures.

10/13/2020 | Support Chinatown during COVID-19.

1/13/2021 | Honor Mahjong.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/6/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/6/21

Unpack white feminism.

“Harriet Tubman, RBG, Marie Curie, Oprah Winfrey, Amelia Earhart, Frida Khalo, Malala Yousafzai, Wu Zetian... all Unrelatable AF.”

It's Tuesday, y'all! And we're back to discuss the role of whiteness in the feminist movement. It's no coincidence that feminism has disproportionately benefitted white women, and today's newsletter highlights some ways women of color and other marginalized voices have been silenced in the narrative.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Educate yourself on feminism from the leaders like Barbara Smith, Grace Lee Boggs, Audre Lorde, Mikki Kendall and Gloria Anzaldúa.
Take anti-racism courses from Black leaders like Rachel Cargle, Leesa Renée Hall, and Austin Channing Brown.
Review the “apology” that Hollis posted on her Instagram and compare it to our previous newsletter on crafting an apology.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Last week, author and motivational speaker Rachel Hollis posted a video where she fought back against being called “privileged” because she has a housekeeper. In it, she defends her need for support for being a hard-working, successful woman and compares herself to her idols, which she lists in the caption:

“Harriet Tubman, RBG, Marie Curie, Oprah Winfrey, Amelia Earhart, Frida Khalo, Malala Yousafzai, Wu Zetian... all Unrelatable AF.”

Unsurprisingly, the backlash was swift. People quickly noted the condescending tone that Hollis used when referring to her housekeeper who “cleans my toilets.” Many indicated that working hard isn’t always synonymous with the financial freedom to hire a housekeeper. Others admonished her audacity to compare herself to anyone on this list, particularly Harriet Tubman and Malala Yousafzai, who didn’t achieve success by “waking up at 4 am” but overcoming acts of violence and oppression. This wasn’t the first time Hollis has come under criticism; last year, she used a quote by Maya Angelou without attribution, which re-ignited a broader conversation on the importance of citing Black women.

The post, and the poor excuse for an apology that followed, was unsurprising; Instagram influencers are constantly posting something disappointing these days. But I found this one particularly interesting because it feels as if white feminism itself crafted it word-for-word. It exemplifies how, throughout history, white feminism has centered white women over women of color and justified any harm through its pursuits in the process.

Many people supported the women’s suffragists movement because they believed that enfranchising (white) women’s right to move would neutralize the Black vote and gain white supremacy (History). Historians emphasize that many white suffragist leaders were racist, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who repeatedly attacked immigrants, the working class, and Black people to justify the rights for white women (New Yorker). Black women suffrage clubs tried to affiliate with the national (white) suffrage movement but were discouraged from doing so; admission of Black people could anger white Southerners (NYTimes).

But this focus – white women above all – has continued into movements that we see today. Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” movement, which emphasized that women can “have it all” if they’re bold and brave enough to ask for it, glaringly didn’t reflect the challenges women of color experience in the workplace. And, I’d like to add, women with disabilities, women that many not benefit from cisgender privilege or neurotypicality. The notion was publicly criticized by former First Lady Michelle Obama (Washington Post), along with other voices quick to name how Sandberg’s whiteness and wealth made this a much more unrealistic strategy for everyday people of color (People of Color in Tech).

Sometimes, women’s movements don’t just overlook the experiences of women of color – but abandon them altogether. In October 2017, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged women to share stories of sexual assault publicly, using the phrase and hashtag #MeToo to demonstrate solidarity. The tweet quickly gained steam, accelerating the #MeToo movement we know today. But the term “Me Too” was coined by activist Tarana Burke, a Black woman, back in 2006, before hashtags even existed. Milano was quick to credit Burke accordingly, but many people (still) credit Milano for it. The movement quickly became centered on the voices of mainly white celebrities harmed by powerful men in Hollywood. As it evolved, Burke continued to emphasize that, despite the growing impact of the movement, there are “tons of voices that have gone unnoticed,” particularly those most marginalized.

“

The women of color, trans women, queer people—our stories get pushed aside and our pain is never prioritized. We don’t talk about Indigenous women. Their stories go untold.”

Tarana Burke, Time 100 Summit in 2019

And now we’re facing the end of the Girlboss era, the latest manifestation of white feminism. Coined by entrepreneur Sophia Amoruso, the movement advocated for female corporate success to move gender equity forward. Female founders launched brands that catered to women, often reclaiming space in male-dominated industries. In this way, feminism became both a movement and a marketing strategy. But when the racial reckoning of last summer emboldened others to speak out, it became clear that many of their leadership patterns only reinforced existing racial disparities seen in companies led by white men (The Atlantic). Employees, particularly those of color, shared stories of abuse, intimidation, racism, and sexual assault (GEN Magazine).

By overlooking the barriers that women of color face, movements like these perpetuate the narrative that it’s the fault of women of color that they can’t live up to opportunities. It eschews collective accountability for individual responsibility, only adding to the burden that women of color face. This is partly why, to this day, we still see stark disparities for women’s rights between white women and people of color. We know that white women make 79 cents for every dollar a man makes, but Black women make $0.62 and Hispanic women $0.55. Black women are twice as likely to experience life-threatening pregnancy-related complications than white women (American Progress).

Feminism alone isn’t solely to blame for the inequalities that we face, and it certainly won’t solve it alone. But we do need to prioritize the voices of the women most marginalized as we continue to advocate for women’s rights. Otherwise, feminism will be wielded as a weapon against communities of color with the guise of empowerment and SHE-E-O energy, and non-white women will be left with the burden.

This is only possible when white women de-center their own narrative and elevate others instead. But it doesn’t look like we can expect that from Hollis anytime soon. Instead of acknowledging on how whiteness may have influenced her privilege, and taking accountability for the harm of her actions, she’s left the post and deflected responsibility onto her team.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Last week, Rachel Hollis posted an insensitive video that exemplified the fallacies of white feminism
Throughout history, the feminist movement has prioritized the needs of white women over the needs of women of color, and often at their expense
In order to achieve true equity, we have to center the voices and perspectives of marginalized women

RELATED ISSUES

7/14/2020 | Embrace your race privilege.

10/22/2020 | Stop tone policing.

9/7/2020 | Learn about critical race theory.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/5/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/5/21

Redistribute your stimulus.

On March 11th, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law. Among its provisions was a $1400 stimulus which most of us have already received. This check was only the third direct federal payment to Americans since the beginning of the pandemic. With four in ten households reporting lost wages due to COVID (CBS) and millions of tenants thousands of dollars behind in rent (Time), those $1400 came not a moment too soon.

Happy Monday everyone, and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! A couple people asked how they could pay their stimulus forward to those that are unhoused, based on the action items in that newsletter from last week. I realized that, although I posted some options on Instagram, that we never outlined the inequities on the stimulus distribution in full. Andrew joins us today to walk through the details.

If you don't have the funds to give right now, or if you're in need, bookmark the resources provided below. Redistributing capital – either by taking or receiving – is powerful not just now, but any day throughout the year.

This newsletter is a free resource and that's made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website or PayPal. You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Follow the Share My Check campaign (#ShareMyCheck).
Support immigrants by promoting or donating to the UndocuBlack Network COVID-19 Fund, the Immigrant Worker Safety Net Fund, or Movimiento Cosecha.
Contribute to or promote Mutual Aid for People Impacted by Incarceration, the Incarcerated Trans & Gender Diverse Community Fund, the Emergency Prisoner & Family Relief Fund, or a local community bail fund to support incarcerated people who may not receive stimulus checks.
Use these steps to help the unhoused in your community get their stimulus checks.
Learn more about undocumented people creating mutual aid initiatives for community survival.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

For many, the sense of relief was palpable. Others found their feelings tinged with bitterness because Biden had declared in January that $2000, not $1400, stimulus checks were coming (CBS). After months of isolation and economic crisis, however, something was certainly better than nothing.

It’s important to remember here that nothing is precisely what millions of people living in the United States received. Though the $1400 stimulus payments were widely distributed, they were not universal. And those who missed out were those with the least resources and social power to begin with.

Only citizens or legal residents were eligible for the stimulus check. International students and teachers on J or Q visas did not qualify for the $1400 payment. Nonresident aliens who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number instead of a Social Security number did not qualify either (Forbes). Every undocumented immigrant working in this country missed out on the stimulus check, as well (Huffington Post). Though Biden campaigned on a promise to “welcome immigrants in our communities,” his American Rescue Plan consciously blocks millions of immigrants from receiving economic relief in a time of unprecedented hardship (Biden Harris).

Incarcerated people were technically eligible to receive the third stimulus check (CBS). But they faced a number of obstacles in actually receiving their rightful stimulus money. First, they had to acquire the forms to apply for the stimulus, which was impossible for inmates such as those in solitary confinement. In other cases, forms mailed to incarcerated people were seized by prison staff (Marshall Project). Finally, some people received stimulus payments – only to have part of the funds withheld by the prison in which they are incarcerated as supposed “payment” for imprisoning them. The United States has just 5% of the world’s population but locks up nearly 25% of its incarcerated people (ACLU). Many of them are effectively blocked from receiving their full stimulus check.

Even for unincarcerated people with Social Security numbers who ought to be receiving checks, not all stimulus payments are created equal. Weeks, after other people received their money, Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefit recipients were still waiting (Newsweek). And in a country where the average person is tens of thousands of dollars in debt, people with unpaid medical or credit card bills could have their stimulus checks garnished by debt collectors (CNBC).

The wide disparities among stimulus eligibility reflect deep divisions in American society. There are somewhere between 10.5 and 12 million undocumented people in the United States (Brookings) and 2.3 million people in prison (Prison Policy Initiative). Some undocumented people are not adults. Some people in prison may receive their full stimulus despite the hurdles place in their way, and it’s hard to say how many nonresident visa holders may have left the country in recent months. However, given these numbers, it’s not absurd to think that there might be 8 or 9 million people in this country who miss out on the stimulus payment purely because of their immigration status or incarceration. That’s roughly the population of New York City.

If each and every New Yorker missed out on a $1400 check the government sent to everyone else, we would all recognize the injustice of the situation. Incarcerated people and immigrants do not experience the pandemic and recession less than anyone else. On the contrary, prisons and jails are hotbeds for COVID-19 (CNN), and immigrants are more likely to be exposed to infection as essential workers (fwd.us).

Many Americans who received the stimulus check used it to pay outstanding debts or buy household necessities. About 19% were able to put most of it in savings (CNBC). Others looked into how they might invest their stimulus in stocks or financial instruments to reap future profit (The Motley Fool).

If you were one of the stimulus recipients with enough financial security to use it for savings or investment, consider donating that money in whole or in part to people who received no stimulus at all. By practicing mutual aid and demanding more for oppressed communities, we can not just fight against the inequities that have emerged with COVID but also work to create a society better than the one we had before the pandemic.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Millions of people in America missed out on their stimulus checks.
Though eligible, incarcerated people face severe obstacles to actually receiving their money.
Undocumented immigrants and many visa holders received nothing.
Those who missed out on stimulus checks included groups with some of the least social power and wealth to begin with.
Instead of saving or investing, people with resources who don’t need their stimulus checks can instead redistribute their money to those who received nothing.

RELATED ISSUES

11/9/2020 | Seek solidarity, not charity.

9/30/2020 | Close the racial wealth gap.

2/22/2021 | Advocate for reparations.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/2/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/2/21

Rally to decriminalize sex work.

As more and more women are turning to sex work opportunities, especially during this time of a global pandemic, a need to repeal the 2018 Fosta-Sesta laws is on the rise. The laws were set during the Trump administration and the main goal was to prevent online sex trafficking. Currently, people like Sinnamon Love—a professional sex worker—are pushing for the Biden administration to decriminalize it under its criminal justice reform (Marketplace). Sex work is known as one of the most common offenses for women to make and can have repercussions related to health, safety, and quality of life for years to come. There are many grassroots organizations beginning to take action to push for the decriminalization of sex work. According to the ACLU, Black and trans women stand to benefit the most from the decriminalization of sex work because they are already disproportionately targeted not only by the police but also by violent patrons (ACLU).

It's FRIDAY! And we're back with today's call-to-action. The movement to decriminalize sex work is far from new, but efforts reignited after the anti-Asian attack in Atlanta. Today, Diarra shares ways that we can join these initiatives in solidarity.

And thank you for all your connections so far for our next series! We're launching an Earth Week newsletter series (similar to 28 Days of Black History) written and edited by young environmental justice leaders of color. If you are under the age of 18 and doing this work in your community, OR a grownup that can connect us to a voice we must include, kindly reply to this email with details.

Saturday is our weekly Study Hall, where I answer questions from the community

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on our website, PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Sign the petition and donate to decrimnow.org, a Black, Brown, Trans and Queer-run coalition dedicated to the decriminalization of sex work.
Sign the petition on decriminalizesexwork.com to oppose the EARN IT Act and find sample letters to send to your representatives.
Donate to glitzinc.org, an organization tackling an array of issues related to transgender sex workers.
Join Butterfly, an organization that supports Asian and migrant sex workers, in their social media campaign #8CallsforJustice.

GET EDUCATED

By Diarra English (she/her)

Note: This article discusses sexual assault.

As more and more women are turning to sex work opportunities, especially during this time of a global pandemic, a need to repeal the 2018 Fosta-Sesta laws is on the rise. The laws were set during the Trump administration and the main goal was to prevent online sex trafficking. Currently, people like Sinnamon Love—a professional sex worker—are pushing for the Biden administration to decriminalize it under its criminal justice reform (Marketplace). Sex work is known as one of the most common offenses for women to make and can have repercussions related to health, safety, and quality of life for years to come. There are many grassroots organizations beginning to take action to push for the decriminalization of sex work. According to the ACLU, Black and trans women stand to benefit the most from the decriminalization of sex work because they are already disproportionately targeted not only by the police but also by violent patrons (ACLU).

What the ACLU and other grassroots groups are trying to accomplish is full decriminalization of sex work for sellers, buyers, and “youth who participate in sex work, but not for adults who participate in exploit youth” (ACLU). By fully decriminalizing consensual sex work for both parties, sex workers will be far more likely to seek protective services such as STD testing, family planning services, and legal advice when clients aren’t respectful. Many sex workers and advocates have expressed the concern that sex workers are in constant fear of the police which prevents them from reaching out for help even when they are in dire situations (US News). Right now, when sex workers have conflicts with their clients, there is little to no protection for them, but the same is not true for the client. Where the sex worker is perpetually punished, the client is let go with a slap on the wrist.

This sad reality was exemplified in March in the wake of the anti-Asian attacks in Atlanta (Rolling Stone). The six Asian women who were killed were targets because of the intersection of their Asian heritage, immigrant status, and place of work (NPR). Asian women have long standing been at the convergence of fetishization and undesirability, making the Atlanta attacks that much more poignant. They proved what many have known all along: there is no protection. The burden almost always falls on the woman, further criminalizing her body and sexual autonomy.

In the case of Black women sex workers, in particular, the burden lies entirely on her to prove she deserves protection not only from the law but also from clients. Historically, Black women have always been oversexualized and under-protected. During slavery, Black women’s sexuality was a direct link to their worth because of their ability to give birth to more people to enslave. This correlation between sexuality and commerce created the jezebel stereotype. Stemming from the Bible, a jezebel is an evil and immoral woman who uses her sexuality to manipulate men (Baptist News Global).

With the jezebel stereotype in place, it has been nearly impossible for Black women especially to be respected sexually. If a Black woman is raped, she was obviously asking for it because of her innate sexual nature. If she’s a sex worker, she should assume the risks that come with the profession and move on. None of these are okay assumptions to make, yet they’re made by society as well as the people Black women are supposed to be able to rely on to protect them. In any other profession, the business owner is protected. In sex work, that is not the case.

Sex work has become imperative for many young people, especially Black, Brown, and trans women who need to pay essential bills such as rent but can’t secure steady traditional employment. Sites like OnlyFans have become increasingly popular over the last year because of the ability to earn money from sex work, but there are still plenty of women who rely on in-person sex work to pay their bills (Insider). For example, Dee is a transgender woman from Central America who lost her job at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic. In order to keep up with her rent, she turned to sex work until her neighbors called the police and she was subsequently charged with prostitution (CNN). If sex work were legal, Dee would have not only been able to pay her rent but, also directly, contribute to the economy through taxes and spending.

Eliza Orlins, an American lawyer from New York City, is on a mission to remove the stigma around sex work and decriminalize it all together as she runs for District Attorney of Manhattan. She notes that when sex work is completely decriminalized, sex workers will have better access to healthcare, police will be able to spend more time combatting true crime, and the United States will slowly move toward becoming more equitable in terms of business (Chicago Tribune). According to a poll conducted by Data For Progress in 2020, 52% of Americans support the decriminalization of sex work (The Hill). Data for Progress also found that 49% of Americans support defunding vice policing of sex work: when plainclothes officers solicit sex workers, have sex, and then arrest them (VICE).

But what we truly need is complete decriminalization followed by vacated and commuted sentences for those already serving time for sex work offenses. It’s time to level the playing field when it comes to the business of sex, especially when it’s being conducted consensually. It is time to end the double standard, meaning when sex workers, especially Black and trans sex workers, are no longer prosecuted for something the average person does just as often.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Sex work between two consenting partners should not be illegal.
Black and trans women are disproportionately affected by sex work being a criminal offense
Legalizing sex work would positively impact the economy and provide financial protection for sex workers.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 4/1/21 Nicole Cardoza 4/1/21

Protect the unhoused community.

Last week, a thriving houseless encampment in Echo Park, Los Angeles, was destroyed by city officials. The community released a statement asking not to be disturbed, and allies gathered to stand in solidarity in advance of the raid. Nevertheless, on March 24, over four hundred LAPD officers descended to remove the unhoused community forcibly. Over 182 people were arrested, including at least a dozen journalists. By early the following day, police erected fences around the perimeter so residents couldn’t leave or return (The Knock LA). Protestors have since reported violence and projectiles inflicted by law enforcement at the scene.

Happy Thursday, and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. As we enter our 10th month of reporting (!!!), I'm still overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of this community. Thank you for being here, and remember: we're making big shifts together, even if you feel like your efforts are small. Thank you for staying committed and consistent with this work.

The stories from the forced displacement at Echo Park last week are still haunting me, so I wanted to educate myself a bit more about the houselessness crisis across the U.S. I want to emphasize that local engagement is critical on this issue, so do your best to find organizations and initiatives to support nearest you.

Also, we're launching an Earth Week newsletter series (similar to 28 Days of Black History) written and edited by young environmental justice leaders of color. If you are under the age of 18 and doing this work in your community, OR a grownup that can connect us to a voice we must include, kindly reply to this email with details.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Use these steps to help the unhoused in your community get their stimulus checks. Join a virtual teach-in to learn more on Monday, April 5.
Support local mutual aid organizations focusing on the unhoused communities near you. Some suggestions: Remora House in DC, the Echo Park Rise Up GoFundMe, Minneapolis Northside Mutual Aid, and the SF Neighbors Solidarity Network in San Francisco.
Research how your city engages with its unhoused community and advocate for its wellbeing. For example, Austin will vote May 1 on Proposition B, which will make it illegal to camp in certain public places, sit or lie in public spaces, and panhandle at night (KVUE). My work is to advocate against this criminalization by raising awareness and encouraging my local friends to vote against it.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

In this article, we use the term houseless and houselessness, which distinguishes the difference between having insecure access to shelter rather than the sense of belonging and identity with the concept of home, which can be much more than a physical place. Pete White, executive director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, shares in Curbed that unhoused people may still identify home as that neighborhood, city, and/or lands (although this shouldn’t discredit those displaced and unhoused because of houselessness). I also appreciate the perspective from unhoused.org, which states that “unhoused” implies “that there is a moral and social assumption that everyone should be housed in the first place.” This, to me, sharpens the focus of the issue.

“

We view the displacement of the homeless residents of Echo Park Lake as a forced eviction. Indeed, it was eviction at gunpoint, one that entailed the invasion and closure of the park by a militarized police force and led to 'uncertainty, fear, anger' for the homeless residents.

From an open letter from UCLA staff members condemning the actions at Echo Park.

Echo Park is a well-known location in Los Angeles (The Hollywood Reporter), and that, paired with the scale of the crackdown, garnered national attention. But unhoused populations across the country – and around the world – face similar injustices regularly.

Like many issues in our society, houselessness is frequently positioned due to an individual’s actions. If you believe stereotypes depicted in media, a person’s addiction, violent tendencies, lack of academic commitment, money mismanagement, etc., led them to lose their homes. But really, the story of houselessness highlights the failings of a system, not its people. Evictions are often the major life event that precedes an unhoused experience, particularly in urban communities with rapidly rising rent and homeownership costs (Washington Post). Incarceration does as well; formerly incarcerated people are up to 13x more likely to experience houselessness than the general population (Urban Institute). So does job insecurity, which is increasingly likely for those working low-wage jobs and in temporary roles.

These issues tend to impact people of color disproportionately. A study from 2018 found that Black people account for 12% of the population but 43% of the homeless population (National Low Income Housing Coalition). Because it’s embedded in everything from the housing market to employment, incarceration, and academia, systemic racism and discrimination accelerate the likelihood that someone will become unhoused. The New York Times offers a comprehensive overview of the impact of racism on houselessness in Los Angeles. Read more in-depth about other issues that foster houselessness here.

And all of this was well-documented before the impact of the pandemic, which has forced many more people into houselessness. In fact, the Echo Park community swelled in size this year because of it. One study estimates that this year will cause twice as much houselessness as the 2008 Great Recession. From now – 2023, the unhoused community is projected to grow by 49% in the United States, 68% in California, and 86% in Los Angeles County (Economic Roundtable).

Experiencing houselessness may increase the likelihood of contracting COVID-19. According to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, the highest single 7-day rate of positive COVID tests for the entire United States population between the months of June and October was 7.8%. The National Health Care for the Homeless Council reported that COVID positivity rates for those experiencing houselessness fell in an average range of 9-12% for that same time period (United Way). Despite this, at least twenty states did not include people living in shelters as part of their vaccine distribution plans (National Academy for State Health Policy).

In addition, some unhoused people don’t have access to a consistent address and may not file taxes because of their low income. This makes it difficult for them to access the COVID-19 stimulus checks, which have been a lifeline for many people regardless if they have reliable access to housing or not. Individuals can file a tax return this year (and the deadline was extended until May 15th) to receive the latest payment, so there’s still time to support those in your community using the resources provided above.

Racism and discrimination also shape how our system responds to houselessness. As demonstrated in Echo Park, unhoused people are often criminalized instead of supported, which can exacerbate the trauma and pain of being unhoused. Cities will pass laws banning people from sleeping in public spaces or cars and laws against scavenging through trash for food. Local law enforcement will write citations or charge fines for those “loitering” in public areas. 72% of cities have one or more laws prohibiting camping in public places, and 83% of cities restrict or ban begging in some or all public places. In addition, 55% of cities prohibit storing property in public places, which gives law enforcement legal protection to seize and discard people’s things, including essential items like identification, medicine, food, and shelter (Housing Not Handcuffs 2019, National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty).

This approach to houselessness isn’t effective. First off, it continues to apply individual punishment for systemic failures. It also wastes precious resources – resources that could nourish communities and reduce the situations that lead to houselessness in the first place. These same resources can also reduce incarceration and policing, improve education, and foster employment, a far more generative solution for communities overall than punitive measures. It also contributes to the narrative that houselessness is at fault of the people and not decisions made by local leaders.

When we consider the belated response of the U.S. government to the pandemic, paired with our existing economic and social issues, I don’t understand how we can insinuate that houselessness is the fault of one person – let alone any justification to treat unhoused people like criminals. The community in Echo Park emphasized that they had created “a sense of security, stability, and safety” against all odds and despite the city’s lack of support. When members of our community are most vulnerable, we must protect their well-being. Policing is not the answer.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Residents of an unhoused community in Los Angeles were forcibly removed from the property after building a space of resiliency despite lack of support from the city
Houselessness is an issue likely to increase due to the social and economic impact of the pandemic
Criminalization is not the answer to houselessness

RELATED ISSUES

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/31/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/31/21

Protect Indigenous water rights.

March 22 commemorated World Water Day, and each year people use this day to reflect on and celebrate water, the world’s most vital natural resources. People also aim to use this time to raise awareness that 2.2 billion people across the globe lack access to clean water. For certain Americans, this day can conjure up images of people in low-and middle-income countries. However, more than two million Americans live without running water (US Water Alliance). One of the biggest culprits behind the water crisis stems from vulnerable communities’ unprotected water rights.

Happy Wednesday! Earlier this month, dozens of countries worldwide signed the 30x30, a pledge to protect at least 30 percent of the Earth’s land and water (NYTimes). Indigenous communities already protect these resources and have so for generations. It's critical they have a seat at the table as these conversations unfold, especially because of a legacy of displacement and disenfranchisement. Today, Tiffany offers more context.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate to or volunteer with the Navajo Water Project, an Indigenous-led community organization dedicated to increasing water access for residents of the Navajo Nation.
Donate to the Native American Rights Fund, which has dedicated actions to improve water rights for Indigenous tribes across America.
Look at the Navajo Safe Water Maps, to find what areas in Navajo Nation provide safe water use for individuals without water during Covid-19.

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

Water rights refer to legislation that gives an individual or an entity the right to use water from a specific source of water (US Legal); it does not exist in an infinite capacity. Individuals, communities, developments, and corporations in society all have to use a finite water supply to power their lives or processes. Water rights help to delineate who can and cannot use specific bodies of water. Sadly, water rights for communities of color get ignored and disregarded by the U.S. government and big corporations.

Historically, the United States government has stripped, ignored, infringed on the water rights of Indigenous Reservations to the water supplies that help their people believe. Informally, the government has granted corporations permission to abuse and pollute the water supply in Black and Latino neighborhoods. The lack of protecting the water rights of vulnerable communities of color directly impacts these communities’ ability to have access to clean water.

Legislation regarding water rights has existed since the emergence of European settlers in America. Starting in the 1800s, the federal government began confining Indigenous Americans to a fraction of their native lands in reservations (Congressional Research Services). The US government often carved out the driest lands for Indigenous people to live on (GAR). Despite the legal dedication of land to Indigenous tribes, the water was not limited to their use. European settlers would use water around the reservation, and they created an infrastructure that would block or minimize how much water reached the tribe. In 1908, the Winters v. The United States case gave Indigenous communities the first law that stated they had essentially had first rights to the water surrounding their reservation lands (Water Keeper). This was not properly followed. Through the 1940s, the United States government's infrastructure projects continued to decimate the water supply near reservation lands (High Country News). In the 1960s, the expansion of cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Tucson used generator technologies that diverted water away from Indigenous communities towards these booming new cities (High Country News).

Not many gains in the realm of water rights have occurred for disadvantaged communities in the twenty-first century. Many tribal communities still have legal fights with the United States government over water rights for their lands.

In High Country News, author Andrew Curley wrote, “water settlements between tribes and states are a source of much of this continued underdevelopment. For Indigenous people, these settlements also represent colonial dispossession because they often suspend allocation of water rights and funding for water infrastructure until tribal leaders give in to the state’s demands” (High Country News).

Some states have had more positive water rights interactions. In 2020, the Senate passed the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement Act (Salt Lake Tribune). This recognized and legitimized the Navajo Nation’s rights to 81,500 acres of water in the Colorado River Basin. It’s not only Indigenous communities in America suffering from water rights violations. The construction of dams by the Chinese government in the Upper Mekong River Basin has negatively impacted Indigenous Cambodian communities’ wellbeing that live downstream of the River Basin (International Rivers).

Water equals life and vitality. World Water Day means so much because it helps us to reflect and re-center how much water affects our ability to survive and thrive. Take the Navajo Nation, for example. The Navajo Nation had the highest-per-capita coronavirus infection rate across the United States (CNN). This disproportionately high coronavirus rate was likely impacted by low access to clean water in these communities. In the Navajo Nation, a third of all citizens lack access to regular running water or indoor plumbing (Urban Institute) while the average American uses almost nine gallons of water daily. The average Navajo Nation resident uses less than ten percent (Urban Institute).

Without clean water, communities suffer. The lack of water rights exuberates many other conditions that negatively hurt communities of color. Protecting water rights helps protect Indigenous communities from harmful disparities that deny them the right to a full life.

Anyone can find a way to help communities protect their water rights and increase access to clean water. If you live in a place with lots of access to water, begin to converse water. Turn off your sink while brushing your teeth. Opt for some baths instead of showers every day. Conserving water can help decrease the diversion of water from disadvantaged communities. People can opt to look into legislation involving water rights for vulnerable communities. We all need water to live, and negative ramifications in one society will eventually catch up to others. Helping Indigenous communities protect their water rights can lead to positive changes that ensure the security and safety of clean water for us all.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

More than two million Americans live without running water.
One of the biggest culprits behind the water crisis stems from vulnerable communities’ unprotected water rights.
Historically, the United States government has stripped, ignored, infringed on the water rights of Indigenous Reservations to the water supplies that help their people believe.
The lack of protecting the water rights of vulnerable communities of color directly impacts these communities’ ability to have access to clean water.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/30/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/30/21

Support the mental health of students of color.

Everyday, millions of minority students suffer in silence, struggling to cope with the formidable hurdles they face on their path to receiving a higher education. Combating direct and indirect racial discrimination is an all-encompassing battle that continually dares people of color to survive. Carrying this weight while balancing a rigorous curriculum can often come at a serious cost to the mental health and well-being of students of color. In addition to this, the pandemic and the rise in white extremist violence and police brutality has added more strain to the life of students of color. This college mental health crisis is only exacerbated by the lack of support students of color receive from their institutions who fail to provide sustained efforts for equity, and the tangible resources needed to thrive (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

Happy Tuesday! Today is publication day for my first book, which offers accessible mindfulness resources for kids. I've spent the past decade working in schools to help mitigate the impact of what we're discussing today: the difficult emotions that students are processing while trying to get an education. I'm grateful that Kholiswa shared her perspective based on her experience.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

If you need mental health care, visit findtreatment.samhsa.gov or call 800-622-HELP (4357).
Petition local school boards to hire more counselors and advisors of color to help support students of color who have mental health needs related to exposure to racism. 14 million kids go to school that has cops, but no counselors.
Donate to Active Minds, a nonprofit that partners with students on campus to address mental health.
Visit the Equity in Mental Health website and support by donating to The Steve Fund and The Jed Foundation—partners in the Equity in Mental Health Framework—to support the advancement of programs and services dedicated to supporting the emotional wellbeing and mental health of young people of color nationwide.

GET EDUCATED

By Kholiswa Mendes Pepani (she/her)

While transitioning to college is a challenging time for all who are privileged enough to experience it, the adjustment is even tougher for students of color, particularly those who arrive from low-income backgrounds and are first-generation college students. Most college campuses that are not historically Black carry legacies and traditions indicative of white supremacy. From buildings named after racist figures to the white students who go unpunished for racist acts, the message being sent to students of color reverberates clearly, you do not belong here (The Hechinger Report).

The alienation of entering a space inherently designed for white students is only worsened by incidents of racial discrimination from peers and the institutions themselves. Students of color have, for years, been reporting incidents of racial hostility both subtle and blatant that includes microaggressions, racist vandalism, verbal slurs, and physical assaults (Inside Higher Ed). Such incidents are compounded by a lack of intervention from institutions that fail to condemn or address racism on their campuses. Take Colbie Lofton—a Black student at the Appalachian State University—for instance, in 2018 on the first week of class, Lofton sat in her macroeconomics class and proceeded to ask her professor a question. Behind her, she heard some of her white classmates make the racist comment, “I guess n*****s don’t understand.”

Lofton was unaware of the process of reporting the comment to her university and kept the disturbing insults to herself and neither did her college professor have the heart to take up for her. This left Lofton with the heightened awareness that there are deep prejudices that some people hold against Black people and therefore left her feeling unwelcome and ‘out of place’ in a predominately white school. More often than not, students who are struggling with racism on campus are left feeling invalidated, ignored, and undervalued by administrators who minimize the experiences or redirect injured parties to seek reparation through bureaucratic and time-consuming processes, especially those campuses that cater mostly to white students (Inside Higher Ed).

Many students have stories of being called a racial slur directly or seeing it through racist posts by students on social media. But these types of incidents don’t only happen on college campuses. It also exists in high schools as well. In April 2020, two Georgia high school students posted a disturbing, racist video on TikTok that implies the contents that Black people are made up of. Some of the words and phrases used include ‘Black,’ ‘don’t have a dad,’ ‘rob people,’ ‘go to jail,’ and the last comment implies that Black people always make bad choices (New York Times). Though the students were expelled, there were no evident steps taken to ensure the mental wellness of their black schoolmates was taken care of. It is people who think and act like this who helped ignite the national racial movement, Black Lives Matter.

The outrage over the police killings of George Floyd and other unarmed Black people has given the students’ cause momentum and has forced school administrators to act with urgency and speak out against racism and implement diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. But the efforts of these students have come with a heavy price. During the 2020 protests, two Black college students were repeatedly stunned by tasers and arrested for being in traffic past the nine o’clock mandated curfew. The students were tased because officers felt like they might have had a gun. Turns out the two students were unarmed and were simply driving by the chaotic protests near downtown Atlanta. Later in an interview after the students were released from jail, they said that they felt like they were going to die and that, “it was a blessing that they are still alive.”

The mental healthcare problem in universities has been further exposed by the global pandemic as COVID-19 has cast light on the deeply ingrained racial inequalities that exist in American society. In a recent study done by the United Negro College Fund, one student described their experience saying, “Dealing with COVID-19, the police brutality, and trying to come up with money to pay for fall semester is [causing] me a lot of stress and anxiety because either way, it’s the stress of trying not to get sick, not getting killed by police or finding a way to pay for school that has me on edge (UNCF Student Pulse Survey).”

Thriving under these conditions is not just exhausting, but also psychologically destructive. These adverse conditions mean that Black and brown students experience depression, anxiety disorders, burnout, and other mental illnesses at a rate higher than their white peers (The Harvard Gazette). Studies show that students of color are more likely to feel overwhelmed at college and keep their struggles to themselves. Before the pandemic began, twenty-three percent of Asian-American students, twenty-six percent of Black students, and thirty-three percent of Latino students with mental health problems sought treatment versus the forty-six percent of white students (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

The rejection and lack of trust and belonging felt by students of color create huge barriers in their ability to seek help from their institutions. In addition to this, the cost, lack of access to counselors of color, and the stigmas associated with therapy prevent minority students from getting the life-saving care they need (The Atlantic). John Silvanus Wilson, former president of Morehouse College, describes how this student health crisis puts an emphasis on getting colleges to foster an environment that allows students of color to feel safe.

“This really brings into focus the institutional responsibility,” Wilson says “If I don’t believe you want me here, I’m not inclined to come in and use your services. So trust is how this is going to change.” (The Harvard Gazette)

To close the divide between students of color and wellness, organizations like The Steve Fund are committed to working with universities to promote programs that build understanding and assistance for the mental and emotional health of young people of color. This task force recommends that institutions take a ‘trauma-informed response’ to decision-making to show empathy and build trust with students of color (The Steve Fund Crisis Report).

The subtle and often seamless ways illnesses like depression and anxiety work their way into the mind leaves people feeling dangerously isolated within the mental anguish they experience. One bad day quickly becomes a bad week that begins to feel like a bad life. Seeking help when struggling with feelings of depression and anxiety is the only remedy to an illness that wants to swallow you in a quicksand of grief, panic, self-loathing and suicidal ideation. If you are currently struggling with mental illness, please know that it is nothing to be ashamed of. Mental illness is a disease and one that you can survive. If you or anyone you know is struggling to cope with feelings of depression and anxiety, please reach out for help. You are not weak and you are certainly not alone.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Students of color are at a higher risk for developing mental health issues due to systemic racism and intergenerational trauma.
The systemic inequalities and racism on college campuses leave minority students feeling alienated and mentally overwhelmed.
Students of color are less likely to seek help from academic institutions due to a lack of trust and belonging.

RELATED ISSUES

3/17/2021 | End standardized testing.

10/19/2020 | Support restorative justice in schools.

8/17/2020 | Fight for equity in remote learning.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/29/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/29/21

Rally against voter suppression.

Last Thursday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a sweeping voter suppression bill into law that allows for more legislative oversight and control on election proceedings. The bill has a couple of positive provisions, like lengthening the time of early voting in general elections, but they fail to compensate for the negative.

Happy Monday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! We covered this topic briefly last June on the anniversary of Shelby County v. Holder, and it's all the more relevant with the law that passed in Georgia last week. I didn't realize how many other states have similar legislation pending – so stay alert for the latest in yours.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate to the New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan effort to register and educate Georgia voters. The most effective way to reverse these laws is to create a Democratic-led state government in 2022.
Voter suppression laws are in progress in several other states right now. If you live in teh following states, click the link to take action (provided by Fair Fight): Arizona | Georgia | Florida | New Hampshire | Texas.
Sign the petition to encourage your Congresspeople to pass H.R. 1 and H.R. 4.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Absentee voters have to submit a driver’s license, state ID or other proof of their identity.
Absentee ballot drop boxes can only be located in early voting locations (which are often placed predominately in wealthier, white neighborhoods)
Drop boxes won’t be available in the last days of an election (after it’s too late to mail ballots in)
The State Election Board is now managed more by the state legislature, who now have the power to suspend anyone for inappropriate conduct
It shortens runoff elections from nine weeks to less than a month and cuts the early voting required from three weeks to one week. Consider how critical the runoff election in Georgia was for establishing a Democratic Senate in early 2021.

(NBC News)

The most blatant addition prohibits volunteers from distributing items like food, water, and folding chairs to voters waiting in long lines. Because of the lack of polling locations available, Georgia voters – particularly those of color – waited hours to be able to vote in the 2020 elections (NBC News). Not only is this an apparent attempt to deter individuals from voting, but it’s also troubling that the government finds it appropriate to ban a human from providing food and sustenance to another while participating in their civic duty.

When asked during his first formal news conference, President Biden was adamantly against the law, stating that it “makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle” (Washington Post). Stacey Abrams called the law Jim Crow 2.0. On Twitter, Kemp proudly shared a photo of the occasion, depicting him seated at a table, surrounded by six white men, signing the bill (Twitter). Reporter Will Bunch from The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that the painting in the background featured the Callaway Plantation, a plantation in Wilkes County, GA, where hundreds of Black people were enslaved, which makes it all the more sinister. Read the full story on Will Bunch’s Twitter thread.

To fully understand the context, we have to analyze its similarities with voter suppression laws of the Jim Crow era. By definition, voter suppression, is when the state or federal government intentionally makes it difficult for people to exercise their right to vote. The Fair Fight PAC breaks down three fundamental voting stages: voter registration, access to polls, and ballot counting. Voter suppression can happen at any stage of this process. Although voter suppression affects everyone from having a fair and democratic election, it usually directly impacts communities of color, the elderly, people with disabilities, and others systemically marginalized in our country.

Voter suppression for Black people has been around since the beginning. The 15th Amendment, enacted in 1870, made it unconstitutional to deny any man the right to vote based "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (National Geographic). But, Black men were often barred from the polls, along with other people of color, through state-wide rules and regulations that limited their rights. This wasn’t just a racial decision but a political one; during that time, Black people overwhelmingly voted Republican (the party of Abraham Lincoln).

States implemented polling taxes – which made it too expensive for any poor person to vote. Some also started to use literacy tests to thwart Black people, knowing that many weren’t granted the opportunity to learn – and were punished for attempting to.

Side note: The grandfather clause is often included as a form of voter suppression. This practice granted prospective voters eligibility if their father or grandfather had voted in the past. This obviously did bar non-white voters from voting, but it was actually implemented to enfranchise uneducated and/or poor white men, so the poll taxes and literacy tests didn’t block them. The law became obsolete after a Supreme Court ruling in 1939, but the “grandfathered in” terminology still remains (NPR).

In Mississippi in 1890, the state went so far as to require voters to read and interpret a section of the state constitution chosen by a local official. White people were given simple clauses to read and were often assisted by poll workers. In contrast, Black people were given the most incomprehensible clauses that even the most well-read political figure may not have understood. During his run for re-election, Democratic Senator, Mississipi Governor and noted white supremacist Theodore Bilbos said the following:

“

The poll tax won’t keep ’em from voting. What keeps ’em from voting is section 244 of the constitution of 1890 that Senator George wrote. It says that for a man to register, he must be able to read and explain the constitution...and then Senator George wrote a constitution that damn few white men and no niggers at all can explain.

(Race and Liberty in America: The Essential Reader)

These laws were effective. In Mississippi, less than 9,000 of the 147,000 voting-age Black people were registered to vote after 1890. In Louisiana in 1896, there were 130,000 registered Black voters. But this number plummeted to 1,342 by 1904 (Smithsonian).

It wasn't until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the federal government attempted to eradicate these voting laws. Within four years of its enactment, Black voter registration increased from 25% to 65% (Brennan Center). But seven years ago, the Supreme Court significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act. In its June 25, 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, the Court rejected a provision of the Voting Rights Act that determined which jurisdictions with a history of discrimination had to “pre-clear” changes to their election rules with the federal government before implementing them. This gave states a free pass to make whichever rules they see fit without oversight (Brennan Center).

This enabled states like Georgia to implement new laws that disenfranchise voters. One rule, the “use it or use it” law, allows states to remove their citizens from the voter registration list if they didn’t vote in past elections. The "exact match" law requires that voters’ registration information exactly matches the information found at the state’s Department of Driver Services or the Social Security Administration. In 2017, the Georgia state government, led by then-Secretary of State Kemp, who had just announced his run for governor, used these two rules to remove over 600,000 voters from the registry (The New Republic). An additional 53,000 voter registrations were pending at the time of the election. Unsurprisingly, Kemp won the election against Stacey Abrams by roughly 55,000 votes (NBC News). You can read about other examples of modern-day disenfranchisement here.

Progressive leaders have been advocating for the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would reinstate some of the changes made in 2013. They offer a more comprehensive view of discriminatory acts in the voting process that reflects modern-day (Brennan Center). The For the People Act, introduced in early 2021, is also designed to restore the VRA and end gerrymandering and reduce corporate spending in elections (Brennan Center). It’s possible, but not likely, that these will pass the Senate, but we can rally. More urgently, we must support the organizers in Georgia to ensure everyone has access to the resources they need, despite an equitable system. As you watch this conversation unfold, be sure to tune into the latest on voting rights in your state, too.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Last week, Georgia state legislatures passed voter suppression laws that will disproportionately impact marginalized communities.
These laws echo similar acts throughout history that tried to make it more difficult for people of color to access the polls.
Although the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 to end the Jim Crow voting laws, a provisional change in 2013 made it easier for states to create oppressive laws once again.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/26/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/26/21

Learn the definition of "woke.”

This past week, Tim Scott has come under criticism for admonishing “woke supremacy,” naming that the liberal movement is “as bad as white supremacy” (The Hill). The rise of the term “woke supremacy” indicates that the word “woke” has strayed far from its original intentions.

Happy Friday and welcome back. I’m taking a slightly different take on today’s newsletter to highlight the history behind the word woke and the harm in pitting calls for accountability against the violence of white supremacy culture. Because of that, the take action section offers a couple of urgent CTAs from communities across the U.S.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

A large unsheltered community at Echo Park Lake in Los Angeles, CA, is being displaced by law enforcement after building a safe and peaceful community. Use this toolkit to join the community, and follow the latest on the hashtag #EchoParkRiseUp.
Undocumented workers in NYC have gone on hunger strike to demand access to pandemic aid, which must be included in the state budget by April 1. Donate to support their efforts.
The Missouri State Legislature wants to make protesting in the streets a felony. Sign the petition to protect free speech.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

The term is often attributed to author William Melvin Kelley, who used the term in his 1962 New York Times essay about the appropriation of Black vernacular (often referred to as AAVE). But the idea of “staying awake” has been used to support social and political issues for hundreds of years. The term “stay woke” specifically was first used as part of a protest song by Blues musician Huddie Ledbetter called “Scottsboro Boys,” which a group of nine Black teenagers in Scottsboro, Arkansas, accused of raping two white women (Vox).

The word resonated with musician Georgia Anne Muldrow, who used it as her own personal mantra to stay motivated. Her definition of the term is as follows:

“

Woke is definitely a black experience — woke is if someone put a burlap sack on your head, knocked you out, and put you in a new location and then you come to and understand where you are ain’t home and the people around you ain’t your neighbors. They’re not acting in a neighborly fashion, they’re the ones who conked you on your head. You got kidnapped here and then you got punked out of your own language, everything. That’s woke — understanding what your ancestors went through. Just being in touch with the struggle that our people have gone through here and understanding we’ve been fighting since the very day we touched down here. There was no year where the fight wasn’t going down.

Georgia Anne Muldrow, in conversation with Elijah C. Watson for OkayPlayer

Muldrow wrote the word into her song “Master Teacher”, which was re-recorded by Erykah Badu, a Grammy-award-winning singer and songwriter, and released in 2008 (OkayPlayer). That track brought the term “stay woke” to the forefront of modern Black culture. “Stay woke” became a rallying cry for Black lives after the killing of Michael Brown in 2014, a reminder to watch out for police brutality. This specific use of the term defines its relevance to our current culture. Aja Romano wrote a detailed history about the word “woke,” including a comprehensive timeline, if you want to learn more (Vox).

And, as words tend to do in culture, the word “woke” was mainstream by 2016. Everyone – individuals, brands, talk shows, politicians, sports teams – started using the word broadly to align themselves with conscious values and ideas. As Sam Sanders notes in his article for NPR, this is a standard pattern for how words cycle through our culture (NPR). And AAVE is routinely adopted and misconstrued by mainstream communities. But a word that once carried significant cultural significance for the Black community got co-opted to display solidarity without any action attached to it. Woke went from something we did to something we only said.

“Words that begin with a very specific meaning, used by a very specific group of people, over time become shorthand for our politics, and eventually move from shorthand to linguistic weapon. Or in the case of woke, a linguistic eye-roll” (NPR).

As soon as the term found mainstream understanding, it also started to be wielded by conservatives as an attack. Nowadays, it’s more likely you hear about “wokeness,” “woke culture,” "woketopians," or “woke supremacy” condescendingly, usually as a way to dismiss liberal views of equity and inclusion as a “liberal agenda” or a form of “political correctness.” Suddenly, the word woke went from protecting marginalized folk to attacking them for standing up for their rights. This evolution of the term aligns with an incredibly polarized era. It’s no wonder that by October 2018, 80 percent of Americans believe that “political correctness is a problem in our country” (The Atlantic).

But woke supremacy is just a phrase. White supremacy is a culture. The word “woke” wouldn’t even exist if Black people had to stay vigilant to stay alive. Individuals, for example, wouldn’t express outrage over a journalist using the N-word if white supremacy hadn’t fostered a condition where discrimination against Black people hadn’t been normalized for generations. The conversation on racial stereotypes in some of Dr. Seuss’s books can’t happen if those racial depictions haven’t been weaponized against communities of color for decades.

Although some individuals have faced personal discomfort after being called out publicly for inappropriate actions, this so-called “woke supremacy” doesn’t have the capacity to create systemic harm. Don Lemon stated it far more plainly on CNN. “I’ve never seen a woke supremacist lynching anybody. Never saw a woke supremacist denying anybody access to housing or a job or education or voting rights. Never saw any woke supremacists enslaving anybody. Never saw any woke supremacists trying to keep people from marrying amongst different races. Where are the woke supremacists attacking police? Where are the woke supremacists hunting police officers in the halls of the Capitol and beating them with Blue Lives Matter signs” (Huffington Post)?

Ironically, centering “woke supremacy” alongside “white supremacy” only emphasizes the real issue. Some people are so focused on protecting white supremacy that they’re willing to manifest a new enemy to exercise its power against. As a result, there are coordinated attacks against “wokeness” that are actually more forceful applications of white supremacy culture. Schools are passing bills to ban the 1619 Project and conversations on racism and sexism from the curriculum and poll public university employees about their political identity. In FiveThirtyEight, Perry Bacon Jr. notes that this isn’t new; the right has leveled the same attacks against “‘outside agitators’” (civil rights activists in 1960s), the ‘politically correct’ (liberal college students in the 1980s and ’90s) and ‘activist judges’ (liberal judges in the 2000s).”

So, what do we do about it? First, we recognize that the argument is inherently flawed. We focus our attention back on systemic harm rather than political noise. In essence, we draw our attention back to the root of the word itself: the social and racial issues that threaten the safety of Black people and other marginalized groups. And instead of preparing for battle in a fictional war, we stay committed to the work. After all, actions are louder than words.

8/23/2020 | Support those incarcerated and impacted by COVID-19.

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Nicole Cardoza 3/25/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/25/21

Advocate for gun control laws.

According to the Pew Research Center, white men are the largest demographic to own guns at 48 percent, while 24 percent of white women are gun owners (Pew Research Center). Twenty-four percent of non-white men and 16 percent of non-white women own guns. Although many people use guns for safety, white supremacists have increasingly used guns as their new weapon of choice against people of color (The Trace). And these white supremacists are able to get guns easily and legally.

Happy Thursday and welcome back. Over the past ten days, there's been at least seven mass shootings in the U.S. Tracey started this piece before the most recent shooting in Boulder, which only emphasizes the point: we have to take gun control more seriously. Although background checks and extending the waiting period won't solve every mass shooting, they can certainly reduce violence and harm.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our supporters. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Support the families of the victims of the Atlanta mass shooting by donating money for funeral expenses. This link includes a list of GoFundMe pages for each victim.
Tell your Congresspeople to support the Background Checks Act, which the House passed in February.
Join the upcoming community call with the Community Justice Action Fund, a nonprofit organization building power for and with communities of color to end gun violence: Tuesday, March 30th at 3PM EST / 2PM CST.
Learn more about community-based violence intervention to reduce gun violence.

GET EDUCATED

By Tracey Onyenacho (she/they)

Many violent acts done by white supremacists are carried out with guns that are easily accessible to them. After many shootings by white supremacists, legislators often draft up bills that they determine will reduce these deadly attacks, ranging from giving more money to police to closing loopholes on background checks. Yet, mass shootings by white supremacists still happen.

Current gun control laws vary from state to state. However, many gun control laws have federal requirements to prevent everyone from purchasing a gun. One of the most important federal gun control laws is the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Congress.gov). This act prohibits certain folks from purchasing guns, such as those with felony convictions, those who are considered to have a mental health condition, those under 18 years old (with exceptions for a job), and more.

This Brady Act also requires a background check to be run by the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) if a gun buyer’s basic background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System has been flagged. A basic background check through the system can take a few minutes to approve instantly. But for the FBI, a background check may not be conducted in enough time. The legislation allows that if there has been no objection within three days of the FBI background check request, the person can purchase a gun. This does not mean that the background check was completed, only that there was no contest reported by the FBI in that time period.

More people bought guns last year than ever before, with over 23 million guns sold (CNN). This led to the FBI conducting more background checks than in previous years. This January alone, the FBI conducted over 4.3 million background check requests after many people bought guns in response to the January 6 Capitol riot. Yet, shootings by white supremacists still happen.

For example, last week, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long shot up three massage parlors and killed eight people, including six Asian American women in Atlanta, after he was able to purchase a gun on the same day (VICE). This was possible due to Georgia’s lack of a waiting period between purchasing a gun and receiving the gun. Waiting periods are meant to prevent a potential gun owner from purchasing a gun to commit shootings out of rash and violent intentions. Waiting periods also give the FBI more time to complete a background check if the federal deadline of three days is not enough.

Now, politicians are trying to pass new legislation through the Senate that will close some loopholes that grant easier access to firearms. Earlier this month, the House passed two bills that will tighten the gun buying process by implementing stricter background checks (New York Times). If passed through the Senate, one law will allow the FBI to have up to 10 days to conduct a proper background check. Another legislation will require private gun sellers to conduct background checks. Private gun sellers are currently not federally required to conduct background checks unless their state requires it. Data from Everytown for Gun Safety found that 1 in 9 potential buyers on Armslist, the largest online gun listing site for private sellers (similar to Craigslist), wouldn’t pass a background check (Everytown for Gun Safety). But loopholes allow them to purchase guns from private sellers without one. These new federal legislations could bring greater restrictions but face significant opposition in the Senate from politicians seeking to strike them out.

Politicians are also trying to move forward state legislation to prevent impulsive gun purchases by enacting their own waiting periods. Currently, only ten states and the District of Columbia have legally mandated waiting periods before purchasing a gun (Giffords Law Center). Legislators in Georgia are now planning to bring forth legislation that will require a waiting period of five days. Other states are following suit in issuing legislation that will create or extend waiting periods (Associated Press). Although gun control laws may not fully stop mass shootings by white supremacists, politicians hope to bring more restrictions for impulse purchases of guns if passed.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

White men are the largest demographic of gun owners.
Federal law requires licensed gun owners to conduct background checks but not private sellers.
Only ten states and the District of Columbia have laws that require a waiting period before receiving a gun after its purchase.

8/23/2020 | Support those incarcerated and impacted by COVID-19.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/24/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/24/21

Abolish the filibuster.

Happy Wednesday and welcome back! Honestly, all I knew about the filibuster until recently was "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Turns out filibusters are much more than impassioned, 25 hour speeches, but an insidious way to stifle progress. Diarra shares more about the process and offers the little we can do to change it.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our paying subscribers. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Sign the petition at actionnetwork.org to abolish the filibuster.
Research and vote for representatives who are committed to abolishing the filibuster.
Read the Structural Biases in the Structural Constitutional Law and understand the disadvantages that Democrats and progressives face in the current system

GET EDUCATED

By Diarra English (she/her)

The modern filibuster is the greatest threat to American democracy right now. Without so much as a word, any senator who objects to a bill has the power to completely derail the bill’s progression until sixty senate members vote for the delay. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is no stranger to the filibuster and has used it to block any bill he simply does not like. He and his colleagues are willing to go through major lengths in order to block bills, and President Joe Biden’s presidency doesn't seem much different.

Last week, President Biden took the first steps that possibly could help in dismantling the disruptive structure of the filibuster. He says it needs to be reformed back to how it was when he first began his thirty-eight-year Senate career—a talking filibuster (The Washington Post). Without a reformed filibuster, it will be nearly impossible for President Biden to pass legislation such as the voting rights bill, healthcare, criminal justice reform, and many more (Rolling Stone).

According to the U.S. Senate, a filibuster is an action designed to prolong debate and delay or prevent vote on a bill, resolution, amendment, or other debatable question (United States Senate). When a filibuster is enacted, the amount of votes needed to pass the legislation automatically rises from the original majority of fifty-one to a supermajority of three-fifths, or sixty votes. On bills where support is already limited, it becomes impossible to garner the remaining votes needed to pass the supermajority.

The filibuster was first introduced in the mid-nineteenth century as a tool to unfairly uphold the institution of slavery at a time when leaders were beginning to realize the need to abolish it (NPR). Adam Jentleson, former deputy chief of staff to former Democratic leader Harry Reid from 2010-2017, credits John C. Calhoun as being the father of the modern filibuster as we know it. Calhoun fought hard to defend Southern slave owners by using filibusters, and later on the filibuster stayed true to its racist history by derailing Civil Rights legislation.

It has long been understood that the American democratic system was founded on racism, therefore, its never been an ally for Black and non-white people. However, the extent to which this applies is more apparent as you dive into the structure of American politics. From the contradictory verbiage in the Declaration of Independence to the gerrymandering of cities, towns, and counties, there truly is no place for the American Black in the United States government. Today, the filibuster’s racist structure of politics speaks louder than ever as senate Republicans plan to use it to dismantle the voting rights of millions of Black Americans.

Many members of the Senate have been calling for reform or abolition of the filibuster, and President Biden just joined the team along with democratic Senators such as Chris Coons and Dianne Feinstein, who was adamantly opposed to the filibuster up until last Friday afternoon. Feinstein stated in President Biden’s proposal (Twitter) that she is open to changing the Senate’s filibuster rules if necessary to pass legislation such as expanded background checks for firearm purchases, and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Most recently, Senator Bernie Sanders said, “The only way the [fifteen dollar minimum wage] would pass is if they abolished the filibuster” (Politico). Similarly, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn has vehemently opposed the filibuster and is now applying more pressure than ever to make sure President Biden addresses the issue.

At the heart of the issue is the vulnerability not only of the majority, but also the ability to pass legislation that is essential to a functioning democracy. Following the election of Senators Jon Ossoff and Rafael Warnock, an onslaught of voter suppression laws was presented by Senate Republicans in crucial Southern and swing states. In the 2020 presidential election, the power of the Southern states was evidently clear; Black and Brown voters are unstoppable when they join together and aren't disenfranchised (The Atlantic). Without reform of the filibuster, it's easily possible for these laws to pass and cause irrevocable harm to the democratic process. As imminent as the threat may seem, President Biden does not appear to have the same urgency as Democractic senators or top aides who want to see reform happen as soon as possible. “He needs time” has been the consensus instead of moving forward with diligent speed (Politico).

It is certainly going to be difficult garnering the support of Senate Republicans to alter the filibuster in the slightest, especially with minority leader Mitch McConnell as the head. He cites the filibuster as a means to force “deliberation” and is something that was within the wishes of the founding fathers. He believes eliminating it would dismantle the structure of the senate and will cause a ‘nuclear winter’ (The Guardian). But, President Biden doesn’t want to abolish it completely; he only wants to “refashion” it back into what it used to be (The Washington Post). In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Biden states that he is all for bringing back the rules of the filibuster where Senators had to stand up, demand the floor, and keep talking (ABC News). This will make it harder for opposers to block essential bills and it will deter those from disrupting senate proceedings just because they don’t like something. They will actually have to work for it.

As long as the filibuster still is considered fair game in our democratic system, no progressive legislation will pass. As it has been used to block gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, Obamacare expansion, and numerous civil rights bills, there is no hope for forwarding movement as long as anyone senator can waste precious time either through silence or procrastination. There’s a reason the founding fathers did not support the filibuster. They had the forethought to understand the danger that a filibuster could cause, especially in the matter of the supermajority (Indivisible). It can’t be okay for the minority to essentially throw a tantrum whenever something isn’t going their way. We need to return to the balance of power intended for the government when it was first developed. Imagine a reality where American citizens advocate for the change they want to see and are actually able to see it because their senators can vote on and pass their concerns. It can happen without the filibuster and, as of Friday afternoon, we are one step closer to its reform and hopefully its abolition.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The filibuster has always been a racist means of objecting to progression.
Without the filibuster in place, the minority will no longer have the power to derail the wishes of the majority and the American citizens who want change.
The filibuster often advances the desires of those who seek to abuse power.

RELATED ISSUES

2/22/2021 | Advocate for reparations.

1/28/2021 | Take action on executive orders.

1/14/2021 | Impeach, ban and convict Trump.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/23/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/23/21

Rally for marijuana justice.

Last week, five White House staffers were fired because of their past use of drugs, including marijuana (AP). News of this action recirculated conversations on the federal government's stance on decriminalizing marijuana and expunging the records of those with felonies related to drug use and distribution. Despite repeatedly advocating to end marijuana criminalization during their campaign (Teen Vogue), a new video suggests that their stance shifted. A former member of the Biden-Sanders task force stated that the president opted against a pro-legalization stance because they were worried about its impact on the election (More Perfect US).

Happy Tuesday and welcome back! I hope yesterday's newsletter inspired you to find a local publication to support. There, you might have stumbled across news about marijuana laws in legislation in your state. Or, you may have heard about the fired White House staffers. Either way, today we're learning more about the legacy of marijuana enforcement and looking beyond decriminalization towards justice – and accounting for these historical wrongs.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our paying subscribers. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Sign the petition to urge the Biden Administration to follow through on their commitment to expunge marijuana records.
Urge your members of Congress to support The SAFE Banking Act, which will allow state-licensed marijuana-related businesses to engage freely in relationships with banks and other financial institutions
There’s pending legislation related to marijuana in nearly every state in the U.S. Find the latest where you live using the map on this site and take action accordingly.
If you use cannabis and cannabis-related products, buy from Black-owned cannabis and CBD companies. Here’s a list of places to start.

GET EDUCATED

By Kashea McCowan (she/her)

For many years, cannabis, also known as marijuana, has long been classified as an illegal drug. Though the rates of usage between white and non-white communities are grossly similar, people from predominantly black communities are mostly targeted for having possession of it. Today, eleven states and the District of Columbia have fully legalized recreational pot, fifteen states decriminalized it, thirty-three states have authorized medicinal use of it, and nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that marijuana should be legal even if they don’t use it (The Atlantic). Though this is a big leap towards reform, making up for the brutal inequalities of an expensive and racist drug war is a long path to tread.

According to the ACLU's 2013 analysis, “marijuana arrests account for more than half of all drug arrests in the United States. Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, eighty-eight percent were simply for having marijuana in their possession. Despite the roughly equal usage rates, Black people are 3.73 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana (American Civil Liberties Union).”

By 2020, the analysis for arrests in the Black population dropped only nine points, making people of color 3.64 times more likely to get arrested. These facts are calculated on a nationwide basis, but it is reported that not only are people of color prone to being arrested for the possession of marijuana in every single state, but in some states, they are up to six, eight, or almost ten times more likely to be arrested compared to the same amount of white people being stopped and/or caught for the same thing. Even in Canada, statistics show that Black and Indigenous people are over-represented amongst those arrested (NORML).

“Politicians across the political divide spent much of the twentieth century using marijuana as a means of dividing America. By painting the drug as a scourge from south of the border . . . marijuana as a drug and the laws that sought to control it played on some of America’s worst tendencies around race, ethnicity, civil disobedience, and otherness,” says John Hudak of his book, Marijuana: A Short History. “. . . U.S. government officials first painted cannabis as an insidious substance flowing across the border like immigrants from Mexico. Next, the government described cannabis as a drug for the inner city and for Blacks while also lying about it leading to murder, rape, and insanity. Next, political opponents of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan designed and enforced laws to target a variety of groups across America (Brookings).”

As a result of the aggressive enforcement of the marijuana possession laws carried out by excessive racial bias, hundreds of thousands of people are thrown into the criminal justice system. This not only deducts billions of dollars out of taxpayers’ pockets, but the personal cost individuals pay for those arrests is significant and can linger for years. The repercussions for being arrested prevent those charged from being eligible for public housing, student financial aid, employment opportunities, child custody determinations, and immigration status (American Civil Liberties Union). Not only do these people get pushed out of society after going to jail but now, the industry that once provided a living for them and their families is legally out of arm's reach because of the marijuana drug charges on their backgrounds. The industry that once financially supported people of color in low-income communities historically, is now being deemed as medicinal when big white corporations, white businesses, and white farmers want to make a profit.

Now that marijuana is being legalized, it is becoming harder for people of color to share in the cannabis boom. Government rules will decide who can profit from growing the crop. At the moment, those rules favor well-connected, corporate growers rather than independent farmers, much less independent farmers of color (The Atlantic). In places where medical marijuana is legal, people are finding that it is extremely difficult to obtain a growers license. In New York, only ten companies own licenses to cultivate and dispense marijuana and licenses can sell well up to tens of millions of dollars. When regulators dictate who grows a cash crop, they can make choices to help spread the wealth. but when it is done “wrong”, these regulators deliberately make it to where a “certain type of person” doesn’t get to partake in it, in this case, the exclusion of BIPOC farmers. But like the tobacco industry, cannabis is made legal so that the rich can get richer, “endowing a designated class of Americans with a way of life that buoyed entire regional economies (The Atlantic).”

When it comes to the War on Drugs, Black and Brown people still face the brunt of it. There are too many people in the BIPOC community that are incarcerated because of charges related to the possession of marijuana. To make matters worse, that same industry portrayed as being destructible for society is now legal in most states. The licensure system for marijuana cultivation should award licenses to a larger number of applicants from communities hit the hardest. Legalization and decriminalization should eliminate future arrests and s expunge past offenses. And, more effective policies should be implemented to create new and lasting ownership opportunities for people of color and those with previous, low-level cannabis convictions, including farming, distribution, and sales. Though efforts are being made toward repair, we still have a long way to go. The history of cannabis policy and the criminal justice system in the U.S. shows that racism is institutionalized and enforced in Black communities. It is now legalization that must institutionalize the means for the recovery of Black and Brown people and the communities they live in (Brookings).

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Black people are nearly four times more likely to get arrested for possession of marijuana than white people.
Eleven states and the District of Columbia have fully legalized recreational pot, fifteen states decriminalized it, and thirty-three states have authorized medicinal use of it.
There needs to be more inclusive policies for marijuana farming.
There should be automatic expungement for people who hold low-level possession of marijuana convictions.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/22/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/22/21

Support local journalism.

Local journalism needs your support now more than ever. Resources for local publications have been dwindling for years, spurred nearly a decade ago when readers shifted from print to digital publications. Moving news consumption from online to offline enabled national outlets to attract more readers, siphoning readership – and advertising revenue – from local publications. Beyond that, local advertising revenue has moved towards tech behemoths like Facebook and Google, who offer more cost-effective, segmented opportunities to reach an audience (Washington Post). Over 2,000 local newspapers have shuttered since 2004. By the close of 2019, over 65 million Americans live in counties with only one local newspaper—or none at all (Brookings).

Happy Monday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! We've been reporting on the rise of anti-Asian violence this year. Despite the work of local reporting, many of those stories failed to gain national news, which may have shielded many from the pain the Asian community has been experiencing until the tragedy last week.

It was a good reminder to reflect on the role of local and independent journalism to keeping us informed. If you're reading this, you've already taken a chance on an independent publication committed to sharing stories often overlooked and unheard, so THANK YOU! But even we won't report on every injustice in every community. Today's call-to-action is to add more local reporting to your reading list. It won't just keep you resourced to support your neighbors, it'll invest in the space for life-saving information in the future.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our paying subscribers. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website or Patreon. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Find a local newspaper and, at minimum, subscribe for updates. Here’s a directory of nonprofit local news organizations created by INN.
If you have the funds, make a recurring subscription to your local news outlet. See if they’re listed on NewsMatch, an initiative that matches donations to local news outlets.
Check your local newspaper and identify issues related to white supremacy and systemic oppression that you may read about in the national news. Notice how broader trends affect your community each day.
See how you can support local journalism programs in your community, including (and not limited to) contributing to scholarships, mentoring, and sharing their work on your social media accounts.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Like many, these issues have been exacerbated by COVID-19, when local journalism is most needed. A joint survey conducted by the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and the International Center for Journalists showed that 21% of respondents reported that their salaries had been cut, 6% experienced furloughs, and 6% were laid off. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that journalism jobs are projected to decline by 11% over the next ten years (Columbia Journalism Review).

This is an issue because local publications can be life-saving resources for your community. No national media organization can mobilize as effectively as a local team can. Here in Texas, the Texas Tribune was an invaluable source of information during the winter freeze and blackout in February. The organization shared lists of warming stations and places to find food, organizations to support, and even set up a text platform to offer regular alerts. L.A. TACO, which reports on all things Los Angeles, launched a daily text platform for unhoused residents & advocates with copies of sanitation schedules, updates on COVID, and other resources (L.A. TACO). Even if you don’t personally think you’ll benefit, consider those that rely on fast, free, and accurate reporting to navigate issues related to transportation, safety, and housing.

In addition, many of the injustices the U.S. has rallied around this past year were sparked by local reporting that raised awareness and mobilized thousands of people to take notice. The Brunswick News had published seven stories on the murder of Ahmaud Arbery before the story was picked up by the New York Times, gaining national recognition. Similarly, Kentucky’s Courier-Journal was the only outlet – aside from national Black-led platforms The Root and Blavity – to publish reporting on the death of Breonna Taylor until May, two months after her death. Their deaths deserved accountability and justice well before they came nationally-recognized stories. We must pay attention to advocating for justice in our communities instead of waiting for national headlines.

Thankfully, this past year has brought a broader realization that more independent, homegrown, local journalism is essential for accurate reporting. Part of this was fueled by the rise of misinformation and disinformation that took off on social media platforms and perpetuated by conservative political leaders quick to cry “fake news.” It may also be accelerated by the racial reckoning that’s swept nearly all national media outlets. From Bon Appetit to the New York Times, the Inquirer, and Refinery29, many had top executives step down since June 2020 (Washington Post). Local journalism is facing the same calls for accountability, which we can only hope strengthens its capacity to accurately reflect the diversity of your community and its needs.

It’s also accelerated an uptick of independent journalism, which is another worthy place to invest. Many writers and editors, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, left (or were fired) traditional media to start their own. This past year introduced a surge of micro publications hosted on websites, social media, or newsletters to the industry (including the Anti-Racism Daily, thank you for being here!). This freedom allows writers to write more candidly about current events and bring their own perspectives into the storytelling. I recommend searching for newsletters, blogs, or podcasts based on your city to find independent writers to support.

Similarly, growing non-profit, independent publications are diving into critical issues around racial equity. According to a Knight Foundation study, nonprofit news organizations tend to be more diverse than traditional outlets (although still less than the general public). This is likely to provide broader perspectives and insights in its reporting (Knight Foundation). Even if they’re not local, they may be an excellent place to learn about specific issues facing your community. Prism is a reporting platform that focuses on topics related to the BIPOC community. The Forge reports on organizing work across the U.S. The Fuller Project focuses on global reporting of injustice to women. ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network pays covers the cost of reporters at news organizations across the country so they can spend a year working on an accountability journalism project of importance to their communities. And More Perfect Union is following stories on labor rights for the working class.

With so much unfolding this year, it might feel like the best bet to read national news. But the urgent issues that make national headlines have action items that start in your backyard. Become a more active member of your local and independent news and help build a more equitable community.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Local journalism is essential for understanding how larger systemic issues directly impact your community
Disinformation, the economic impact of COVID-19, and declining advertising revenue have all contributed to negatively impacting local journalism
There's new and emerging independent writers and publications that are focused on issues especially relevant to marginalized communities.

RELATED ISSUES

2/10/2021 | Celebrate zines.

1/21/2021 | Invest in new media.

11/19/2021 | Decolonize your reading habits.

10/26/2021 | Support diversity in animated films.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/19/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/19/21

Divest from whiteness.

Anti-racism education is increasing, especially over the past few years after many protests for Black Lives and an increased visible, physical presence of white supremacists. However, many have questioned the importance and implementation of anti-racism education when it comes to analyzing whiteness or explaining its effect on people of color. In February, a New York City elementary school principal distributed an anti-racism curriculum called “8 White Identities” written by Barnor Hesse, an associate professor of African American Studies at Northwestern University in Illinois. According to a statement from the Department of Education given to the New York Post, the pamphlet was first given by some of the parents to school staff and then distributed by the principal to all the parents as part of the anti-racism education (NYPost).

Happy Friday, and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! I had this initially scheduled for Monday, but the points in Tracey Onyenacho's article – and the work of Barnor Hesse – are a good compliment to yesterday's newsletter and the latest act of racial violence this week. Yesterday we called for collective accountability. Today is a way to inquire about our place in the ethnography of whiteness defined by Barnor Hesse. It's also an opportunity to learn the difference between identifying as white and whiteness, the system of privileges and power afforded to white people. If this is new terminology for you, I recommend reading more about the related issues linked at the bottom of the email.

Saturday is our weekly Study Hall email. I do my best to respond to questions from the community related to our work to deepen our collective understanding of key topics and current events. Respond to this email to ask a question.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our paying subscribers. We'd love you to consider making a one-time or monthly recurring donation on our website. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Sign the open letter encouraging Northwestern to support Barnor Hesse during the hate he’s experiencing online due to conservative backlash because of the use of his curriculum in a NYC public school.
Reflect on the ways you may have upheld white supremacy or whiteness in your communities and towards other people.
Explore the National Museum of African American History & Culture online. Dive deep into the portal “Talking About Race” where it discusses whiteness in greater detail.
Examine how these characteristics of white supremacy culture show up in your workplace and in your work behavior.

GET EDUCATED

By Tracey Onyenacho (she/they)

In an image popularized by Slow Factory, a 501c3 public service organization working at the intersection of climate and culture, the 8 White Identities is a scale composed of different white roles ranging from “white abolitionist” to “white supremacist,” that categorizes the different ways whiteness is used among people who identify with it. The curriculum includes a graphic that places the 8 white identities on a meter where “White Supremacist” is placed in red and “White Abolitionist” is placed in green. The meter shows where those who play these roles stand in terms of goodness and badness.

Hesse notes in the curriculum that these identities are not exclusive to white people. For example, the identity “White Benefit” is defined as being “sympathetic to a set of issues but only privately; won’t speak/act in solidarity publicly because benefiting through whiteness in public (some POC [people of color] are in this category as well).” Hesse acknowledges that whiteness can perpetrate all people, even people of color, in a way that advances whiteness and keeps it in power and in legitimacy.

Many people, including parents of this New York City elementary school, have taken offense to this analysis. It serves as a simplified starting point for white folks who are looking to challenge the ways their whiteness has sustained itself in our current society and reckons with the lack of efforts to make whiteness obsolete. Whiteness, as with race in general, is socially constructed to place boundaries and restrictions on who is in power and who is not (Jeffrey B. Perry). The ever-changing definition of whiteness, including who is allowed to be considered white over time, proves its faultness as a social construct, its impact of social power in determining the effects its boundaries have on groups of people, and their lack of access to benefits solely bestowed on those who are considered white.

The 8 White Identities examines whiteness not just in relation to other races—which a lot of anti-racism education has done—but it also looks at how whiteness relates to itself. “The White Supremacist” identity is placed as the most dangerous with its actions centered around maintaining white superiority. Most recently, the Capitol riot that happened on January 6 by white supremacists is a clear example of the role of white supremacists in action. They went through great lengths of violence to keep Donald Trump, a notable white supremacist, in power for their own benefit. To learn more, read our article “Confront White Supremacy”.

The curriculum also suggests that white roles that aren’t necessarily white supremacist, such as White Voyeurism, White Privilege, White Benefit, and White Confessional, are still complicit in keeping whiteness in power. These specific roles hold onto their whiteness while condemning it. They deceptively seek validation from people of other races to absolve them from their guilt while welding their whiteness to reap its benefits. This, in and of itself, is an act of violence as the performance of thinking about abolishing whiteness allows these specific identities to not face backlash from white supremacists and people of other races.

For example, many workplaces that have clear white supremacist cultures have donned the performance of hiring a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer to hire more people of color among their mostly white staff while keeping the same racist conditions within their work environments allowing white folks and others to continue to perpetuate racism onto employees of color (BBC). According to Hesse, these white hiring employers are considered to identify as “White Privilege.”

The protests for Black Lives last summer showed examples of white people playing the role of the “White Confessional” as many marched in the streets and posted black squares on social media to show their accountability to denouncing whiteness publicly (NBC News). Some white folks and people of color played the role of “White Benefit” by privately “checking in” on their friends of color to show false sympathy. Hesse’s scale shows that these gestures from these specific white identities don’t do much if whiteness is not challenged significantly (Vox).

In order to get rid of whiteness and race in general, Hesse suggests that white people must be critical of whiteness (“White Critical”) and become traitors to their own race (“White Traitor”) as starting points to its destruction. According to the graphic, the ultimate goal is to be a “White Abolitionist”, a white person who is invested in “changing institutions, dismantling whiteness, and not allowing whiteness to reassert itself.” Abolition of whiteness and all of its intricate systems are the only way forward to freedom for all people.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Studies and anti-racism education on whiteness is not racist.
In order for whiteness and white supremacy to be eradicated, white folks must be invested in abolition of whiteness in all of its forms.
White complicity and performance aids in the maintenance of white supremacy and refuses to challenge the nature of whiteness in order to reap its benefits.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/18/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/18/21

Stop the “lone wolf” narrative.

But, most urgently, it pushes the "lone wolf" narrative: that this individual acted alone for personal reasons and wasn't motivated by a larger narrative. This attempts to detach this specific instance from the larger role that white supremacy plays in acts of violence and terrorism in the U.S. As a result, it doesn't call for accountability for the system that nurtured and developed that hate in a white supremacist society. Although the individual should be held responsible for their actions, so should the government that fostered discrimination and bias against the Asian community since its start, from the Chinese Exclusion Act, to Imperialism in the Asia-Pacific, and platforming a president that persistently called coronavirus “Kung flu” and the “Asian virus” (Anti-Racism Daily).

Happy Thursday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! Tuesday evening's attack on the Asian community was another clear and blatant act of white supremacy. And still, law enforcement and the media attempted to mitigate the harm by diminishing a violent act of terror to "a good boy" who "had a bad day". Today we analyze how white supremacy persists through the coddling and protection of violent acts of terror.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our paying subscribers. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Center your education about reporting on the victims and communities harmed, not the perpetrators. Avoid media platforms that share more about the perpetrator than the wellbeing of the community harmed.
Sign the petition and in solidarity with Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta, which is dedicated to the civil rights of the Asian American community.
Donate directly to support the victims and their families and to support crisis interventions, created by Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta.
Continue to report Asian hate crimes to Stop AAPI Hate to more effectively address anti-Asian violence.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Watch recordings of interviews on Instagram with Michelle Kim and Dr. Jenny Wang to understand more about the rise of anti-Asian violence and racism.

On Tuesday evening, March 15, a gunman shot and killed eight people and wounded another at massage parlors in the Atlanta area (NYTimes). At least six of the victims are Asian women. Four of those were identified as Korean. The names of the victims available as of writing (12:30 am EST) are Delaina Ashley Yaun, Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, and Paul Andre Michels (NYTimes). Each of them still deserves to be here, and we grieve for their loss.

This was the latest of a surge of violence against the Asian community over the past few months. Read our recap in an earlier newsletter. According to the latest report from Stop AAPI Hate, which has been measuring the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes since March 2020, women are 2.3 times more likely to report hate incidents, and 35% of all violence happens at businesses (Stop AAPI Hate). This attack is all the more heartbreaking because it was taken out against members of the immigrant community and sexually motivated, which makes this not just a racially-charged attack, but one rooted in misogyny and racial fetishization. Read more in a previous newsletter.

As the world woke up to the news Wednesday morning, a series of new articles explained more about the perpetrator, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, who was arrested and charged with murder. Friends described him as “nerdy,” “from a good Christian family,” and “very innocent-seeming and wouldn't even cuss” (Newsweek). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that he has a “sexual addiction,” leading others to report that his mental health might have influenced his decision-making (AJC). Police officers stated that “yesterday was a really bad day for [Long], and this is what he did,” and that he “he gave no indicators that this was racially motivated.”

This rhetoric is problematic for several reasons. By centering his religious faith, nerdy background, and lack of cussing, the press and law enforcement imply that he's aligned with whiteness’s key characteristics and consequently impervious to harm. This narrative has been used frequently to excuse violent acts carried out by white men, often against women and people of color. It aims to solidify that things like Christian faith, proper language, and academic performance grant power and privilege, and those that don’t align with these markers are “less than” in society. Related: White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots In U.S. Christianity (NPR).

Not only that, it attempts to center the "innocence" of the perpetrator over the innocence of the victims. This further minimizes the pain that marginalized groups experience, and takes up space that could be used to tell their stories. Author and advocate Michelle Kim names other reasons why, in this case, families of victims might not feel comfortable speaking up, further exacerbating the issue (Twitter).

It also contributes to the mental health stigma in our society. It insinuates that people with mental health conditions are dangers to our society. Remember, racism and misogyny is not a mental health condition. This stigma doesn't just affects us on an individual level by discouraging people from seeking help and sharing their experiences with their friends and family. It creates a systemic narrative that mental health is so dangerous it needs to be policed, enforcing our criminal justice system’s role in health and well-being instead of social services that offer more preventative, healing support. Read more in the Washington Post.

This isn’t new – this is the same narrative we've heard after white terrorism events throughout our history. In an article from last summer, we outlined how quickly the rhetoric changes to protect white domestic terrorists. Dylann Roof, a far-right extremist who shot nine Black people in a church in South Carolina, idolized the Confederacy, was portrayed in the media as “mentally ill” and "misunderstood" (Al Jazeera). Kyle Rittenhouse, a white teenager who killed two people during protests in Kenosha last year, was called a "hero" and "innocent," and a "bullied teenager" who became a huge fan of the police (Huffington Post). Each of these issues, too, were discarded as single acts of individual errors than a result of systemic decisions – like our unwillingness to admonish the Confederacy, our lack of gun control, the tensions between communities and law enforcement stoked by our President – that fostered them. It should come as no surprise that, in 2020, reports indicated that white supremacists posed the greatest domestic terror threat to the U.S. (The Guardian).

And the first days of 2021 brought that to life, when hundreds of these "lone wolves" rallied together to attempt a violent insurrection at the nation's Capitol. A new report indicates that local and federal law enforcement often fail to address violence caused by white supremacists. Video evidence shows several members of the insurrection causing violence in their communities years before the event, and they weren’t charged (NYTimes). Elizabeth Neumann, an assistant secretary for threat prevention in the Department of Homeland Security who left last year, stated that “the Proud Boys are just the guys-that-drink-too much-after-the-football-game-and-tend-to-get-into-bar-fights type of people — people that never looked organized enough to cause serious national security threats.” The lone wolf narrative protected these violent extremists and enabled them to cause harm on a national scale.

It’s important to note that this convenient narrative is reserved for members of the white community. A study found that overall, terror attacks by Muslims receive 357% more press attention (The Guardian). But the narratives differ, too. Researchers analyzed news coverage of mass shootings in Las Vegas in 2017 and Orlando in 2016. The Orlando shooting, carried out by someone that identifies as Muslim, was allotted more coverage despite the fact that it produced nine fewer fatalities than the Las Vegas shooting. In addition, newspapers were more likely to frame the Orlando mass shooting as “terrorism” and link it to the global war on terrorism. In contrast, most articles for the Las Vegas shooting attempted to humanize Stephen Paddock, the white perpetrator (Taylor & Francis Online). Similarly, the concept of “Black on white crime” is a grossly fictionalized narrative used throughout history to validate the enslavement and incarceration of Black communities, which influences both policy and media to this day (Southern Poverty Law Center). The Huffington Post has side-by-side comparisons on how white suspects are often treated better than Black victims in headlines.

In the latest attack Tuesday night, one man might have pulled the trigger, but white supremacy doesn't act alone. He was encouraged and supported by a white supremacist culture that normalizes violence against communities of color and enables white men to carry it out. We need to hold not just individuals but our society accountable for this violence – including ourselves, and the role we play in perpetuating white supremacy.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Tuesday evening, eight people were killed in shootings at massage parlors in Atlanta, GA, contributing to the rise of violence against Asian communities over the past year.
Reporting of white male suspects tends to emphasize qualities that support their innocence and distance them from collective accountability.
This type of reporting allows for violence and terrorism by white supremacists to go unchecked, as evident in the recent attack on the Capitol.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/17/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/17/21

End standardized testing.

Education is a fundamental human right. But when racial and socioeconomic fences sequester millions of Black and Brown students from the resources and privileges that are required to succeed, who protects their rights?

For decades, the racial stratification within the United States’ educational system has been a powerful tool to uphold intergenerational privilege and white supremacy. Standardized testing is used across the nation as a proxy for intellectual merit, even though results always correlated with race and socioeconomic background rather than academic achievement (Teachers College Press).

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! Over the past few weeks, teachers have been advocating for canceling standardized testing this spring after a tumultuous year. These conversations only emphasized the inequities of the process. Kholiswa joins us today to educate more on the history of standardized testing.

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our paying subscribers. We'd love you to consider making a monthly recurring donation on our website. You can also give one-time on PayPal or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). Thank you for all your support!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate to FairTest, the National Center for Fair and Open testing to help support efforts to eliminate the racial, class, gender, and cultural barriers to equal opportunity posed by standardized tests, and prevent their damage to the quality of education.
Contact your local state legislators and representatives and urge them to act on banning standardized testing. Demand an equal distribution of resources in schools.
Follow the latest news about Spring 2021 standardized testing at #CancelTheTests.

GET EDUCATED

By Kholiswa Mendes Pepani (she/her)

“Since the beginning of standardized testing, students of color, particularly those from low-income families, have suffered the most from high-stakes testing in U.S. public schools,” writes senior editor and writer John Rosales in his article, “The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing (National Education Association).”

Race and wealth play significant factors in standardized testing for a number of critical reasons. Schools are funded by property taxes which, in turn, determines the economic and racial makeup of a neighborhood—two factors that have been further stratified by segregation and white flight. Students from affluent, white neighborhoods get access to better funded schools that put them on the path to success. In contrast, Black and Brown students from lower income schools are forced to struggle within a system that does not provide them with the resources needed to compete (Other Words). This system of separate and unequal education is a direct product of enduring racism and discrimination toward people of color.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the damaging social theory, known as eugenics, made its way to the U.S. This dogmatic pseudoscience, which was regarded as scientific inquiry, became a popular prescription for ranking and ordering human worth (Pencils Down). During that time, psychologist Carl Brigham, a supporter of these racist notions wrote that African-Americans were on the low end of the racial, ethnic, and/or cultural spectrum. These deeply oppressive views made their way into the educational system as Brigham contributed to developing aptitude tests for the United States Army during World War I, as well as helping create the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) (National Education Association). Decades of research found that assessments like the SAT and IQ tests are not an accurate measurement of a student's success in college or life. Instead, they present a clear bias toward Black and Brown students from early childhood.

“According to FairTest research, On average, students of color score lower on college admissions tests, thus many capable youth are denied entrance or access to so-called “merit” scholarships, contributing to the huge racial gap in college enrollments and completion,” Rosales writes (National Education Association).

Students of color who come from low income backgrounds are disproportionately placed or misplaced in special education that are frequently based on test results. They recieve a “dumbed down” curriculum that ensures that they will fall further behind from their peers. In contrast, white students from middle and upper class backgrounds are generally placed in gifted, talented, and advanced programs that challenge them to read, explore, investigate, think and progress rapidly. In effect, the use of high-stakes testing perpetuates racial inequality through deliberate marginalization (FairTest). The dangerously flawed standardized tests are not only discriminatory but they are easily corruptible. Affluent students already benefiting are able to cheat and pay their way out of the oppressive system and into the nation's best institutions thus, securing a path toward an immensely privileged life (NBC News).

In recent years, a push to finally bring an end to this legacy of racism in education began. On May 26, 2020, the University of California’s Board of Regents voted to discontinue using SAT and ACT scores (Teachers College Press). UC Berkeley’s Chancellor, Carol T. Christ, and UC Provost Michael Brown stated at a conference in November 2019, that research had convinced them that performance on the SAT and ACT was so strongly influenced by family income, parents’ education, and race and using them for high-stakes admissions decisions was simply wrong (Teachers College Press).

Earlier this month, democratic U.S. representative from New York’s sixteenth district, Jamaal Bowmen called out standardized testing as being “a pillar of systemic racism.” This comes as President Biden’s administration refused to grant waivers for standardized testing in the wake of the global pandemic ( target="_blank"New York Post). On March 9, Rep. Ilhan Omar joined Rep. Bowmen in an effort to provide students with waivers for the test this academic year, writing to newly appointed Secretary of Education Cardona, and urging for suspension of testing. Rep Ilhan Omar wrote that they should be prioritizing the students’ academic and emotional well-being, not arbitrary standardized testing goals (Twitter). The Biden administration has yet to respond.

Years of racial stratification in higher education comes at a serious cost to Black and Brown students. Without the fountain of resources that are needed to succeed, students of color and low-income families face tremendous challenges in gaining entry to top colleges. These separate higher education pathways are critical because having access to quality resources—those typically available at top universities—are vital to securing path-dependent occupational destinations. More often than not, those occupational destinations determine how easy or difficult it will be to escape cycles of generational racism and poverty (Separate & Unequal).

While the school system cannot single handedly dismantle generations of inequality and white supremacy, it plays a key role in creating an equal and equitable environment that guarantees all students an opportunity to thrive. We must ask ourselves, if standardized testing does not accurately measure intelligence or determine college success then, what are they really for and why do we keep them around? Standardized testing at its core is a pillar of white supremacy and it’s time for it to fall.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Standardized testing represents a legacy of racial inequality toward Black and Brown students and perpetuates intergenerational privilege and white supremacy.
In recent years, the call to dismantle standardized testing has gained more traction and is currently being pushed for suspension by Democrat representatives due to the global pandemic and its deep-rooted racism.
Schools must adopt better curriculum and assessment practices that more accurately demonstrate a student’s academic abilities.

2/9/2021 | Decolonize sustainable + ethical fashion.

12/17/2020 | Respect Hawaii’s sacred land.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 3/16/21 Nicole Cardoza 3/16/21

Diversify executive leadership.

Fashion exists in a vortex of trends. Certain colors make their way into vogue as quickly as they make their way out. What’s considered chic can easily turn in a faux pas in a matter of a few months. And while fashion continues to work on a more sustainable system to combat waste, there’s one topic currently in vogue that must not be seen as a trend: diversity in fashion’s workplaces.

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! I've really been enjoying Isiah's critical analysis of the fashion industry, especially as fashion shows and award shows take over my social media feeds. But today's article resonates with me because the issues outlined here are reflected in many other industries. As you read, consider: how can you carry the same energy into the industry you work in, or are passionate about?

This newsletter is a free resource made possible by our paying subscribers. Consider giving $7/month on Patreon. Or you can give one-time on our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza). You can also support us by joining our curated digital community. Thank you to all those that have contributed!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Do more than hire Black and Brown Talent. Promote and hire Black and Brown talent for executive positions, also.
For predominantly white workplaces: instead of relying on friends for the unpaid labor of informing you about the importance of a diverse workplace, hire professional diversity consultants like 2BG Consulting.
Don’t just work on diversifying workplaces, but ensure that workplaces cultivate an environment where Black and Brown employees feel safe and thrive.
Encourage your favorite brands and retailers to join the 15 Percent Pledge – an initiative that asks retailers to reserve 15 percent of their shelving space for Black-owned businesses.

GET EDUCATED

By Isiah Magsino (he/him)

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in the response to George Floyd’s murder, fashion brands all over the world suddenly felt the need to address racism in the fashion industry (Dazed). From futile black squares captioned “I understand, that I’ll never understand” to posting pictures of Black and Brown models on their social media pages that were undiscovered until this time, brands were desperate to save themselves by coming off as an advocate for racial equality.

But, unlike in the past, employees from the institutions called out the reality of the systemic racism, microaggressions, and lack of diversity in their own offices (Vogue Business). High-fashion Australian brand, Zimmerman, was one of the brands called out after their internal grooming regulations were brought to the limelight. These regulations specifically targeted Black and Brown natural hairstyles and prohibited high buns, top knot, plaits, and braids (Vogue Business). And the high-fashion market isn’t the only place where public messages didn’t match with internal practices. The sustainable, millennial-focused brand, Everlane, was called out by former employees for their “anti-Black” behavior. The accusations include the large pay gap between queer women of color and white men and refusing to use Black models in their campaigns because they were “too edgy” according to the executives (Fashionista).

And explicitly toxic workplaces aren’t exempt from this diversity malpractice, either. In 2018, fashion’s runways were becoming more diverse than ever with almost 50 percent of Black and Brown models in New York and 36-percent through all fashion locations (New York, London, Milan, Paris). And while this was an improvement from the reported 30-percent in 2017, the Black and Brown editors, buyers, and other decision-makers were scarce (New York Times). Just recently, the New York Times came out with a follow-up report as many brands publicly promised to improve diversity within the workplace in 2020. The article cites that, in 2021, there is only one Black chief executive officer out of the 64 brands they contacted for the new survey (New York Times). There are also only four Black creative directors and designers out of 69 from the same batch of surveyed brands. For fashion magazines, only two of the nine domestic and international editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Elle were led by Black editors.

An industry where nepotism and classism are rampant is also an incubator for systemic racism. Without familial ties or financial support, launching a company is especially difficult for Black and Brown designers (Fast). In 2019, the predominantly white Council of Fashion Designers crowned Mary Kate and Ashley as the winner for the Accessories Designer of the year and a hefty $400,000 USD grand prize. This would be their second year in a row. The other four nominees for the category were all Black designers-- Virgil Abloh for Louis Vuitton, Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss, Telfar Clemens of Telfar, and Heron Preston (Nylon). The unpaid internship, a common practice in the industry, only offers the opportunity to those with financial support oftentimes limiting Black and Brown talent (Fashionista).

How can an industry parade its interest in diversity, while still prohibiting Black and Brown talent from the decision-making process? If morals and ethics aren’t enough for brands to create workplace environments where Black and Brown’s talent is heard and nurtured, they must consider the power of social media. Without Black and Brown leadership, brands have the potential to come across major backlash as seen when H&M sold a “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” sweatshirt (Washington Post.) Consumers are hyper-aware of these malpractices and have more than enough resources to support brands that are more than willing to cultivate diverse talent. Ultimately, it’s said that fashion has always been reflective of the times. Now, the times are looking both on the inside and the out.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Many fashion brands are quick to publicly denounce racism, but will still participate in systemic racism within their own offices whether that be through microaggressions or pay gaps.
The New York Times recently reported that in 2021, there is only one Black chief executive officer out of the 64 brands that were contacted and only four Black creative directors out of 69 designers from the same survey group.
Unpaid internships in the fashion industry prohibit Black and Brown talent from entering.
Without diversity in decision-making processes, brands run the risk of future backlash with socially-aware consumers who are quick to respond on social media.

2/9/2021 | Decolonize sustainable + ethical fashion.

12/17/2020 | Respect Hawaii’s sacred land.

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Address racism in reality TV.

There’s been twenty-five seasons of ABC’s The Bachelor, yet this is the very first year a Black man is cast as the bachelor. While Matt James has made history being the first Black bachelor, it has not come without racism from both the contestants on the show as well as the viewers. For the handful of Black and non-white contestants that do make it through casting, it is rare to see them past the first portion of the show, let alone make it to the night of the finale.

Happy Monday! Tonight is the finale of The Bachelor, a conclusion to a season that faced its own racial reckoning along with the rest of the world. Today, Diarra reflects on the controversy from this season and the role reality TV plays in shaping our, erm, reality.

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ps – someone asked if we were paid to write about the Harry and Meghan interview with Oprah. No! We don't do any reporting here that's sponsored by brands. If we're writing about a show, movie, brand, politician, etc. it's because we think it offers thoughtful inquiry into racism and systemic oppression.

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Join the campaign for anti-racism in The Bachelor franchise. Sign the petition to combat racism in both the ABC and Warner Bros. networks.
Do not support or watch The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, or shows like it that uphold racist speech and insist on painting BIPOC communities in a negative light.
While watching reality shows, consider: what does this narrative to do perpetuate harmful racial stereotypes? How does this show contribute towards a more equitable future?

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By Diarra English (she/her)

Things heated up during James’ season when photos of contestant Rachael Kirkconnell at a plantation-themed college party resurfaced partially through the season’s airing. Although Kirkconnell took to her instagram to apologize for her ignorance and James issued a statement more focused on the follow-up conversation had between Rachel Lindsay, the first Black bachelorette in 2017, and Chris Harrison, there still leaves much to be said about Rachael Kirkconnell even being cast on the show in the first place (NBC News).

Kirkconnell is not the first contestant on the popular TV show to be in hot water over racist and insensitive comments. During Rachel Lindsay’s historic season on The Bachelorette, racist tweets from one of the male contestants surfaced during the airing (Variety). After the show finished airing, Lindsay expressed disappointment in the discrepancy between her coverage versus other bachelorettes. Where the white bachelorette's time on the show focused entirely on their happily ever after, Lindsay’s epic season focused on a breakup that seemed to outshine what was supposed to be her moments of happiness (The Washington Post). Why did all of the white bachelorettes get their fairytale portrayal while the first Black bachelorette was painted as being unwanted and unhappy?

Black men and women have long been erased from television, but in the case of reality television, they are used as pawns to advance systemic racism and stereotypes. This is most clearly exemplified in The Real Housewives franchise. There is a clear difference between the way The Real Housewives of Atlanta are spoken about and portrayed versus The Real Housewives of Orange County. Where Black women are "ghetto", "loud", and "uncouth", white women are characterized as being "passionate", "expressive", and "well-mannered".

The Bachelor series’ true problem is the casting. Year after year they have the opportunity to not only choose BIPOC leads, but they also have the chance to reflect the demographic makeup of the United States. Instead, producers and casting choose to allow people with racist pasts to live in the same house with Black contestants, all the while, disproportionately stacking the house with white men and women and offering little to no conflict resolution when problems arise. Big Brother is similarly under fire for having a closed mouth when it comes to racist comments being made in the house and the lack of Black, Brown, and non-white contestants represented in the show.

For young Black boys and girls, it can be especially damaging to watch shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and see the people who look like you get sent home in the first few weeks, year after year. Although there are reality dating shows that consist of predominantly BIPOC casts, those contestants were not given a fair hand in terms of portrayal either. Shows like Flavor of Love, I Love New York, and For the Love of Ray J all are negatively focused on the stereotypical loud Black woman trope and exacerbates the idea that Black women are not “lady-like”. The same ideals from slavery and the Jim Crow era of being less desirable and unattractive ring true and even louder on shows such as The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

Creators of these shows must do better to not only accurately represent the beautiful mosaic of diverse people in the United States, but to thoroughly screen white contestants for racial biases before casting them. Black participants deserve to feel the same lust and fandom white cast members feel, from not only fellow contestants but also fans of the show. The Bachelor franchise has a huge opportunity—especially following after this current season with Matt James—to dig deep and correct their racial wrongs. Let’s all see that they do.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

After twenty-five seasons of ABC’s The Bachelor, this is the very first year a Black man is cast as the bachelor.
For the handful of Black, Brown, and non-whites that do make it through casting, it is rare to see them past the first portion of the show, let alone make it to the show’s finale.
The Bachelor’s racist casting goes beyond the trauma it causes the contestants who experience it, but it also damages those impressionable viewers such as Black boys and girls watching from home.
Shows consisting of a predominately Black and Brown cast are always portrayed in a negative light.
Contestants should be screened for any racial biases, especially against Black and Brown people.
Going forward, The Bachelor has an opportunity to dive deep and correct their racial wrongs. Lets act in opposition to these wrongs and see that they do.

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