Compensate student-athletes.

Last Monday, the Supreme Court made a decision that could significantly impact the lives of student-athletes. The Court ruled against the National College Athletic Association to allow student-athletes to receive education-related payments of up to $6,000 a year and unlimited non-cash education-related benefits (CNN). College sports bring in billions of dollars of revenue each year. The 2019 March Madness tournament was estimated to have brought $1.18 billion in advertising revenue for CBS and Turner Sports, with networks paying about $800 million for the rights (CNBC). Given the profitability of college athletics, it would be expected that athletes receive fair compensation for the labor that they perform.

Happy Monday, and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! The conversation around compensation, value and worth for athletes in the U.S. – particularly student-athletes – is certainly not new. However, last week's decision by the Supreme Court re-ignites conversations about the role of race and equity in collegiate sports. Read more in Nia's recap below.

Are you a student-athlete? I'd love to hear your thoughts – reply to this email.

Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is made possible by your support. If you can, consider making a donation to support our team. You can start a monthly subscription on Patreon or our website, or give one-time using our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza).

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Sign the #paytheplayers petition to demand fair pay for college athletes in every state.
Support the College Athlete Advocacy Initiative, which advocates and provides legal support for college athletes.

GET EDUCATED

By Nia Norris (she/her)

In reality, college athletes are not compensated at all beyond scholarships and possibly a stipend. College athletes could be compensated similarly to professional athletes if not for NCAA amateurism rules barring payment by their schools. College athletes are not considered employees and are therefore not protected by federal employment laws that allow other workers to unionize and demand fair compensation for their labor (CNBC).

College athletes sign their name and likeness over to the schools they play, but are not permitted to receive compensation for playing (The Guardian). Student-athletes work full-time hours, often 30-40 hours a week on top of their academic course load. With only 1.6% of college football players and 1.2% of college basketball players getting drafted into major professional leagues, the majority of them will not go on to a career in professional sports. Though are “compensated” with scholarships, graduation rates are significantly lower for student-athletes than non-student athletes and many report lackluster academic support and challenges finding post-college employment (The Guardian).

These athletes often suffer chronic injuries playing for coaches who are the highest-paid public employees in 39 states (IPS). A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that athletic department revenue doubled in the last 14 years – along with salaries for both coaches and athletic department administrators. While athletic staff is generously compensated, revenue-generating athletes are considered “amateurs” and therefore receive little to nothing in what’s been described as “the injustice of fake amateurism” (The Nation).

Black students comprise only 5.7% of the population at Power Five schools, but makeup 55.9% of men’s basketball players, 55.6% of men’s football players, and 48.1% of women’s basketball players. On condition of anonymity, many student-athletes discussed what The Guardian described as “the racist dimensions of their experiences at Power Five PWIs” (predominantly white institutions). Many described the power imbalance between schools and Black athletes and reported feeling exploited and pressured to not express opinions or take on interests outside of the sports they played (The Guardian).

Both professional and college athletics have a history of racism and exploitation. Initially, professional sports were segregated, with Black players excluded from Major League Baseball until 1946 when Jackie Robinson joined the Montreal Royals and later the Brooklyn Dodgers. The National Hockey League still has a majority of white players and when Black players do come onto the rink, they are often subject to racist abuse from fans (McGill Tribune).

The recent Supreme Court decision will not lead to full compensation for student-athletes as it only applies to payments and benefits related to education. However, it invites further challenges to the NCAA ban on paying athletes. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote that “nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate” (NYT). Effectively, if this decision were to be successfully challenged further in the Supreme Court, it could entirely change the way that student-athletes are compensated and open up the door for more opportunities for them.

Student-athletes are workers and should be compensated as such. They should be permitted to earn money from their names, images, and likenesses that bring in billions of dollars of revenue for the NCAA, schools, and the broadcasting industry. A 2020 survey found that two-thirds of adults believe that college athletes should be able to reap some of the profits that are generated by their hard work (Forbes). The NCAA must change their unfair policies regarding student-athletes.

Key Takeaways

The NCAA prohibits student-athletes from receiving compensation as “amateurs.”
College sports are a billion-dollar industry. Coaches are generously compensated; players receive little more than a scholarship.
A recent Supreme Court decision allows education-related compensation for college athletes, though the NCAA still bans direct payments.

10/21/2020 | Change racist sports team names.

2/2/2021 | Rally against racist sports mascots.

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

Nicole Cardoza 6/25/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/25/21

End the “lunchbox moment”.

The fun of this segment is based on disgust: we see our famous celebrities shriek, gag, and embarrass themselves confronted with revolting foods. Some of the items featured were clearly specially created to evoke just such revulsion: hot dog juice, hot sauce and olive jello, the aforementioned ant pickle.

Happy Friday, and welcome back! Food is central to many cultural traditions across the world and throughout history. How we relate to one another is often evident in how we respect each other's cuisines. Today's topic is just one of many ways we can ostracize people without thinking. Andrew shares more.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Demand actively anti-racist policies in schools.
Vigorously oppose racism from teachers and school administrators.
Support the Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing, New York Collective of Radical Educators, Abolitionist Teaching Network, Teachers 4 Social Justice, and the Institute for Teachers of Color so teachers and students of color can thrive.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

Earlier this month, Kim Saira started a petition that now boasts over 40,000 signatures (change.org). Saira’s petition wants to fight anti-Asian racism through an unusual venue: by opposing one of the sections on The Late Late Show with James Corden, “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts.”

In this recurring segment, a celebrity sits opposite Corden around a spread of apparently revolting foods. Each takes turns selecting one that their opposite will have to consume should they decline to answer an embarrassing question. Justin Bieber swigs a shrimp-and-chili-pepper smoothie in lieu of admitting which country is home to his least favorite fans (YouTube). Instead of eating bull penis, Kim Kardashian discloses that her then-husband Kanye West’s most annoying habit is falling asleep in public (YouTube). Alicia Keys chooses to take a bite of an ant-covered pickle instead of saying which city she most dislikes performing in (YouTube).

The trouble is that other dishes are just normal, non-Anglo food: cow tongue, which appears in Korean BBQ and in tacos as lengua; chicken feet, a dim sum staple; or durian, a popular Southeast Asian fruit with a strong aroma. Some of these are presented in the least appetizing way possible such as the cow tongue, which appears unseasoned and whole. Others, like Chinese century eggs, are evidently grotesque enough as they are for Corden and guests to theatrically dry heave in disgust (Inkstone News).

Nobody is obligated to enjoy every food and there are some that each of us might emphatically refuse to taste. But dramatizing the “grossness” of Asian foods for popular entertainment is a low blow, especially given that so many immigrants in the United States are mocked for the food they eat. It’s repugnant coming from a celebrity with a large audience and influence, since that media plays a key role in giving permission to react with disgust to “exotic” dishes.

“The story of being bullied in the cafeteria for one’s lunch is so ubiquitous that it’s attained a gloss of fictionality,” writes Jaya Saxena. “It’s become metonymy for the entire diaspora experience; to be a young immigrant or child of immigrants is to be bullied for your lunch, and vice versa.” In my case, I got to hear about how disgusting all of my fourth grade classmates thought it was that I brought kimbap instead of a sandwich for lunch one day. That this is a common and widely recounted experience makes Corden’s display of Asian foods for shock, disgust, and amusement especially repulsive.

But no food is inherently disgusting, even if it’s a new dish from an unfamiliar culture. The “lunchbox moment” – that experience that many children of color have when they're shamed by their peers for what they brought for lunch – doesn't just happen, it's learned and perpetuated through pop culture. Although it exists for many, it’s anything but universal. One Indian girl growing up in South Dakota, for instance, found her white classmates reacted to Indian food “with either genuine curiosity or ‘at worst boredom’” (Eater).

That’s because disgust – especially the over-the-top enactments of it that are the bread and butter of the “Spill Your Guts” segments – is something we’re taught and something we teach each other. That’s not to say if, when left to our own devices, we’d find each and every new food wonderfully appealing. But we are taught that expressing public revulsion at some things is permissible and even encouraged (immigrant lunches, cow tongues), but that being disgusted at other things is a sign you have no class or taste (French haute cuisine, your mother-in-law’s signature dish). Public disgust at things that seem foreign isn’t just a matter of taste but a political act, and not a very good one at that.

That’s why 40,000+ people have signed onto the Change.org petition against “Spill Your Guts.” “In the wake of the constant Asian hate crimes that have continuously been occurring, not only is this segment incredibly culturally offensive and insensitive, but it also encourages anti-Asian racism,” it reads. “So many Asian Americans are consistently bullied and mocked for their native foods, and this segment amplifies and encourages it” (Change.org). On Instagram, @intersectional.abc is making videos showing how delicious some of the show’s “gross” foods actually are (Instagram). And we can all rethink the instinct to reject or disrespect new or unexpected foods or cultural practices.

Key Takeaways

In “Spill Your Guts” segments, James Corden and guests have to eat “gross” foods or answer uncomfortable questions.
Many of these dishes are just non-Anglo foods that Corden and guests react to with horror and disgust.
We can choose to react to unfamiliar foods or practices with respect instead of revulsion.

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

11/25/2020 | Question your understanding of "authentic" food.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/24/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/24/21

Unpack the history of IQ testing.

The 19th-century pseudoscience of phrenology used skull measurements to “prove” that Indigenous people were less capable of developing knowledge, justifying a genocidal westward expansion. The phrenologists “proved” African people were more suited to being enslaved, thereby making chattel slavery seem a natural outcome of innate biological differences in mental capacity (Vassar).

Happy Thursday! What does it mean to be intelligent? Academically-inclined? Emotionally resourced? Multilingual? Today, Andrew shares ways that racism has perpetuated our perception of intelligence – and how the field of measuring intelligence has been influenced by racial bias.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Demand actively anti-racist policies in schools.
Vigorously oppose racism from teachers and school administrators.
Support the Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing, New York Collective of Radical Educators, Abolitionist Teaching Network, Teachers 4 Social Justice, and the Institute for Teachers of Color so teachers and students of color can thrive.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

The NFL just stopped requiring Black football players to exhibit worse cognitive function than white players to receive compensation for brain injuries – under the assumption that Black players had lower cognitive function to begin with.

Last month, the ARD explained how “racial correction factors” in the diagnosis of kidney and respiratory diseases lead to Black patients missing life-saving treatments. The NFL used race-norming when measuring intelligence, as well. “That’s literally the definition of systemic racism,” said Najeh Davenport, a former Packers running back suing the league (Yahoo News).

The NFL using race-norming to limit payouts to the 70% of its players who are Black (Yahoo) follows a long American tradition of using ”intelligence” to justify structural racism.

After phrenology fell out of favor, the science of eugenics arrived, which sought to improve populations by ensuring individuals with desirable qualities reproduced and those with undesirable characteristics did not. Though today associated with Nazi mass sterilization and extermination campaigns against Jewish, Roma, and disabled people, eugenics was wildly popular in the United States in its day, with President Theodore Roosevelt among its enthusiastic supporters. Nazi eugenics policies were in fact based on mass sterilization campaigns in California state hospitals. The idea of ensuring racial hygiene by killing undesirables in gas chambers was proposed by a U.S. Army disease specialist in 1918 (SF Gate).

One Stanford University psychologist wrote, “High-grade or border-line deficiency … is very, very common among Spanish-Indian and Mexican families of the Southwest and also among Negroes. Their dullness seems to be racial. They cannot master abstractions but they can often be made into efficient workers. From a eugenic point of view they constitute a grave problem because of their unusually prolific breeding.” This man, Dr. Lewis Terman, popularized a test he believed would make these racial differences clear: the IQ test (Business Insider, Stanford Daily).

In 1994, The Bell Curve argued that aggregate IQ differences between Black and white people were due in part to genetic causes. If we follow this reasoning, the fact that Black people die sooner (US News), have higher unemployment, work worse jobs, and have an order of magnitude less wealth than white people (Brookings) might not be due to structural racism. America could be entirely fair meritocratic and produce these exact outcomes if it’s true that Black people, as the NFL believed, have “lower cognitive functions” than whites. IQ is here being used for its original purpose: to justify racial oppression.

The “model minority myth” holds that some combination of Asian genetics and culture explain why Asian Americans have higher IQs and annual income than white people, “proving” that other minority groups have only themselves or their genes to blame. This myth was popularized explicitly to attack Black people. It ignores the pervasiveness of anti-Black racism (NPR) and labor market pressures that encourage East and South Asian immigrants with higher educational attainment (Pew, Pew). There is more economic inequality among Asian people than any other racial group in America (NBC). Laotian and Bhutanese Americans are only half as likely to get a bachelor’s degree as the average American, while the poverty rate for Mongolian and Burmese Americans is double that of the national average (Pew). Asian students from these nationalities also suffer from race-norming when held to unreasonable academic standards because “all Asians are smart.”

IQ and standardized tests depend on the idea that intelligence is a single, objective numerical variable. IQ tests weren’t developed because intelligence was discovered one day but because eugenicists wanted to justify ethnic cleansing. And thinking of intelligence based on classroom performance demands we believe educators are objective when dealing with students of different races. We have hard evidence that this is not the case (Forbes).

What IQ tests actually measure, rather than innate intelligence, seems to be largely how motivated students are when taking the test (Science). Though there is no measurable correlation between intelligence and future wealth (Scientific American), people thinking about financial stress perform significantly worse on intelligence tests (PBS).

In the aggregate, IQ tests largely measure not intelligence but oppression. The results are then turned around to justify poverty, injustice, and even reduced compensation for athletes suffering from brain trauma. There’s a long history of pseudoscientific racism lurking behind the purported objectivity of numerical scores.

Key Takeaways

The NFL held that Black athletes started with lower cognitive abilities than white athletes to avoid compensating players for brain injuries.
IQ tests were popularized by advocates of eugenics, whose wide popularity in the U.S. served as a model for Nazi Germany.
Though it’s unclear what IQ tests actually measure, student motivation and poverty have significant effects on scores.
The model minority myth was developed to combat the Black freedom movement and ignores wide disparities among Asian communities.

9/18/2020 | Reject racial gaslighting.

5/18/2021 | End “race norming” in healthcare.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/23/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/23/21

Rally for Afro-Latino representation.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti share an island in the Caribbean, and there are many racial, ethnic, and cultural similarities between the two nations. Though most Dominicans in the DR identify as mixed-race, the overwhelming majority of Dominicans, like Haitians, are Black by American racial standards (Black Excellence). About half of the population of the gentrifying neighborhood of Washington Heights, Manhattan, where In the Heights is set, is Dominican (U.S. Census Bureau). Washington Heights comprises one of the largest immigrant communities from the Dominican Republic within the U.S. (Furman Center). Unfortunately, In the Heights wildly misrepresents the Dominicans living in this culturally significant neighborhood, continuing a trend where Afro-Latinos are ignored on screen.

Happy Wednesday and welcome back! The film adaptation of the musical "In The Heights," was released earlier this month and received swift criticism for its lack of representation for darker-skinned Afro-Latino actors. Today Michelle joins us to share more about the movie and the history of colorism in media.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Watch “Negro: A Docu-Series about Latino Identity” by Dash Harris on YouTube.
Learn from Afro-Latino-centered media, like Revista étnica or “Afro-Latino Travels with Kim Haas.”
Consider: How has the media shaped your perception of various communities? What other shows/movies have you watched that fail to represent the full spectrum of the Latinx community?

GET EDUCATED

By Michelle Swinea (she/her)

When Lin-Manuel Miranda’s film In the Heights was released last week, it drew justifiable criticism for erasing the largely Dominican Afro-Latino population of the real-life neighborhood in which it takes place (NPR).

There is a long history of anti-Blackness and colorism within Latinx cultures. Status coming from proximity to whiteness via lighter skin promotes the harmful ideology of a caste system of power and desirability that is present in almost every ethnic culture around the world. This speaks to the global ramifications of white supremacy and colonialism. The beauty of Afro-Latinos in every hue and skin tone should be seen throughout In the Heights.

Felice León, a producer for The Root who’s an Afro-Cuban New Yorker, confronted the director of In the Heights about casting only light-skinned actors for the principal roles (The Root). Though Washington Heights, in actuality features many dark-skinned and Afro-Latino people with roots in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, the only Afro-Latinos in the film are background dancers. “I was just like, wow, dancers - right. So background dancers, so they do not have lines. They are relegated to the background. They are, you know, sort of like a decoration. They are entertainment in that way, but they do not have a substantive storyline. And that very much felt like, you know, where - how we've seen Black and darker Latinx people, you know, as maids in telenovelas, as we've seen. And in this film also, there were, you know, Black women in the hair salon,” she said (NPR).

Darker-skinned people have been excluded from leading roles by production companies around the globe (Time). This homogeneous depiction of people has global ramifications, such as promoting harmful skin bleaching products sold to women and denying the basic humanity of darker-skinned people. Children learn empathy for others and a greater sense of self-identity by seeing diversity portrayed in shows and films from characters with dignified roles. As globalization increases with social media and the internet, the audiences have the power to shape media to be both inclusive and entertaining. At the same time, filmmakers hold a responsibility to accurately reflect the people they are portraying within their films, in this case, the Dominican population within Washington Heights, NY.

Audiences are tired of seeing their art whitewashed, their collective voices signaling the need for accountability and change. One of the most powerful tools that we have at our disposal is social media. Marginalized communities can speak out and make their voices heard when projects such as “In The Heights” do not accurately portray the racial makeup of the neighborhood that it claims to represent.

Lin-Manuel Miranda acknowledged his error in the erasure of Afro-Latinos from leading roles within his film, saying, “I promise to do better in my future projects, and I’m dedicated to the learning and evolving we all have to do to make sure we are honoring our diverse and vibrant community” (Twitter).

But as León later told NPR, “I am, at this point, really tired of having to wait and having to sort of be in line. And I'm saying this, again, from the perspective of a Black woman of Cuban descent. Yes, he must do better - period. At this point, you know, this is a $55 million project."

The ownership of harm and commitment to growth as an artist is an important step in making cultural shifts. I look forward to seeing future films from filmmakers of color that are holistic and authentic in their cultural representation, and I am grateful to the audiences for providing critical feedback that challenges notions of anti-Blackness and erasure in 2021.

Michelle Swinea is a creative writer and academic. Currently, she is writing her first novel in honor of her grandparents. You can find her on Twitter at @walkbyfaithlife.

Key Takeaways

“In The Heights” failed to accurately represent the constituents living in the Washington Heights neighborhood due to the film’s erasure of Afro-Latinos.
Historically, Afro-Latinos and other darker-skinned people have been discriminated against and excluded from films because of anti-Blackness and colonialism throughout the world.
Social media provides a platform for marginalized communities to come together and demand representation.

RELATED ISSUES

8/31/2021 | Condemn colorism.

3/10/2021 | Believe Black women.

1/4/2021 | Tackle anti-Blackness in South Asian communities.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/22/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/22/21

Learn the cost of college remediation.

Less than a quarter of community college students who take remedial courses go on to complete college-level courses. At four-year colleges, just over a third of students assigned to remediation continue to take college-level courses. The majority of students assigned to remediation at two-year colleges or universities will not graduate within three years or six years, respectively (Complete College America). Students who take remedial courses pay just as much for these courses as students who begin with college-level courses and are often left with student loan debt for coursework that did not lead to a degree.

Good morning and happy Tuesday! Today we're diving into the racial disparities in higher-level education, particularly, the barriers that college remediation courses can create for underestimated students. Nia joins us today to dive deeper.

ps – Thank you for your support! This daily, free, independent newsletter is made possible by your support. If you can, consider making a donation to support our team. You can start a monthly subscription on Patreon or our website, or give one-time using our website, PayPal, or Venmo (@nicoleacardoza).

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate to the Center for American Progress to support research on fixing inequality in education.
Support equitable funding for all public schools.
Advocate for fixes to remediation and public school inequality in your community.

GET EDUCATED

By Nia Norris (she/her)

College enrollment rates have nearly doubled since the 1960s, and people of color now attend college at a significantly higher rate (Education Data). Upon entering college, students often take an exam to assess their readiness. If they perform poorly, their school will recommend they take remedial classes to help them catch up before beginning college-level courses (Brookings).

Suppose high schools are not preparing students for a college education. In that case, it could be helpful for colleges to offer students an opportunity to begin their college career with a refresher course. But it is estimated that these courses cost students $1.3 billion every year, even though they do not count towards their degrees (American Progress).

Almost 68% of Black students who attend community college are assigned to remediation, as are 40% of Black students at universities (Complete College America). Black students are also overrepresented among those who fail remediation in college and ultimately do not complete their education (NCBI). There is also evidence suggesting that many students are assigned to remedial coursework they do not need (Brookings). Since education is strongly tied to lifetime earnings (SSA), it is essential to ensure that students who are seeking higher education are able to complete the ultimate goal of gaining a degree.

There are two potential solutions. The first is to improve primary and secondary education. In a previous newsletter, we discussed the effects of racialized tracking, the phenomenon of sorting minority students out of gifted and talented programs (ARD). Providing supplemental instruction to high school students who would need remediation upon entering college is another solution that has been implemented in Washington State. This eliminates the need for remediation altogether (Inside Higher Ed). Classes should be built into curriculums and allow students to gain credits while they complete them (Complete College America). And multiple modes of assessment should be used to assign students to remediation, ensuring students aren’t placed there unnecessarily (Brookings).

Part of the reason remediation is necessary for so many students of color is because of wildly different levels of resources given to different public schools. Because schools are funded by local property taxes, wealthier areas get well-resourced, better-performing schools. If education dollars were distributed fairly across school districts, schools in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods could offer more equitable education to their students (The Atlantic). Remediation courses are a bandage that educational institutions apply to a deeply inequitable system.

While we work to make primary and secondary schools more equitable educational institutions, we must enact strategies that eliminate the necessity of remediation or find a way to make it count so that it is not an additional burden to students who are pursuing an education. Applying strategies to integrate remediation into the curriculum and to ensure that we are not placing students in remedial courses who do not need them is the first step to providing an equitable college education which provides a pathway to graduation.

Key Takeaways

A large number of students being placed in remedial courses to make up for what they did not learn in high school.
These courses cost students over a billion dollars annually and do not count towards college credit.
Black students are placed in remedial courses at a disproportionately high rate compared to white students.
Schools should receive equal amounts of resources. Remediation should be eliminated and replaced with a more equitable practice.

3/30/2021 | Support the mental health of students of color.

12/14/2020 | Understand racialized tracking.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

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

Avoid spiritual bypassing.

Spiritual bypassing is to sidestep dealing with pain, strong feelings, trauma, etc. It can be helpful when we are not ready to confront difficult emotions in our lives. However, it is commonly used to avoid acknowledging privilege because doing so is inherently messy, painful, and requires continued awareness.

As a first-generation Indian-American woman, I’ve had periods of my childhood where I suppressed my identity in order to blend in. Being the daughter of immigrants is beautiful and complex, and even though I grew up in the most diverse county in the U.S., my sister and I were often the only Indian people in school and were called many of the offensive Indian stereotypes you can imagine. However, that doesn’t mean my experience is the same as that of every person of color. South Asians have privileges in Western societies that Black folx often do not. Even though the concept of ‘model minority’ is a harmful myth made to separate Black and Asian communities, it still has allowed me and families like mine to be perceived differently through Western culture. Yes, my family and myself have experienced racism - and still do. But to say all people of color have the same experiences would be to conflate and erase what Black communities have been enduring for centuries in the U.S To fuse them together is to bypass and thus invalidate the intergenerational trauma that lives on in our society.

In this piece, we’ll discuss how the failure to acknowledge one’s privilege and power can show up in wellness spaces. Sidestepping privilege with the excuse 'I do yoga’ (and therefore one should be ‘beyond’ all of these negative emotions) is actively harming communities of color.

– Melissa

TAKE ACTION

Take a deeper look at the wellness brands and yoga teachers you follow and the language they use to promote their products, classes and retreats to you. Do you notice bypassing language or behavior?
Follow vital work being done by leaders in the yoga and social justice space, take their courses, buy their books, and pay them for their time. Remember, people are not resources. When you reference a person as a resource, you are saying that their sole purpose is for your (and predominately white people’s) consumption. Books, podcasts, publications, emails - these are resources.

GET EDUCATED

By Melissa Shah (she/her)

What is spiritual bypassing?

Yoga has often been co-opted in the West as a feel-good practice where you are supposed to ‘empty your mind’ and achieve calm every time you practice. I’d argue that the actual function of yoga is to direct the mind, connect with your inner knowing, and to develop discernment and clarity. When yoga is practiced in its sincere form, it can bring up a lot of discomfort. There is a difference between having the appearance of processing something difficult and actually processing it. One of my teachers distinguishes this as acting out of patterning versus authenticity. Though on an individual level no one can truly know this distinction except you, the consequences of spiritual bypassing harm others. A common example is when someone shares something difficult they are dealing with and you immediately respond with “love and light” style advice rather than actively listening and holding space for their experience (Instagram).

How does it show up in wellness?

Spiritual bypassing in wellness is deeply embedded in societal conditioning. It’s most easily identified as constantly chasing the 'feeling good’ or, in other words, always chasing the light without sitting in the shadows. Sitting with what is can be incredibly uncomfortable and is therefore not as ‘marketable’ and ‘palatable’ for widespread consumption.

“Good vibes only,” repressing the full spectrum of emotions, being overly compassionate, and anger avoidance are a few examples prevalent in wellness spaces and in individuals who are deeply seeking relief from their past pain. Think of how many times you’ve been in a yoga class or scrolled your social feeds and heard students and/or teachers share how we are all the same or to ‘love and all is coming.’ In part, these are beautiful sentiments. But what do they actually mean in the context of the current state of our communities? In the context of hundreds of years of oppression against Black folx? Against Indigeous folx?

Privilege is being able to step in and out of these contexts at your leisure, without any difference in how you are treated or any difference in how you are able to move through society. Spiritual bypassing shows up so often in wellness that I feel it actually has warped into what is ‘normal.’ It is ANYTHING but that.

JP Gratrix (Instagram), a South Asian yoga teacher and author, distinguishes loving kindness and toxic positivity. She shares that cultivating compassion and loving kindness for yourself and those around you is not the same as only leaving room for positivity, particularly in the face of discomfort.

Here are examples of how spiritual bypassing sneaks into common phrases and interactions in wellness:

Saying 'love and only love will bring us together.' Love for our fellow neighbors is vital to our progress as a community, but excluding anything other than positivity isn’t being in a state of yoga. Understanding brings us together too.
‘We are all one’, ‘we are all human’, or ‘stop creating division!’ Acknowledging our differences and listening to the stories of those who are left out of wellness spaces comes first (Instagram). True unity comes when we can acknowledge how we play a role in perpetuating disparities.
Asking your BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) friends to acknowledge that you're doing the work to be a good ally. Also, wanting them to offer you gratitude for the work you should already be doing to better understand their experiences.
Using the central philosophy in yoga that ‘separateness is an illusion’ as a reason to reject the existence of BIPOC-only wellness spaces.
Using yoga terminology to bypass difficult conversations that challenge you and therefore invalidate the experience of the person approaching you.

What does it mean in relation to race?

Spiritual bypassing minimizes the experiences of marginalized folx. Neglecting to understand how generations of racism and brutality have affected Black communities and other communities of color is against the first ethical value of yoga, Ahimsa (non-harming). Practicing ahimsa is more than holding space for someone’s experience. It is holding space for your biases and internalized racism, too. Holding many things at once is not the easy path but the necessary one for collective liberation.

Invalidating painful experiences of racism is also an act of erasure (Facebook). It can cause BIPOC folx to feel that they need to continue to bury their own experiences and emotional responses in order to make room for the dominant culture. This can show up as BIPOC experiencing “freeze response” in response to racist actions, and when met with “Well I’m not THAT kind of white person. You should have felt comfortable sharing your experience with me.” This bypassing centers the white person’s importance rather than harm caused to BIPOC folx.

When yoga teachers fail to acknowledge current events that are affecting communities that are also underrepresented in wellness spaces, it harms students of color that are seeking spaces to feel seen and heard (Mic). It also prevents white students from learning the unmistakable intersectionality of yoga and social action.

When you are practicing spiritual bypassing, you are deceiving yourself into thinking you have attained a ‘higher state’ of being than you actually have. This harms everyone as it is a misuse of yoga. As you deepen your yoga practice, you don't become “above” this world. You become more of this world. You see more clearly the injustices in the world you live in and better understand your role and purpose in taking action.

Key Takeaways

Spiritual bypassing is avoiding dealing with strong and difficult emotions, pain, and/or trauma. It is often used in the wellness industry to avoid acknowledging privilege and the harm white-centered spaces cause to BIPOC communities.
It is harmful because by bypassing the history of racism in the U.S., white communities turn a blind eye to their complicity in racism and cultural appropriation in wellness spaces.
Spiritual bypassing actually limits one’s spiritual growth and the ability to develop clarity and discernment - the actual purposes of yoga.

1/11/2021 | Honor our grief.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/18/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/18/21

Unpack “Black-on-Black crime”.

Aristotle said, “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime” (Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality). But in the wake of violence in impoverished Black communities, we often only hear the same refrain: “Why is no one doing anything about this?” The idea that nobody in Black communities works to stop community violence is racist, classist, and false.

It's Friday! Welcome back, and thanks so much for being a part of our community. I really like the perspective that Tiffany offers in today's piece; not only is the notion of "Black-on-Black crime" weaponized to minimize racial violence, it often fails to recognize the incredible work of local community organizers. As you read, consider: what has shaped your notion of the topics listed below? What do you need to learn or unlearn in your own community?

Have a great day!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Follow and support local organizations like Operation Save Our City and Mothers in Charge in Philly, GoodKids MadCity and Mothers Against Senseless Killings in Chicago, Take Back Our Streets in Oakland, and Stand Up To Violence in the Bronx.
Explore independent, Black-owned community newspapers to catch stories that mainstream media miss.
Read about the Black Clergy of Philadelphia’s plan to stop violence through economic investment and community support.

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

The idea that nobody in Black communities works to stop community violence is racist, classist, and false.

In 1979, Ebony magazine made the first reference to “Black-on-Black crime,” saying, “Although the black community is not responsible for the external conditions that systematically create breeding grounds for crime, the community has the responsibility of doing what it can to attack the problem from within” (ABC News). These conditions were created by American white supremacy, as the government’s own 1968 Kerner Commission acknowledged when it wrote, “White society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it” (Smithsonian).

Commentators don’t bring up Black intra-community violence to change these conditions created by American racial capitalism (Truthout). And we never hear about white-on-white violence. The specter of “Black-on-Black crime” is not a sincere reckoning with the causes and effects of poverty and interpersonal violence in Black communities. It’s a racist dog whistle. More often than not, “Black-on-Black crime” is weaponized to deflect attention from anti-Black police violence.

After a tragic weekend with over 100 shootings in Chicago (Block Club Chicago), Fox News host Geraldo Rivera tweeted, “It was most violent single day in 6 decades, per Chicago Sun Times. Will #BlackLivesMatters speak out? Will anyone kneel for them?” (Twitter). The killings are mentioned not to mourn the dead, but only to attack Black Lives Matter. If Rivera cared about those killed, he wouldn’t discuss them only to oppose a movement for racial justice.

Historically, Black folks have been deemed lazy, unresourceful, and submissive (Smithsonian). To ask “why is nobody doing anything about this?” presumes that Black folks condone violence against their families, friends, and neighbors.

When individuals and the media perpetuate the notion that Black people in low-income neighborhoods are indifferent to interpersonal violence, they also erase the work of community organizers across the country. If Rivera cared about Black intra-community violence, he would have taken a few minutes to research how Chicago activists banded together to address community violence (Block Club Chicago). He would have cited Black women-led groups like Chicago’s Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK) and Philadelphia’s Mothers in Charge (MIC). He would have talked about campaigns like Baltimore’s Safe Streets, where community members de-escalate violent events and prevent violence at the source (Safe Streets).

Every day, people in inner cities work to eradicate violence in their communities. Groups like Operation Save Our City in Philly (Facebook), GoodKids MadCity in Chicago (GKMC), Take Back Our Streets in Oakland (Facebook), and Stand Up To Violence in the Bronx (Facebook) are all grassroots initiatives made up of people working to fight violence in their own communities. They receive minimal recognition and little acclaim. The majority of Americans simply don’t know they exist.

These grassroots anti-violence organizations are led by members of low-income communities themselves. One reason they receive little attention is classism. To a middle-class audience, their campaigns may seem less “professional” or “respectable” than those run by nonprofits or college groups. Even in the realm of racial justice, Black organizations that have representation from middle- or upper-class backgrounds often garner more attention. But those most directly affected by social problems often have the best knowledge about how to set them right, even if they have access to minimal resources and power.

The loss of independent news outlets is another barrier to learning about these community efforts. Independent outlets such as Block Club Chicago report on local organizing much more than national, mainstream publications. Supporting local, independent news led by writers of color can give exposure to the wonderful community organizations trying to help their neighborhoods thrive.

After highly-publicized Black intra-community violence, “Why is nobody doing anything about this?” is the wrong question.

We might consider some others:

“How can we support community organizations working on community violence?”

“How do we support activists beyond those we see on CNN or social media?”

“Why do organizations doing the most work on the ground get the least donations?”

“How can I help make sure all of the communities around me have the resources and safety their members need to thrive?”

We can’t do that until we unpack the idea of “Black-on-Black violence.”

Key Takeaways

In every city across America, Black people (often without needed resources) find ways to combat community violence in different ways.
Classism and elitism still occur in activist spaces. Community-based organizations and activists without degrees or professional connections can be at risk of getting overlooked.
It’s important to read local and independent news and media to learn about community-based efforts that mainstream media misses.

RELATED ISSUES

11/15/2020 | Learn the key terminology.

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

9/3/2020 | Support mental health response services.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/17/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/17/21

End disparities in crack cocaine sentencing.

Racism in drug sentencing has been debated for years. Huge disparities in mandatory minimum sentences meant possession of crack cocaine, associated with Black urban communities, was punished much more harshly than possession of the same amounts of powder cocaine, favorite of celebrities and suburbanites. These sentencing requirements contributed to the mass incarceration of Black Americans, often low-level drug offenders. Though on Monday the Supreme Court had the chance to right this wrong, it instead ruled that low-level drug offenders do not always require new sentencing under the First Step Act of 2018 (New York Times).

Happy Thursday! This week, the Supreme Court ruled that low-level crack cocaine offenders convicted more than a decade ago can’t take advantage of a 2018 federal law to seek reduced prison time. We're diving into the history of the "War on Drugs" and the racial disparities in crack cocaine sentencing.

Have a great day!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Write to your lawmakers in support of legislation of the EQUAL Act, as well as full decriminalization.
Donate to your local syringe exchange program or the National Harm Reduction Coalition.
Donate to organizations such as Drug Policy Alliance that advocate for decriminalization.

GET EDUCATED

By Nia Norris (she/her)

Drug laws have been racist ever since Nixon declared the “War on Drugs” in 1971 (Drug Policy Alliance). In the 1980s, unfounded fears that pregnant people of color who used crack would give birth to a generation of disabled “crack babies” (NPR) incentivized harsher laws like the Sentencing Act of 1984 and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which imposed mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders. A mandatory minimum means that someone convicted of a certain crime must receive at least a certain sentence, no matter what other extenuating factors may have been present. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act prescribed significantly harsher penalties for crack cocaine, with five grams of crack carrying the same mandatory minimum sentence as 500 grams of powder cocaine (CJPF).

Crack and powder are two delivery mechanisms of the same drug, though one was punished 100 times more harshly than the other. “The primary difference between crack and powdered cocaine, some say, is the public perception of the user and the seller,” said the New York Times. “The white suburbanite [is] usually linked with powdered cocaine, and the young, urban black man connected to crack” (New York Times). The Clinton administration’s 1994 Crime Bill enacted even tougher sentencing laws and incentivized the construction of private prisons (ACLU). In 2000, several organizations which had been advocating for sensible drug policies instead of mass incarceration since the late 1980s came together to form the Drug Policy Alliance (Drug Policy Alliance).

Up until 2010, crack cocaine possession continued to be the only drug that carried a mandatory prison sentence whether it was a small amount for personal use or a large amount for distribution. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 eliminated this mandatory prison sentence and reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine from 100:1 to 18:1 (USSC). The First Step Act of 2018 reduced mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, with some reductions applied retroactively to those already sentenced. However, the law did not eliminate mandatory minimums entirely (CRS Reports). Monday’s Supreme Court ruling held that only people sentenced specifically under a mandatory minimum modified by this law could apply for retroactive relief.

The proposed EQUAL Act would eliminate the disparity in sentencing for crack versus powder cocaine entirely and offer people who are incarcerated for crack offenses to retroactively reduce their sentencing (Vox). Although it would be a step in the right direction, we need to look at full decriminalization if we want to combat the impact that the so-called “War on Drugs” has had on minorities. In November, Oregon became the first state in the country to fully decriminalize drugs. The impact of drug decriminalization would be to reduce the prison population (and the costs associated with it), use law enforcement resources more meaningfully, prioritize health and safety over punishment, reduce the stigma associated with substance use disorders, and make evidence-based harm reduction practices more accessible, including syringe and other safer-usage supply access, supervised use sites, and naloxone (Drug Policy Alliance).

The so-called “war on drugs” has done nothing to reduce drug use and has only served as an avenue to incarcerate Black Americans at higher rates through the use of mandatory minimum sentencing and other sentencing biases (American Progress). Reduction in sentencing is a good first step, but the ultimate goal should be decriminalization in order to treat addiction as a public health crisis instead of a criminal matter.

Key Takeaways

Drug policy has historically been written with racist intentions and fueled by hysteria over the crack crisis. Crack carries a significantly larger (18:1) sentence than powdered cocaine.
Recent legislation to reduce mandatory minimums for crack have continued to treat crack more harshly than powdered cocaine, and efforts to eliminate this disparity entirely have only recently been introduced through the EQUAL Act.
Decriminalization of drugs would reduce the impact of mass incarceration and treat addiction as a public health crisis instead of a criminal offense.

8/27/2020 | Help decriminalize drug possession.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/16/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/16/21

Ensure access to PrEP.

The first HIV/AIDS case was officially reported by the CDC a little more than forty years ago (NBC News). Since then, there have been incredible advancements in HIV treatment options. Today, antiretroviral therapies can suppress the HIV virus enough to help HIV-positive people live with undetectable amounts of the virus.

Good morning and happy Wednesday! Preventative treatments for HIV can save countless lives, but disparities exist for who can easily gain access to these medications. Today, Tiffany explains the historical discrimination in HIV/AIDS treatment and how we can advocate for equitable access to PrEP.

Have a great day!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Support the Transinclusive Group (Instagram), a Black trans-led group offering HIV services in South Florida.
Educate yourself about AIDS history and Black efforts to address historical inequities. AIDS 1969: HIV, History, and Race.
Spread the word about resources such as Ready, Set, PrEP which help individuals interested in PrEP access to the medication at a low or no cost.

GET EDUCATED

By Tiffany Onyejiaka (she/her)

HIV prevention options have greatly expanded as well. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medication can reduce a person’s risk of contracting HIV through sex by 99% and their risk of contracting it through intravenous drug use by 74% (CDC).

But communities with the highest rates of HIV actually use PrEP the least. Men who have sex with men (MSM) – including gay and bisexual men as well as those who don’t identify as either – are at higher risk of contracting HIV. Though Black and Latinx MSM are five to ten times more likely to contract HIV than white MSM, white MSM both know about and use PrEP at higher rates than men of color (CDC). One reason for this discrepancy is the barriers people of color face in accessing care.

PrEP medication access is hardest for patients to access in the South, where 56% of Black Americans live (Pew Research). 38% of Affordable Care Act Marketplace health plans in southern states require prior authorization before individuals receive PrEP, a rate significantly higher than anywhere else in the country (JAMA). Requiring prior authorization means treatment will only be covered by the insurance company if the company approves it before the treatment is prescribed (TikTok). This increases the burden on doctor’s offices and causes delays in treatment. “Prior authorizations have been cited by clinicians as being one of the biggest barriers for PrEP uptake,” according to Dr. Kathleen McManus, who researched the subject (UVA). 90% of physicians stated prior authorizations delayed patient’s access to care and 75% stated they can lead patients to abandon treatments. (AMA).

Each year, 50% of new HIV cases occur in the South (CDC). Out of those new HIV cases in Southern states, Black women comprise 67% of cases in women, Black men are 70% of cases in men, and out of men who have sex with men, 50% of new cases are Black men (CDC). Insurance company policies create unnecessary hurdles for accessing crucial HIV prevention measures in a high-risk region where Black people are at disproportionate risk. This constitutes a deadly form of structural racism.

The government and medical establishment’s approach to HIV/AIDS has always been rooted in discrimination. Ronald Reagan’s administration refused to prioritize AIDS research and treatment in the 1980s since it was viewed as a “gay plague” (NBC News). It took years of activism and pressure from groups like ACT UP for the passage of the Ryan White Cares Act in 1990 to mandate serious federal funding and attention to HIV care and treatment (Hornet, History). Despite the historical framing of HIV as a virus that primarily affected gay white men, Black and Brown people have always been overrepresented in the HIV-positive population. They also long been central to AIDS activism and resistance (Drain).

In the words of Raniyah Copeland of the Black AIDS Institute, “HIV is a disease that affects the most marginalized: Black and brown people, LGBTQ people, people living in poverty, people who don’t have housing, people experiencing substance addiction, and so many others who aren’t able to thrive simply because of who they are, who they love, or where they live” (Black Aids Institute) The prior authorizations that delay access to HIV prevention medication are the product of a healthcare corporations and government policies that place little emphasis on HIV and other health conditions that disproportionately affect Black and Brown people and members of other oppressed and marginalized communities.

Southern state governments have the power to create laws that require their state healthcare plans on the exchange to include coverage of PrEP medications without requiring prior authorization. They must act. In the meantime, organizations like South Florida’s Transinclusive Group are acting to ensure HIV prevention isn’t pushed to the side for Black and Brown folks (Instagram). We must fix a system where discriminatory barriers block entire communities from life-changing treatments.

Key Takeaways

PrEP dramatically reduces the risk of HIV-negative people contracting HIV.
Black people in the South are at high risk of contracting HIV, but many ACA insurance plans in southern states require an additional step, prior authorization, before getting PrEP.
The government has long neglected HIV research and HIV-positive people because of systemic discrimination against queer people, people of color, poor people, and drug users.

1/19/2021 | Advocate for universal healthcare.

8/14/2020 | Support Black mental health.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/15/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/15/21

End cash bail.

In the U.S., it’s legal to be kidnapped and incarcerated without being convicted of any crime. You haven’t confessed. You aren’t considered dangerous or liable to flee before your court date. You have not been proven guilty so you must, by this country’s legal code, be considered innocent. You are nonetheless told you will be incarcerated indefinitely. Your trial date may be scheduled for a few weeks from now – – or, it may not arrive for years.

Happy Tuesday, and welcome back. This time last year, bail funds across the country were receiving unprecedented levels of donations as protests surged in support of racial equity. But how does cash bail work, and why were those donations so urgently needed at that time? Today, Andrew explains the role of cash bail in our criminal justice system and how we must work to abolish cash bail.

Have a great day!

Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Donate to bail funds to ensure nobody is incarcerated solely for their inability to pay.
Oppose any expansion of the carceral state like increased police funding, jail construction, or mandatory minimum laws.
Support District Attorneys committed to ending cash bail. Once elected, work to ensure that bail is set for as few people as possible.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

The racial reckoning last summer sparked a resurgence of efforts to address the injustice of cash bail.

In the U.S., it’s legal to be kidnapped and incarcerated without being convicted of any crime. You haven’t confessed. (Read about the injustice of plea deals.) You aren’t considered dangerous or liable to flee before your court date. You have not been proven guilty so you must, by this country’s legal code, be considered innocent. You are nonetheless told you will be incarcerated indefinitely. Your trial date may be scheduled for a few weeks from now – – or, it may not arrive for years.

Your jailers have told you that if you pay a hefty bribe, they will let you walk out the door, free until called for your trial. But perhaps you and your family can’t afford the arbitrary number set for your release. You might consult a bail loan shark (The Appeal), or try to get support from a local bail fund. But otherwise, you wait. And in the process, many lose their job, house, and reputation – all while suffering the physical and emotional toll.

The scenario described above is the reality for 460,000 Americans right now (GQ). It’s the numerical equivalent of a supervillain holding every resident of both Reno and Madison, WI for ransom – except the supervillain is the American government.

“95% of the people in this jail are waiting on a trial,” said a Chicago sheriff. “On any given day we have probably two to three hundred people that, if they came up with $500, they would leave” (CBS News).

In 2010, 16-year old Kalief Browder was stopped by the police for robbery. The police found nothing. The supposed victim then changed his story and accused Browder of stealing a backpack weeks earlier. This was enough for the police to arrest him.

A judge set Browder’s bail at $3,000. He could not pay, so he was sent to Rikers Island. Shortly after arriving, he was sent to solitary confinement for the first of many times. His final stretch in solitary lasted 17 months. After three years the D.A. dropped the charges and at 20, Khalief Browder went home a free man (New Yorker). Rikers, he said, robbed him of his happiness. Two years later, he died by suicide (Vibe).

In 2011, the Supreme Court said California’s jails were “incompatible with the concept of human dignity”; one catatonic man was caged for 24 hours in a pool of his own urine (Human Rights Watch). Incarcerated people in Philadelphia wake up and go to sleep surrounded by mouse feces (Marshall Project). Arizona jails live-streamed video of suspects being strip-searched and using the toilet on the internet (Human Rights Watch). When women report sexual assault in this country’s jails, they are placed in solitary (Truthout). Almost 2,000 people in an Orange County jail contracted COVID after the sheriff refused a court order to reduce the jail population (Time).

A majority of those in jail are awaiting trial. An overwhelming majority of those in pretrial detention are incarcerated just because they can’t pay bail (Prison Policy Initiative).

Incarceration can’t reduce harm when jails and prisons have systematic sexual violence, assault, and abuse. We know they don’t keep us safe since we have hard data that being incarcerated makes people more likely to “reoffend” (Daily Dot). America’s jails and prisons are in flagrant violation of international norms and any reasonable moral code: no human should endure such conditions, including, yes, those convicted of serious and terrible crimes (Medium).

But it is especially appalling that those considered innocent spend months or years in such institutions solely because they lack the money to ransom themselves from the state. There is a movement around the country to end the practice of cash bail. Residents of San Francisco and Philadelphia elected district attorneys who committed to ending it (Huff Post, NBC). Algorithmic “risk assessment tools” in place of cash bail can still import racial biases, and even anti-cash bail D.A.’s like Philly’s Larry Krasner unjustifiably over-incarcerate those awaiting trial (Philadelphia Bail Fund). Ending cash bail is still a necessity.

We should only allow district attorneys who oppose the practice to take office, we need to stand with communities to hold them accountable once they do, and those with financial means should give generously to community bail funds to ensure nobody in this country is locked for poverty alone. We have a responsibility to dismantle a historically large, systematically racist, and monumentally unjust system in any way we can.

Key Takeaways

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are incarcerated solely because they can’t post bail.

American jails are rife with violence, assault, abuse, and inhumane conditions.
Ending cash bail is an important step in ending incarceration, a practice we know does not prevent interpersonal harm.

RELATED ISSUES

1/12/2021 | Abolish the death penalty.

5/27/2021 | Advocate for our right to trial.

10/16/2020 | Abolish the grand jury.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/14/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/14/21

Fight for Black trans lives.

Trans people, particularly trans people of color, also face disproportionate violence by the police. Trans people are 3.7x more likely to experience police violence – and 7x more likely to experience physical violence when interacting with police – than cisgender victims and survivors (Vox). Over the past year, the tragic stories of Roxanne Moore, Tony McDade, and Layleen Polanco only emphasize the need for reimagining public safety. However, calls for justice were often overlooked in the broader push for Black lives. In reality, the exacerbated violence that trans people experience should be central to how we rally for our collective liberation.

Happy Monday, and welcome back to the ARD! Yesterday marked the second Brooklyn Liberation march for Black trans liberation. Today, I'm emphasizing the importance of centering the Black trans community and other transgender people of color in our fight for racial equity.

Thank you for keeping this independent platform going. In honor of our one year anniversary, become a monthly subscriber on our website or Patreon this week and we'll send you some swag! You can also give one-time on Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), PayPal or our website.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Get educated about the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation happening in your state. Use the tracker provided by the ACLU to stay informed with weekly updates.
Donate to Black trans organizations. You can use this website to make a donation that supports multiple organizations or the one(s) nearest you.
Amplify content under the hashtag #ProtectTransYouth & #TransYouthPower (follow us on Instagram and Facebook for resources)

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

Since the protests began last summer, there have been significant shifts in protecting Black lives. But as the Black Lives Matter movement takes hold across the country (and worldwide), the narrative about the violence against Black trans people often gets left behind.

Over the past few years, violence against the trans community has been rising. Last year at least 44 transgender or gender non-conforming people were killed in the U.S., most Black and Latinx transgender women. And since the beginning of 2021, at least 28 transgender or gender non-conforming people fatally shot or killed by other violent means (Human Rights Campaign). Because so many deaths aren’t reported – or reported with the victims misnamed or misgendered – advocates worry this number is much higher. Last fall, the American Medical Association declared the killings of transgender women of color an “epidemic” (NYTimes).

And as this all unfolds, there’s a clear and coordinated attack on trans rights, led by national far-right organizations trying to gain political power by sowing fear and hate. Since January 2021, over 100 anti-transgender bills have been introduced in state legislation, surpassing the record amount from all of 2020 (HRC). These bills are designed to ban transgender youth from participating in sports or receiving gender-affirming healthcare, or expand the ability of individuals and businesses to turn people away from services (PBS). And as a result, they elevate hateful rhetoric that places the LGBTQ+ community in more danger. Learn more in a previous newsletter.

This Pride Month, it’s all the more critical to center the needs of the trans community of color. The movement for racial equity and LGBTQ+ rights are closely intertwined. No one defines that more distinctly than Marsha P. Johnson, a Black, transgender leader who paved the way for Black and LGBTQ+ rights in America. Known as a self-identified drag queen, performer, and survivor, she was a prominent figure in the Stonewall Uprising of June 1969, one of the most important events leading to the gay liberation movement. She, alongside her friend Sylvia Rivera, a legendary transgender activist of Venezuelan and Puerto Rican descent, centered the lives of Black and brown transgender lives throughout their work for decades. Now, as the Black Lives Matter movement forges on, we must too.

“

What happens is that Black trans people are erased and made invisible in society, but then we actually disappear in our deaths.

Kei Williams, a founding member of the Black Lives Matter global network and a national organizer at the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, in an interview with The Lily.

Last summer, the “Brooklyn Liberation” march for Black trans lives rallied over 15,000 people in the streets of New York City to celebrate Black trans lives, commemorate those who have been lost, and rally for trans liberation – an unprecedented turnout (NYTimes). The second march was held again yesterday. Thanks to the tireless efforts of community organizers and activists, the fight for trans liberation will not be ignored. Together, we can all ensure that their liberation is center in our efforts for racial and LGBTQ+ rights.

Key Takeaways

Since the beginning of 2021, at least 28 transgender or gender non-conforming people fatally shot or killed by other violent means (Human Rights Campaign).
Since January 2021, over 100 anti-transgender bills have been introduced in state legislation, surpassing the record amount from all of 2020 (HRC).
The movement for racial equity and LGBTQ+ rights are closely intertwined.
The anti-trans legislation is a part of the violence and discrimination that trans communities experience, particularly trans communities of color and the Black trans community.

RELATED ISSUES

6/13/2020 | Center Black trans lives.

11/20/2020 | Honor Transgender Day of Remembrance.

2/23/2021 | Rally against anti-trans legislation.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/11/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/11/21

Question private security forces.

Citizen is a privately-owned “public safety” app that reports neighborhood crime to residents. It has 5 million active users, more App Store downloads than Twitter (Forbes), and is backed by venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, which is also investing in heavyweights like Cisco, Instagram, and YouTube (Sequoia). It’s a rebrand of an app called Vigilante, which actually encouraged users to go after suspected criminals (Tech Crunch). After the Pacific Palisades fire last month, Citizen sent the full name and photo of a suspected arsonist to 860,000 users. Citizen put a $30,000 bounty on this man, who was unhoused (Oaklandside), and, as in its days as Vigilante, encouraged its users to “get out there and bring this guy to justice” (Vox). As it turns out, he was innocent.

It's Friday and we're back with another Anti-Racism Daily. Our nation's history of policing isn't just seen in law enforcement, but privatized security, too. The Citizen app is purportedly releasing their own private security system that users can deploy at will. Andrew shares more in today's newsletter.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

#DeleteCitizen and encourage others to do the same.
Follow and support efforts to disrupt white supremacist vigilantism.
Engage with efforts to disarm and regulate private security. Invest instead in community-led public safety initiatives.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

Days later, the news broke that a black Citizen SUV was prowling Los Angeles. Citizen said the vehicle, connected to a local “subscription law enforcement” firm, is part of a “pilot project.” It seems Citizen plans to augment its surveillance and vigilantism network with private police (Vice). Many have expressed concerns that this could lead to harassment and violence based on racial profiling.

The past year has thrown light on two pillars of American white supremacy. On one hand, the police commit atrocities against Black and Brown people with few consequences. On the other, neo-Nazis and militant nativists commit “lone wolf” attacks in an attempt to provoke a race war. (For why we don’t refer to such zealots as terrorists, see this previous article.)

Citizen exemplifies a third pillar: the vigilantes, civic groups, and private companies that enforce white supremacy. Unlike the police or National Guard, they aren’t an arm of the state. And unlike neo-Nazi mass shooters, they aren’t right-wing revolutionaries seeking to replace the political order with something even worse. This third pillar is composed of organizations that operate, with the tacit or official support of the authorities, to maintain the current economic, political, and racial order. That is, they are private enforcers of what supporters of a deeply unequal society might deem “public order.”

In the past, the government empowered citizens to kill Indigenous people and kidnap people who escaped from slavery. The 20th century Ku Klux Klan recruited white Protestants who felt threatened by immigration and the Bolshevik revolution (Britannica). Though the Klan wasn’t the government, “in Muncie, Indiana—the ‘Middletown’ that sociologists Robert Staughton Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd studied as the embodiment of 1920s America—the mayor was a loyal Klansman, as were the president of the local school board and the secretary of the YMCA.” “Sundown town” legislation that barred people of color after dark was enforced not only by local police but also by the threat of lynchings from local residents (The Atlantic). Last year, New Mexican law enforcement saw an ally in the New Mexico Civil Guard, a militia organization that shot an antifascist counterprotester (History News Network).

In 1892, thousands of Southern and Eastern European immigrant mill workers went on strike. The owners, Carnegie Steel, brought in 300 heavily-armed private soldiers from the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who murdered 7 striking workers as they attempted to clear the mill (Britannica). At this time, the Pinkertons were larger than the U.S. Army (History).

In the present day, private security firm G4S was paid $1.7 million to run Guantánamo Bay. Israeli government-contracted G4S to run prisons in the occupied West Bank where children are kept in solitary confinement (Guardian); in Australia, an Aboriginal elder was “cooked to death” in a G4S prison van (Guardian). A G4S subsidiary was acquired by another security firm, Allied Universal, making it the third-largest employer in North America (Yahoo).

Section 8 residents are patrolled by private security with automatic rifles and mauled by their guard dogs (Chicago Reporter). Though not law enforcement, campus police are able to harass and abuse non-students residing close to campus. In one case, University of Chicago police stopped, stripped, and beat a man with a malfunctioning car horn (Leagle). See the interview with Alecia from the Cops Off Campus coalition. Mall security killed a Black man in Detroit who died crying out “I can’t breathe” (Huff Post). Private security stabbed a man in the chest after confronting him for theft (Fox 5). When Luis Quintero tried to explain a parking dispute to an Allied Universal security officer at a Texas mall, she pulled a gun with her finger on the trigger (ABC 13).

When fighting for racial justice, we need to keep violent non-state actors like vigilantes and security firms front and center. Citizen is both: a massive business that both inspires vigilantism and aspires to become privatized law enforcement. As Hari Ziyad wrote in a piece on abolition, “Safety is not a universally recognized phenomenon, as much as it is pretended to be. The meaning of safety depends on what exactly you find worthy of protection” (Salon).

Key Takeaways

The app Citizen has 5 million users. It has encouraged vigilantism and unjustified arrest and is taking steps to become private law enforcement.
Private security firms have committed numerous killings and abuses with little oversight.
White vigilante groups have long collaborated with law enforcement to enact racist laws and commit extrajudicial murders.
We need to interrogate “public safety” in a racist, classist society.

2/15/2021 | Advocate for Black immigrants.

12/9/2020 | Amplify mental health resources for immigrants.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/10/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/10/21

Support immigrants beyond food.

It’s hypocritical to consume Asian or Asian-American cultural products and then refuse to defend Asian communities in the U.S. – or worse, exhibit open hostility against them. At the same time, we shouldn’t predicate supporting immigrant communities on enjoying their food, especially since the reason why so many Asian immigrants work in restaurants is itself a product of American racism.

Happy Thursday, and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. June is Immigrant Heritage Month. In its honor, today Andrew takes us through the history of Asian immigration and the relationship between food and belonging that persists today.

Thank you for keeping this independent platform going. In honor of our anniversary, become a monthly subscriber on our website or Patreon this week and we'll send you some swag! You can also give one-time on Venmo (@nicoleacardoza), PayPal or our website.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Learn how the “lo mein loophole” in racist immigration laws led to the creation of Chinese restaurants in the U.S.
Read about the history of Asian-American radical organizing.
Support organizations that advocate for Asian immigrant wellbeing, like Asian Defense Fund, Sisters in Self-Defense, Soar Over Hate, and PALMS.
Donate to mutual aid funds that support immigrant communities near you, like Oakland Workers Fund, Restaurant Worker Mutual Aid Boston, and Pittsburgh Restaurant Workers Aid.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

After a publicized wave of anti-Asian attacks, a catchy phrase popped up on protest signs and social media accounts: “Love us like you love our food.” From anime to K-dramas and from sushi to sesame chicken, non-Asian Americans now love the culture from various East Asian countries – or what they imagine it to be, at least. Many of those who enjoy consuming East Asian food, music, and movies are nowhere to be found when Asian people’s lives are on the line. If you love a certain kind of food you should love the people who make it.

1882’s Chinese Exclusion Act banned almost all Chinese people from entering the United States; it was repealed only in 1943, when the U.S. began allowing a whopping 105 Chinese immigrants per year. The American Federation of Labor, today one half of the AFL-CIO union coalition, was headed in the 19th century by Samuel Gompers, a raging racist who once asked, “Can we hope to close the flood-gates of immigration from the hordes of Chinese and the semi-savage races?” (NPR). San Francisco forced Japanese students to use segregated schools. A Japanese and Korean Exclusion League had members nationwide (History) President Theodore Roosevelt used a State of the Union address to disparage “undesirable immigrants” from China. With Chinese immigrants already banned, the 1917 Immigration Act banned immigration from almost the entirety of the rest of Asia (Al Jazeera).

But from 1915, Chinese people were able to secure a visa to work as restaurant employees. Chinese people previously worked largely in laundries, since racist attitudes prevented their employment at white businesses. After this change to immigration law, the number of Chinese restaurants quadrupled. That’s not to say it became easy for Chinese restaurant workers to immigrate: they had to find a way to convince immigration authorities they were major investors in a “high grade” eatery. Upon arrival, Chinese restaurant workers were legally prohibited from residing in all-white neighborhoods (Menuism). Regardless, Chinese people pooled money and used family and community ties to acquire merchant visas and began forming the Chinatowns of today. Wealthy white people began taking “slumming tours” of growing Chinatowns to gawk at their “depravity” and eat Chinese food (NPR).

Today, restaurants are the most common immigrant-owned business in the U.S. (CNBC). Facing “discrimination in hiring because they often speak limited English or because of their immigration status” are factors that contribute to the fact that today, “immigrants are for more likely to start their own businesses than U.S.-born residents” (NJ, AP).

Many respond to anti-immigrant sentiment by listing all of the good things immigrants give to the United States: “railroads,” “beef,” “perspectives, ideas, and sweat” (Huff Post), or “ethnic” restaurants, food trucks, and buffets. This frames immigration as an instrumental good, valuable only insofar as it provides benefits to the American-born. In this narrative, American citizens are full-fledged human beings while immigrants are just a potential American asset, like highways natural gas, or fighter jets.

But you should be active in the movement against Asian people getting stabbed (ABC) and spit on (Yahoo) and killed (CBS) whether you like General Tso’s chicken or not. We don’t think Polish people should have civil rights because of the quality of pierogies or that the wellbeing of Swedish-Americans depends on our passion for the IKEA food court. Anglo-Americans don’t get safety in the United States because we all love their pot roasts. Anglo-Americans’ rights and liberties aren’t contingent on the rest of us being pot roast aficionados because the United States was created to secure the rights and liberties of English colonists. In a way, this is fortunate, because, in my opinion, pot roast just isn’t that good.

LeRon Barton wrote, “I have come to the unfortunate realization that Blacks aren’t meant to be people, just vessels of entertainment in our society. We are looked at as hollow and only possessing culture that is meant to be enjoyed, eventually poached, and finally discarded” (Good Men Project). Similarly, immigrant communities and communities of color in general have been forced into precarious or menial jobs by racist and xenophobic attitudes and practices. Many immigrants’ salaries depend on serving white Americans. Their wellbeing as people should not be based on their ability to serve the enjoyment of white America, as well.

Key Takeaways

Non-Asian people who consume Asian products should support Asian communities under attack in the U.S.
Non-Asian people who don’t use Asian products should also be in solidarity. Support for an immigrant community shouldn’t depend on them serving you things you enjoy.
Many immigrants work in the restaurant industry because of our racist history.

2/15/2021 | Advocate for Black immigrants.

12/9/2020 | Amplify mental health resources for immigrants.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/9/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/9/21

Distinguish anti-Zionism from antisemitism.

Happy Wednesday! And welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. Today, Mordecai joins us to unpack the discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Read Understanding Antisemitism by JFREJ and The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere by April Rosenblum.
Learn about the history of Jewish anti-Zionism and alternative Jewish politics.
Support Jewish organizations fighting Israeli apartheid like Jewish Voice for Peace (Instagram), IfNotNow (Instagram), and Breaking the Silence (Instagram).
Learn the role of Christian Zionism in Israel/Palestine politics.

GET EDUCATED

By Mordecai Martin (he/him)

Simply put, there is no place for antisemitism in anti-racist work. Antisemitism is antithetical to collective liberation, and it is real. Yet, the accusation that the left is as inherently antisemitic as the right is false: antisemitism in the right, specifically in white supremacist groups, is deadly, systemically legitimized, and funded (JFREJ). While it is true that there has been a global rise in antisemitism (HRW), it is also notoriously challenging to quantify incidents, especially in the US (Jewish Currents).

Antisemitism is distinct from other forms of oppression in that it positions an oppressed people, the Jews, as themselves oppressors and therefore a target for other oppressed peoples’ rage (April Rosenblum). In the United States and Europe, antisemitism protects capitalism and its almost exclusively Christian elite ruling class by pushing blame onto Jews, labelled by modern antisemitism as an “inferior race” (JFREJ). On the right, the “great replacement” trope favored by the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter and several Republican representatives claims Jews orchestrate mass migration of non-white immigrants to majority-white countries (HeyAlma). On the left, Marxist analysis of the elite capitalist class of accumulators can be twisted into the conspiracy theory that Jews control the world’s wealth and media.

In the United States, antisemitism dates from colonial times, when Jews were defined as “filthy” by the Dutch, and continued in the lynching of Leo Frank (Dinnerstein), the refusal to accept Jewish refugees in WWII (USHMM), Ivy League restrictive quotas (Karabel), and consistent occurrence of hate crimes. Most recently, on May 18th, Iranian Jewish diners outside a West Hollywood restaurant were attacked by a group in a vehicle with a large Palestinian flag (Eater). Witnesses report the assailants shouted antisemitic slurs and asked which of the diners were Jewish before instigating the melee (NBC). The same day, a Los Angeles driver attempted to run down a Jewish person in the street. Two days later, two men attacked a pedestrian wearing a yarmulke in New York, yelling, “F**k Jews!” The latter attack came the same day as Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire that ended Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian territory of Gaza (CNN). There’s no room to split words: such acts of violence are baldly antisemitic and must be denounced and opposed.

The Anti-Racism Daily has previously written about the need for Americans to oppose U.S. support of states that brutalize those under their rule. The state of Israel, like the United States, would certainly qualify. According to Amnesty International, Israel engages in “institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians” and that “torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, including children, were committed with impunity” (Amnesty International). Attacking random Jewish people does nothing to remedy these injustices; the government of Israel is not run by people eating at West Hollywood sushi restaurants. To say that Jewish people are responsible for the actions of a Jewish state is as blatantly prejudicial as claiming all Chinese people are responsible for COVID-19.

Conflation of Jews and the modern State of Israel serves entrenched right-wing power. The project of colonialism needs a friendly state in the Middle East. Numerous Jewish movements in resistance to Zionism have existed and continue to exist, like IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace (InTheseTimes), but they are ignored or sidelined in favor of an overwhelming narrative of Jewish support for Zionism. This ignores the fact that Zionism was itself rooted in antisemitism, as early Zionists internalized a sense of inferiority and proposed that the only solution to the “degeneration” of Jews was to create a modern nation-state (Project Gutenberg). The state of Israel, supported by the white supremacist projects of the United States and other settler-colonial nations, has limited not only the political imagination of Jews but of all progressives (Cornel West, Lamont Hill). One way our political imaginations have become limited is a refusal to believe in a future for the region where Palestinians and Jews are both welcome to live peacefully and have a right of return (The Guardian).

White supremacy cannot operate without antisemitism. Similarly, we cannot understand and defeat white supremacy without understanding antisemitism. We must use our imaginations beyond the state of Israel and what we are told is the only way for Jewish safety: there are many possible worlds without antisemitism and without colonialism in the modern Israel/Palestine region.

Mordecai Martin (he/him/his) is a 5th generation New York Jew and writer, who conducts interviews for The Poetry Question and whose fiction work has appeared in X-Ray, Funicular, and Gone Lawn. He lives in a small but not tiny house with a cat named Pharaoh and a wife named Atenea. He tweets @mordecaipmartin and blogs at http://www.mordecaimartin.net.

Key Takeaways

The United States has a long history of antisemitism and antisemitic ideas can be found across the political spectrum, though it is especially well-funded and deadly on the right.
The identification of all Jewish people with the State of Israel is a right-wing, antisemitic idea. Jewish anti-Zionism has a long history.

RELATED ISSUES

7/28/2020 | Denounce antisemitism.

4/16/2020 | Unpack superheroes and the American Dream.

10/8/2020 | Condemn QAnon.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/8/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/8/21

Uncover racial bias in photography.

Cameras have been historically calibrated for lighter skin. When color film was developed, the first model to pose for camera calibration in photo labs was a woman named Shirley Page. After that, all color calibration cards were nicknamed “Shirley cards.” For decades, the “Shirley cards” featured only white women and were labeled “normal.” It wasn’t until the 1970s that Kodak started testing cards with Black women (NPR). They released Kodak GoldMax, a film advertised as being able to photograph “a dark horse in low light” – a thinly veiled promise of being able to capture subjects of color in a flattering way (NYTimes).

Good morning and happy Tuesday! When the YouTube iOS app was first released, about 10% of users were somehow uploading their videos upside-down. Engineers were puzzled until they took a closer look – they had inadvertently designed the app for right-handed users only. Phones are rotated 180 degrees in left-handed users' hands, and because the team was predominantly right-handed, this flaw missed internal testing (Google).

This unconscious bias is prevalent in much of the technology we use right now. Today, Nia outlines the role that bias has played in the history of photography technology.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Read about the exclusive history of photography, lack of diversity at tech companies, and racial bias in their products today.
If you are a STEM employer, ensure that you are hiring people of color for the development of new technology.
Buy technology from companies that are actively working to develop more inclusive hardware and software.

GET EDUCATED

By Nia Norris (she/her)

The word inclusivity may not immediately come to mind when we think about camera design. After all, cameras do the job they have been doing for years: they capture the image in front of them so that we can keep a piece of the moment we are capturing. However, if you have noticed that often it is harder to take photos of more melanated individuals, you might be onto something. Google and Snapchat both recently announced that they are redesigning their cameras to be more inclusive to individuals who have darker skin (The Verge, Muse). But what does this mean?

Although digital photography has led to some advancements, like dual skin-tone color balancing, it can still be a challenge to photograph individuals with a darker skin tone in artificial light. There are special tricks that cinematographers and photographers use for shooting darker skin despite these technological limitations, such as using a reflective moisturizer (NYTimes). Snapchat’s camera filters have been criticized as “whitewashed,” with Black individuals pointing out that the Snapchat camera makes their faces look lighter (The Cut). Snapchat has also released culturally insensitive camera filters including a Juneteenth filter encouraging users to “break the chains” and a Bob Marley filter that amounted to digital blackface (Axios).

After taking heat for digital whitewashing, Snapchat has enlisted the help of Hollywood directors of photography to create what they are calling an “inclusive camera” led by software engineer Bertrand Saint-Preaux to hopefully ease the dysphoria that Black users may feel after taking selfies through the app. Some of these efforts include adjusting camera flash and illumination variations in order to produce a more realistic portrait of users of color (Muse). Similarly, Google is changing its auto-white balancing and algorithms for the Pixel camera. They’re also creating a more accurate depth map for curly and wavy hair types (The Verge). Apple started this process a few years ago when they developed the iPhone X in 2017 (Engadget).

It’s not just the quality of photography that needs to be changed. We must also consider bias in the way that AI analyzes images. Twitter’s “saliency algorithm” has come under fire for racial bias in their preview crops of photos. Twitter automatically favors white faces in preview crops, no matter which image was posted first to the site. Twitter is currently planning to remove the algorithmic cropping from the site entirely in response (BBC).

This is not the first time that the company has simply removed an AI’s ability to recognize an image instead of redeveloping the AI to be more inclusive. In 2015, it was pointed out that Google Photos was labeling Black individuals as “gorillas.” Instead of fixing the AI, the company simply removed gorillas from their recognition software. In 2018 Wired followed up by testing photos of animals and although Google Photos could reliably identify multiple types of animals, there were simply no search results for “gorillas,” “chimps,” “chimpanzees,” and “monkeys” (Wired). Less than 1% of Google’s technical workforce is Black (NBC News).

Since photography is almost exclusively digital at this point, hopefully companies will take more initiative to better develop cameras that adequately capture people of color in a flattering way. We also need to adopt inclusive AI practices to ensure everyone's treated equally in social media. When we are seeking to develop inclusive tech, people of color need to have a seat at the table to help ensure that both the software and hardware we use are not racially biased.

Key Takeaways

Since film photography was developed, cameras have historically favored white individuals.
Currently, tech companies are working to develop more inclusive cameras after criticism from people of color.
The way we consume photography is also biased by the way algorithms and AI show us photographs through social media.

6/26/2020 | Face the bias in facial recognition software.

1/21/2021 | Invest in new media.

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Nicole Cardoza 6/7/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/7/21

Demand global vaccine justice.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would share 75% of its unused COVID-19 vaccine supply, releasing 80 million doses to other countries by the end of the month. “These are doses that are being given, donated free and clear to these countries, for the sole purpose of improving the public health situation and helping end the pandemic,” said U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, though he clarified that the U.S. government “will retain the say” on where exactly they go (MSN). As the State Department’s Twitter account declared, “No country is safe until all countries are safe” (Twitter).

Happy Monday and welcome back! The inequities of vaccine access, both domestically and abroad, deserve more scrutiny. Today, Andrew shares more about the role the U.S. plays in global vaccine distribution and how we can support.

– Nicole

TAKE ACTION

Read about U.S. vaccine hoarding and its fatal results.
Support the Progressive International (Instagram) and the Summit for Vaccine Internationalism.
Donate to CODEPINK and Global Health Partners’ campaign to provide syringes for people in Cuba.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

The United States will immediately give 25 million doses to the United Nations’ COVAX vaccine sharing program (AP). It seems like an incredible number, but only until you do the math. Africa, which saw a 20% increase in cases over the last two weeks, will receive 5 million vaccines, enough for less than 4% of the continent’s residents (AP). 6 million doses will go to Latin America, fewer doses than people in El Salvador, the region’s 17th most populous country. 7 million will go to South and Southeast Asia, a quantity less than 3% of the population of Indonesia alone.

This development comes after months of vaccine hoarding by the United States and other rich nations. In February, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced that, while 75% of all vaccines had been administered by just 10 countries, 130 nations had not received a single vaccine at all (MSN). In the words of Georgetown Law’s Lawrence Gostin, “Rich countries have signed pre-purchase agreements with vaccine manufacturers. So [they] have bought up most of the world’s vaccine supplies.”

The United States government bought 1.2 billion vaccine doses, despite having a population of only 330 million (Salon). If everyone in the U.S. received two doses, a half billion shots would be left over, property of the U.S. government. In fact, the U.S. bought purchase options on enough vaccines to vaccinate the entire U.S. population five times (NBC).

American vaccine “charity” comes too late for thousands of people who died because the United States blocked their countries from importing vaccines.

Aside from appearing benevolent with its “gift” of hoarded vaccines, the U.S. government also gets to use vaccine donations as a political weapon, rewarding “friends like the Republic of Korea, where our military shares a command” (White House) while maintaining an embargo that prevents Cuba from importing syringes necessary for full vaccination (Code Pink).

That fact that the U.S. government prevented life-saving vaccines from reaching desperate people for weeks on end is not the only reason for its complicity. Despite racist paranoias about immigrants and Asian people as disease vectors, American business travelers and tourists have played a crucial role in spreading coronavirus around the world.

Last March, 44 University of Texas students tested positive for COVID after returning from Cabo San Lucas (KXAN). Four months later, Today published a list of countries still open to American tourism “for those trying to capitalize on less expensive plane tickets” (Today). In November, an American teen in the Cayman Islands escaped from mandatory quarantine to attend her boyfriend’s jet ski event maskless (People). One of the hardest-hit areas in Mexico is Cancún, which has actually seen more tourists this year than last (USA Today). One Pittsburgh police officer whined “we’re being held hostage down here” after he and his wife were forced to stay in their luxury resort room after testing positive for COVID during a mid-pandemic trip to Cancún last month (WPXI). Mexico ranks fourth in total deaths from COVID (CNN).

Many countries and regions are reluctant to impose stricter entry controls since their economies are almost entirely dependent on tourism, “mainly as a result of their history under Western imperialism” (Skift). American tourists felt entitled to go on vacations that turned their destinations as petri dishes. Their government hoarded vaccines to save for them upon their return home. Thousands of people, mostly working-class people of color in poor nations, have lost their lives as a result. The Biden administration’s “charity” is too little, too late.

Fortunately, community organizations around the world are coming together to demand more. The Progressive International is organizing a global Summit for Vaccine Internationalism (Progressive International) while groups like CODEPINK are providing medical supplies internationally (CODEPINK). When the American government positions itself as a compassionate donor of its hoarded goods, we should remember Dr. King’s words: “True compassion is more than flinging a coin at a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring” (American Rhetoric).

Key Takeaways

The Biden administration's vaccine sharing announcement comes after the U.S. blocked poor countries from vaccine access for months, costing untold numbers of lives.
The U.S. government bought over half a billion more vaccine doses than would be necessary to vaccinate the entire population.
American citizens played an outsized role in spreading COVID to countries dependent on U.S. tourism.

9/16/2020 | Fight for paid sick leave.

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

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

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

Build solidarity across differences.

But white supremacy is a system, not a collection of individuals acts of white violence. This system depends on settler-colonialism and the continued theft of indigenous land, on the enslavement and incarceration of Black people, and on xenophobia and neocolonialism against those identified as foreign, like Asian people. That it may be non-white people who uphold racism against other communities of color doesn’t mean it isn’t white supremacy. It means that white supremacy is a strong social system that structures our beliefs and lives, whether we are white or not.

Happy Friday! Throughout history, communities of color have recognized that, despite the fact that we experience racism uniquely from one another, our individual liberation is tied to our collective liberation. Yet, conservative outlets try to position violence by BIPOC people against other BIPOC people to negate, or minimize the role that white supremacy plays in society. Today, Andrew outlines examples of solidarity despite differences, and emphasizes how white supremacy is nearly always at fault.

TAKE ACTION

Read about solidarity and transformative justice in the face of anti-Asian attacks.
Watch “Korean Ajumma for Black Lives” , where Isabel Kang explains the necessity of Asian-Black solidarity.
Look into the Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities project.
Listen to our recent podcast episode on practicing solidarity.

GET EDUCATED

By Andrew Lee (he/him)

In the past year, Asian people across the US have been attacked, harassed, and murdered. We have been yelled at, beaten, stabbed, and shot. There are thousands of reported cases (Stop AAPI Hate).

Non-Asian people of all races participated in these assaults. The majority of assailants were white (NPR). But when activists correctly identified the attacks’ white supremacist origins, conservatives cried foul. If a Black person attacks an Asian elder, they asked, how could white racism possibly be to blame? “Describing this sort of thing as white supremacy,” said one far-right political scientist, “is stupid” (Commentary).

The 1992 LA Uprising was precipitated by two events. One was the police beating of Rodney King (NPR). It was also influenced by the murder of Latasha Harlins, a Black girl incorrectly thought to be stealing a single bottle of juice, who was killed by Korean liquor store owner Soon Ja Du (LA Times). In the uprising, protestors set fire to LAPD headquarters and looted businesses that extracted wealth from working-class Black communities, with LA’s Koreatown as a particular target. When some armed Korean people defended their businesses, gun battles broke out. It took thousands of soldiers for the government to subdue the rebellion (Curbed).

Korean people in the United States own small businesses in communities of color because they could succeed in these industries in the face of racism from white suppliers and employers (NextShark). White America turns around and use Korean small businesses to “prove” white supremacy doesn’t exist. They also use them to and critique Black and Latinx communities that have less access to capital for not owning such businesses themselves. White supremacy’s “divide and control” strategy pits immigrant small business owners against working-class Black people (HuffPost).

This lesson became clear for many Korean people in Los Angeles during the uprising. The military and LAPD were let loose during the rebellion, killing at least 10 civilians in the streets. But when Koreatown went up in flames, the police stood by and did nothing.

“

Nothing in my life indicated I was a secondary citizen until the LA riots…They left us to burn. We learned a lesson in what the lack of political power and cultural misunderstandings between minority groups can do.

Business owner Chang Lee (CNN)

In the years since the uprising, there have been intentional efforts between Black and Korean groups in the United States to build solidarity. After decades of such organizing work, there is of course still much more today. But today, nine out of ten Korean-Americans recognize that Black Americans face discrimination, while Black people are the non-Asian group most likely to recognize that anti-Asian racism exists (Brookings). At a march last year, David Bryant of the Latasha Harlins Justice Committee said, “Our Korean brothers and sisters, we would like you to know: history doesn’t have to repeat itself. We can come together in unity” (Yahoo News).

The lesson here is that solidarity isn’t a given. It doesn’t appear from the simple fact of sharing a race, gender, employer, or country of origin with anyone else. And when we speak about solidarity across differences in a country that pits us against each other, it is important to remember that solidarity isn’t just something we claim. It isn’t a demographic fact and it isn’t a nice belief, no matter the words or letters in our Twitter bios.

Solidarity is a practice. It’s not something we are or something we believe: it’s something we do. We can choose to stand with others to dismantle the political and economic institutions that harm them and us, or we can choose to look away. We can choose to appeal to whiteness for safety and resources or we can choose to build safety through struggling alongside one another to see whiteness and white supremacy abolished.

“We can’t just say, ‘I’m in solidarity with you.’ Those are empty words unless we back it up with action… Because structurally, only the few at the top have all the power, money, and resources,” says Isabel Kang of LA’s Korean Resource Center (Faithfully Magazine). “Those who give out empty words of solidarity: will you be around when they start pointing guns at you?”

Key Takeaways

Though white people committed most recent anti-Asian attacks, the existence of Black assailants was used to deny the role of white supremacy.
People of color can hold anti-indigenous, anti-Black, and xenophobic views, but the root remains white supremacy.
Building solidarity across differences requires education, organizing, and work, such as how Black and Korean communities came together after the LA Uprising.

RELATED ISSUES

1/5/2021 | (Re)commit to your role.

9/18/2020 | Reject racial gaslighting.

7/9/2020 | Acknowledge the harm of microaggressions.

PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT

Nicole Cardoza 6/3/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/3/21

Stop rainbow-washing.

It’s Pride Month, which means many brands are unrolling a colorful new look – changing their logos and websites, launching rainbow-colored gear, even flaunting colorful marketing campaigns on social media and in-store. Some use this opportunity to raise funds for LGBTQIA+ causes or feature LGBTQIA+ talent in advertising campaigns. This is referred to as rainbow-washing, or “the practice of adding rainbow colors and/or imagery to advertising, apparel, accessories, landmarks, etc. to indicate progressive support for LGBTQ equality (and earn consumer credibility) — but with a minimum of effort or pragmatic result” (Medium).

Happy Thursday and welcome back! Today is our one-year anniversary! Somehow, we've sent one email each morning tackling anti-racism and systemic oppression since June 3, 2020 🎉

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We're looking forward to another year, as we expand our team, add new learning opportunities for Fall 2021, continue our podcast and virtual community, and battle trolls on Instagram.

And we couldn't have done this without you! Thank you for keeping this independent platform going. Become a recurring subscriber today or tomorrow and we'll send you some swag to show our thanks!

– Nicole and Team ARD

Now, for today's topic: we're analyzing how corporations try to capitalize off of Pride Month, which stands for something far greater than rainbow-washing. Happy Pride, ya'll!

TAKE ACTION

Celebrate Pride this month by donating to a mutual aid network where you live that supports the LGBTQIA+ community. Here’s a list to help you get started.
If you’re planning on buying Pride-related products, shop directly from LGBTQIA+ makers. Our suggestions? Revel & Riot, dfrntpigeon, and the phluid project, or Brownie Points, MerchforPride, Demian DinéYazhi’, and DeerQueer on Etsy.
Call or email your Senators and urge them to pass the Equality Act, which will provide consistent, explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBTQIA+ people.

GET EDUCATED

By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)

This tactic certainly isn’t new. Green-washing is a similar practice that acts as a shallow commitment to sustainability, for example. But it’s difficult to watch in a time where the LGBTQIA+ community is experiencing unprecedented levels of violence and discrimination and one year after a racial reckoning where brands feigned support for equity and inclusion.

From a marketing perspective, it makes no sense that the global LGBTQIA+ community, with a combined $3.7 trillion in purchasing power, is only thought of for one month of the year (Entrepreneur). Although historically overlooked in consumer data and analytics, the LGBTQIA+ community was recently included in Nielsen rating statistics (NYTimes). Although there’s still much to be done to have the community fully represented in data (looking at you, U.S. Census), there’s no excuse for brands to ignore the LGBTQIA+ community the rest of the year while only providing rainbows as acknowledgment in June. It seems like some corporations think yearly superficial appeals to the LGBTQIA+ community will allow them to tap into this market, while making real commitments to the community would prove too costly.

What’s more sinister is that many of the same brands fail to support the LGBTQIA+ community. In many cases, they are actively harming them through capitalistic business practices and discriminatory company policies. Many of these same brands have stayed silent as the LGBTQIA+ community experiences a series of attacks, most recently, the rise of anti-trans legislation passing in states across the country. The Human Rights Campaign created a comprehensive way for corporate America to take note (HRC), and activists and advocates demand more leaders take accountability (Advocate). Marketplace brands like Amazon have been found to be supporting anti-LGBT organizations on their platforms (The Hill). Google announces its support for Pride but allows homophobic harassment to be monetized on YouTube, which it owns (New Now Next). Employees can be constantly misgendered at companies outwardly touting their status as “inclusive workplaces” (Archer).

Rainbow-washing allows people, governments, and corporations that don’t do tangible work to support LGBTQ+ communities at any other time during the year to slap a rainbow on top of something in the month of June and call it allyship.

Justice Namaste, Social Media Coordinator, via Wired

Researchers at The Trevor Project found that 35% of LGBTQIA+ youth experience discrimination at work. Transgender and nonbinary youth reported nearly twice as much discrimination, and LGBTQIA+ youth of color were also more likely to experience discrimination (Trevor Project).

And it goes beyond just supporting causes that seem directly related to the LGBTQIA+ community. Remember that all of the greatest social issues of our time, from police brutality to the economy and the environmental crisis, all disproportionately impact LGBTQIA+ people, especially those of color. When corporations fail to hold themselves accountable for addressing these issues, they choose to ignore the needs of those most vulnerable. And that falls far from allyship.

Pride wasn’t an event created to wear colorful clothing. It began as a riot in response to police brutality, commemorated by continued protests and demonstrations (them). This liberatory movement, led by the Black and brown LGBTQIA+ community, has fought and will continue to fight for justice. It deserves to be reflected in how organizations operate and not just what they sell. As YK Hong said on Instagram, "pride is not simply a celebration. It is also a call to action".

Over the past week, we’ve analyzed how corporations are often quick to feign support without actually practicing solidarity. Rainbow-washing during Pride Month is another example of how corporations can enforce an inequitable system even while making equitable statements.

Key Takeaways

Rainbow-washing is the practice of adding rainbow colors and/or imagery to advertising, apparel, accessories, landmarks, etc. to indicate progressive support for LGBTQ equality (and earn consumer credibility) — but with a minimum of effort or pragmatic result” (Medium)
Many corporations practice rainbow-washing while actively causing harm to the LGBTQIA+ community
To truly celebrate Pride, corporations must commit to addressing the disparities that disproportionately impact the LGBTQIA+ community, and demonstrate a willingness to dismantle the norms

6/13/2020 | Center Black trans lives.

2/23/2021 | Rally against anti-trans legislation.

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Nicole Cardoza 6/2/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/2/21

Unpack corporate political contributions.

Though the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6th failed, they motivated plenty of Republicans to keep pushing unsubstantiated claims. That same day, 147 Republicans voted against certifying the election results, alleging fraud (NYTimes). After pushback from community groups, some corporations decided they would stop contributing to these candidates. However, businesses like AT&T, Intel, and Cigna have since betrayed those promises with quiet donations to Republican fundraising committees, ensuring their money will in part be distributed to those who voted in lockstep with an attempted coup.

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! Lots of you readers asked how corporate commitments to racial equity compared to campaign contributions over the past four years. Today, we're highlighting an initiative that's tracking corporate funding to those that supported the insurrection earlier this year. Read more and take action.

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Nicole

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Tell corporations to stop funding insurrectionists in Congress using the resources on the Insurrection Incorporated website.
Educate yourself about corporate lobbying and reasons for corporate political donations.
Learn how campaigns have forced powerful corporations to change their behavior.

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By Andrew Lee (he/him)

Color of Change PAC’s Insurrection Incorporated is a campaign to pressure companies to permanently stop supporting those who voted against certifying last year’s election. Their website tracks companies who supported such politicians and notes whether any donations were given after January 6th. Readers can contact corporate leaders directly to demand such support stop (Insurrection Incorporated).

Several of those who voted against the election results had received contributions from computer firm Intel. Though Intel insisted such support would cease, on February 26th, the company gave $15,000 to the National Republican Campaign Committee (Insurrection Incorporated). Why would Intel want to overthrow American democracy?

The American political system has been exceptionally good to Intel Corporation, which earned $77.9 billion in revenue last year alone (Intel). Intel was founded in the United States and its headquarters are in California to this day. It’s hard to believe that anybody inside those buildings, from the cafeteria dishwashers to the CEO, thought that shredding the Constitution would help Intel make more money than it already does.

And when we’re thinking about corporate political donations, the bottom line is all that matters. Investors buy stocks in publicly-traded companies hoping to profit as the value of those companies, and their stocks, rises. Publicly-traded companies have a responsibility to become more valuable so that their investors are enriched as well, whether over the short term or long (Forbes). The point of any corporation is to make money for itself and for those who gamble on its success. The decisions taken by any rationally-managed company will be towards this one objective.

Last year, Intel gave over $500,000 to federal candidates. The majority were Republicans, but almost half were Democrats (Open Secrets). When you’re a multinational corporation whose profits can be influenced by innumerable governmental policies, it helps to have as many politicians on the payroll as you can. And even if you think one party might help more than the other, with that much cash, it can’t hurt to hedge your bets.

“Companies donate millions to political causes,” says Business Insider, “to have a say in government” (Business Insider). It’s not like Intel’s CEO decided to continue giving money to Republicans because he sincerely hoped Trump would be President-for-Life. But he knew that both Democrats and Republicans will continue voting on numerous issues that could affect Intel’s profit margin.

What’s true for political donations is true for other kinds of corporate giving as well. After the protests last summer, Target announced that it “stands with Black families, communities, and team members,” since improving its public image with the socially conscious might help it make more money. Target simultaneously donated over $3 million to the National Museum of Law Enforcement and continued to run a Minneapolis forensics lab to assist police officers, since these actions might help it make money as well (Business Insider). The issue isn’t that corporations are hypocritical or have divided loyalties. They only have loyalty to their bottom line, and every political contribution or public statement or charitable fund is a means to that end.

This means we have some leverage to change corporate behavior. If a company expects its donation to a right-wing politician will net it a certain amount of money, we only need to demonstrate that a negative public campaign will cost them an even greater amount of money should they follow through. This could take the shape of a direct action to hamper business operation, a boycott to reduce sales, or a public relations campaign that makes their products and brand less appealing. The objective of the Insurrection Incorporated campaign isn’t to make corporations grow a heart, but to convince them that supporting certain politicians can be extremely costly if enough people come together.

These actions can’t make companies moral or righteous or maybe even decent places to work. And they certainly can’t erase all the bad effects of a system where the most powerful actors are sprawling conglomerates maneuvering to enrich themselves at the expense of people and the planet. But even when our adversaries are powerful and wealthy beyond comprehension, and the action each of us takes might be very small, with enough of us we can make a real change.

We can take action once we really understand corporate donations.

Key Takeaways

Companies have continued to support Republican politicians even after the attempted coup.
Many of these companies also support Democrats, since corporate contributions are designed for profit maximization, not ideals.
This includes donations or statements in support of progressive causes, like Black Lives Matter.
We can stop bad corporate practices or contributions by making them more costly for companies than not.

5/4/2021 | Fight anti-protest legislation.

9/27/2020 | Protect the polls.

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Nicole Cardoza 6/1/21 Nicole Cardoza 6/1/21

Travel ethically for inclusivity and belonging.

The travel industry, one of the most profitable, fastest-growing industries globally, is worth $8.9 trillion (World Travel and Tourism Council). In 2018, Black travelers spent $63 billion on global tourism, an enormous leap from $48 billion in 2010 (Mandala Research). Additionally, in 2001, the United States Travel Association (USTA) identified African Americans as the fastest-growing segment in the travel industry. With these numbers, it’s clear that Black travelers are ready, willing, and able to spend their money on experiences in their chosen destinations, yet we are treated like we don’t belong.

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily! This Memorial Day weekend brought the most people to than airport in a single day since COVID-19 (Washington Post). Half of the U.S. population is now vaccinated, and many are eager to get their hot girl summers started. This resurgence is sure to transform the travel industry.

And this gives us new opportunities to create a space that's more inclusive for all travelers. Reneé shares her perspective of traveling as a Black woman, and offers ways that we can create safer opportunities for us all.

TAKE ACTION

Note: Please be sure to abide by all coronavirus precautions and best practices if you are considering traveling during this time.

Prioritize booking travel with companies led/represented by people of color and committed to equity and inclusion.
Consult Ethical Traveler to understand which countries are most ethical to travel to based on their infrastructure and dedication to human rights, the environment, and social welfare.
Honor the Indigenous communities that have stewarded the land you visit. Use Native Land to learn more about Indigenous communities across the world.
Know the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, and make a point to respect cultural practices.
Speak up when you see or hear of discrimination against people of color while traveling.

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By Renée Cherez (she/her)

When we think about travel, we imagine a worry-free time without interrupting the “real world.” Unfortunately, this level of unadulterated escapism does not ring true for Black travelers.

A quick Google search of the terms ‘traveler’ or ‘solo female traveler’ and pages of young white women against picturesque backdrops of the turquoise ocean with pink sand or famous landmarks like the Taj Mahal appears. Absent are the faces of Black travelers who are most certainly traveling to destinations both near and far. Over the last decade, with the help of social media, the Black travel movement (a movement that encourages Black people – particularly Black millennials – to travel both domestically and abroad to build community while also immersing in other cultures) has grown to unprecedented numbers.

Over the last few years, more and more Black travelers have been vocal about the anti-Black racism they’ve experienced while traveling in various parts of the world. Black professionals who often fly first-class are notoriously assumed to be in the “wrong line” when they’re on the priority line solely based on their skin color (LEVEL).

Black women have to research their destination and whether or not they will be safe from racialized and gender-based violence. White supremacy has made it so that the sexualization of Black women is worldwide, causing many Black women to experience unwanted advances abroad from men who assume they are prostitutes. Ugandan-American Jessica Nabongo, the first Black woman documented to travel the world, shares her experience with safety as a Black woman:

“...[women] of color are in more danger because a lot of people think we are prostitutes… My fear is always that if something happens to me in a European city, no one will care. I could be running down the street screaming in Italy, and onlookers won’t care because I’m Black. I think this is true no matter where in the world we are.”

Jessica Nabongo, world traveler, for the New York Times

For years, Airbnb branded itself as a way for travelers to stay at or with locals in new places; however, said locals have discriminated against Black travelers on several occasions (Fast Company). Whether it was kicking them out without reason or not responding to their inquiries on their accommodations availability (Fortune).

Also worth noting, 15% of Black travelers stated racial profiling played a role in their destination travel decisions (Mandala Research).

In the travel industry, people of color have played a supporting role in the tourism space. In contrast, white travelers have been the lead actors, not only as travelers but also in leadership positions at marketing agencies and press trips, travel media outlets, and tourism boards. Black people, wherever they are in the world, have been painted as the “gracious host,” “the safari guide,” and “the individuals who need ‘saving’ from white volunteers” but are rarely represented as “the adventurers in far-off lands.”

This lack of representation plays a significant role in the anti-Black racism Black travelers face on the road. For example, if locals from a country have limited real-world experience with Black people, they can only rely on what they’ve seen in the media. This misconception is likely to affect Black travelers negatively. A solution to this is simple: real diversity and inclusive initiatives rooted in anti-racism with a commitment to amplifying Black travelers.

Racism in the travel industry stretches beyond the average Black traveler but impacts the entire industry. Black travel agents make up a mere 6% of agents, while white travel agents make up 72% of the space (Data USA). Luxury travel is primarily represented by white travelers, erasing the Black travelers, journalists, and creators who create luxury travel content. In the PR industry, white professionals make up 87.9% of the space, while Black professionals make up 8.3%, Latinos 5.7%, and Asians a measly 2.7% (Harvard Business Review). With the absence of diverse voices, the stories, reporting, and content created from these trips lack the nuance that Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) can provide.

And this is particularly tense for the Asian community experiencing increased levels of anti-Asian racism because of COVID-19. The attacks earlier this year coincided with the Lunar New Year, which is one of the busiest travel times both across Asia and for the Asian community in the U.S. In an article for National Geographic, several travelers shared their hesitations on traveling in the future. But even before the pandemic, Asian people have been notably absent from executive positions and marketing campaigns (Washington Post).

Tourism boards must create marketing campaigns that reflect the diversity of the world, not the status quo. People of all kinds should be represented and celebrated in advertisements, not just light-skinned, slim, able-bodied, cis-gendered people. Diverse advertising in the travel industry has a two-fold result: it allows non-white travelers to feel welcome while showing locals that we, too, travel and deserve respect. Recent research shows travelers who identify as ethnic minorities (64%) and LGBTQ+ (67%) say the companies they book their travels with must be committed to inclusion and diversity practices (Accenture).

Like most industries, the travel industry is undergoing a reckoning. Black travelers and industry professionals demand real representation in the industry from the highest levels in leadership to the entry-level positions. Anti-racist policies must be adopted in the travel industry on a global scale to ensure Black travelers and Black locals are treated with the utmost care and respect post-COVID-19.

Key Takeaways

In 2018, Black travelers spent $63 billion on global tourism and are currently the fastest-growing segment in the travel industry.
Over the last few years, more and more Black travelers have been vocal about the anti-Black racism they’ve experienced while traveling in various parts of the world. It’s not uncommon that Black women are presumed to be prostitutes solely because of skin color.
People of color deserve to be seen, heard and respected in the travel industry, including marketing, executive leadership, and business ownership.

10/30/2020 | Don't be racist this Halloween.

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