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Empowering Individuals and Families

Formerly The Women's Center

Category: Racing Forward | | By Tamu Lane

Why are we still talking about Racism in America?

Why?

Because it still exist.

What is racism?

It is a systematic oppression of people of color; occurs at the individual, internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and/or cultural levels; may be overt or covert, intentional or unintentional. (World Trust, 2018)

We are still living in a time where the world continues to hate each other, in fear of people that look different than us. Educating the world around issues of racism continues to be a battle because we as a society would like to be over it. But that is unfair to the many people of color that can’t get over it because we are constantly reminded that we are different and less than.

Here I am, an educated woman, but yet I still get perceived as ignorant, and less than, by too many others that look different than myself, all because of the color of my skin. And I know this to be true because of what I hear and what is said overtly and covertly.

We need to continue the fight for justice and freedom for all and we are taking a stand to end racism. We are fighting for what is right for all people and we are doing that by having an agency that is inclusive not just in words but in action.

So here are some action steps that you can begin to take in eliminating Racism:

  1. Acknowledge and understand your own privilege and how it can negatively affect people of color if you are not aware.
  2. Examine your own biases and where they could have originated from. We know that racism is a learned behavior. We have seen it time and time again where children of all different races and nationalities will play with one another until someone makes it an issue and things change.
  3. The myth that we live in a post-racial society is insane. We constantly hear, I don’t see color, which believe it or not contributes to racism. So I ask you to challenge the color blind ideology. Because the reality is that you do see me when you grab your handbag oh so tightly when I am walking past you.
  4. Call out individuals that make racist jokes and/or comments. Sitting silent gives permission for ignorance to continue.

I have to believe that one day we will live in a Post Racial world, but today is not it, so we must continue to fight for what we believe in.

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