I work for a national nonprofit called Everyday Democracy, and we're busy these days. For more than 15 years, our organization - formerly known as the Study Circles Resource Center - has helped communities organize large-scale, inclusive dialogues about racism and then take action to create positive changes in the ways their communities address race. But this year is proving to be one of our most fruitful years ever, as news headlines (Barack Obama's success, the Jena 6, the Rev. Wright saga) and media events (like the recent PBS film Traces of the Trade) have more people than ever ready and willing to talk about race.
If this is an area of special interest to you, I invite you to check out our anti-racism resources at Everyday Democracy, as well as our DemocracySpace blog, which is becoming a hotbed of civil, nonpartisan discussion about issues of race. Read below the flip to learn about some recent thought-provoking posts, as well as an upcoming (July 23) online discussion of some subtle ways white privilege stands in the way of real racial progress in our country.
Writing yesterday at Everyday Democracy, a community organizer from Asheville, North Carolina, told of her lifelong journey toward the recognition of her white privilege, and how her community is now addressing racim and privilege head on with its Building Bridges program. Kathryn Liss said:
I have learned that racism is an insidious thing. That it is pervasive and I can’t avoid its impact on me. However, I can learn how to become more aware. I can teach others what I have learned about White Privilege and I can listen to the feedback from folks who are the targets of racism. I can attempt to interrupt my own and others behavior that reflects the assumptions of White Superiority and I can work to eliminate institutional racism in our society by respecting those who are targets and believing them when they point out the places it impacts them.
You can read her story here and discuss it at our blog.
Another discussion is under way around a post made yesterday by Harold McDougall, a law professor at Howard University. McDougall wrote that with Barack Obama's nomination,
we’ve begun the next chapter of the civil rights movement. We shouldn't expect this to be any easier than the historic battles in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, but we should also realize the possible gains in our country’s race relations could be just as great.
Although McDougall is an Obama supporter, his main point is that this election, coming as it has in the context of strong demographic shifts, represents a real chance for Americans to work together for widespread change, noting:
This time of our country becoming more diverse, of ethnic categories blurring, could be the turning point. We can create a large-scale, multi-ethnic movement to close racial disparities and create racial justice.
Of course, there will be resistance to this potential change. Some will be blatant, but much of it will be subtle. How could it be otherwise in the United States? Our nation's deep-seated historic resistance to racial diversity underlies the story of our Everyday Democracy summer book club selection, Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism. Author James Loewen - also well known for his book Lies My Teacher Told Me - will join us from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, July 23, to discuss the ways the Sundown Town legacy continues to impact how Americans live today, but also how people of color and their white allies can work together to overcome our history.
If these are issues of interest to you, we hope to see you online at DemocracySpace.
DemocracySpace is a nom de blog of Julie Fanselow, writer and online organizer for the nonpartisan, nonprofit Everyday Democracy, which can help your community find ways for all kinds of people to think, talk and work together to solve problems. Fanselow also blogs at Daily Kos under the screen name Red State Rebel.