“White people need to solve the problem of white supremacy. It’s white people’s problem, we created it, and it’s a problem we need to fix.” — Christian Picciolini, former neo-Nazi skinhead, who founded Life After Hate, an organization that assists people to get out of white supremacist groups. www.huffingtonpost.com/…
In her diary, Calling the police on black people without cause is an act of aggression. #StopBrutalizingOurPeople!, JoanMar describes a racist incident in which she was the target of bullying, at the end of which, the bully gleefully threatened to call the police.
Fortunately, that incident did not end in tragedy. As we know all too well, when the police are called in, the incident may escalate to injury or death.
But often, the police didn’t just happen to show up. Someone called them. The racist incident began before the police arrived.
Some incidents do not involve the police at all. The aggressor may be a neighbor, a store clerk, a government functionary, a security guard, a teacher, a random passerby. There are no safe spaces.
What’s in common? With near certainty, the aggressor — the person with a racist chip on their shoulder, the person who calls in the police — is white. And frequently, there are bystanders and observers who are also white. A person of color who tries to intervene may well become another victim. But...white bystanders have an opportunity to intervene, and possibly stop the incident from progressing to an all-too-common tragic end.
While we try to chip away at the root causes of these racist incidents slowly, we also must deal with the immediate problem of attacks on people of color right now, every day, any time. That can’t wait for the big problems to be fixed.
This is a follow-up to JoanMar’s diary. Please read that first as it has important background and examples. The specific impetus is a request from JoanMar to expand a comment made in her diary. But more generally, this is one tiny attempt to Do Something, and not just cry or wring one’s hands.
So...white folks...here are some ideas for things we can do in case we’re involved in such an incident. (I’m borrowing ideas from elenacarlena on some of these.)
Be Prepared
Assemble resources and allies:
- Is there a white allies group? Join it.
- Find and contact relevant Black Lives Matter groups, so they know what you’re doing, and can offer advice and information.
- Ask friends to sign on to intervening as well — working on this together will be more effective. Assemble a phone list for people who will help with an incident in progress.
- Get hooked in to any useful neighborhood networks (e.g. Nextdoor) and social media groups.
- Plan who you’ll contact during the incident and afterward. Local media? Is there a local aid group specific to racist incidents? Have their contact info handy.
- Find out how to call for medical assistance without getting the police instead.
Preparation and practice:
- Go over the types of incidents you’ve heard about, and role play what you should do if you find yourself a witness. Don’t do this in isolation — look for advice from experts in de-escalation.
- Find out (e.g. from BLM and ally groups) if there is a recognized ally symbol you can wear (e.g. safety pin, green dot), or a signal or gesture for that purpose.
- Get set up to not just record incidents but upload them in real time. (Police seeing you recording may try to take your equipment.) Install the ACLU app if it’s available for your state, or use Facebook Live, or…
- Practice uploading video. You don't want to be fumbling around with your phone.
- For preference, have a way to mount the phone on your clothes, like a body cam, and to start the upload quickly. (I’m not sure if it’s better to hide the fact that you’re filming. It could be that seeing multiple people obviously recording from all angles will put the racists or police on notice. Your phone “body cam” setup and practice will differ if you’re trying to do it unobtrusively.)
When you witness an incident
Think before you act:
- Remember, “First, do no harm.” Don’t make it worse, don’t do something that will provoke the police or racist civilians. Your goal is to protect the victim. Not to score points, not to “teach” the racists. It’s to get the victim out intact and unharmed.
- Stay calm. If you know you’re excitable, you may be better in a passive role. But if you did the role-playing prep above, you can learn to put on a calm act...
- Don’t wait for the situation to get out of control. In particular, don’t wait for the racist enabler to call the police.
- Look around, and if possible, identify other witnesses who can act as allies. Do you see others who've noticed the problem? (One caution here: Don’t assume someone else will deal with it. It is well known that if there are multiple bystanders who observe an accident or medical incident, that the response is delayed — they’re all “deferring” to each other *unconsciously*. If you’re having a heart attack, it’s better if there’s only one other person present, because they will know that there is no one else to get help. But a racist incident may well benefit from multiple allies, who can corroborate testimony, or act as a buffer.)
- Is there a simple action that will defuse things before the racist escalates? Can you “bumble in” and distract the racist? Or call it out without making it a chest-bumping challenge that the racist feels they have to respond to? A little side-eye or “Eeeuw yuk” face, seen by the racist, puts them on notice that they’re doing something that others regard as an embarrassment. Pretend you’re a friend of the victim — just start chatting about anything, and cut out the racist. (E.g. for the pharmacy incident, had I been waiting in line, I’m wondering if it would have been useful to step up, set my purchases on the counter, and say, I don’t feel comfortable shopping here after seeing that, so I’m going to go somewhere else. Turn to the victim and say, want to come with me?)
- Be aware of the victim at all times. Let them know you’ve noticed what’s happening. They may signal you to back off if you’re inadvertently making things worse.
If the situation does begin to escalate:
- Start capturing video.
- Post a quick message on social media.
- Send a text message to your helpers.
- If you identified a local aid group, contact them now.
- Would a media presence help?
- If the police arrive, try to introduce yourself — “Hi, I was here the whole time, and saw everything.” Deflect them from charging in.
- Consider interposing yourself. (I've referred to this elsewhere as a “meat wall” or “inverse Oreo”.) This doesn’t have to be done in a confrontational manner (and is safer not just for you but for the victim if it is not). Try acting as “concerned citizen” or even “dumb ditz”. (Note: White privilege helps here, but it is not a shield. Avoid reckless / inflammatory actions that unnecessarily get you incapacitated or arrested, especially if you are the only one recording the incident. Note also, the ACLU recommends not getting in the way if the aggressors are the police.)
- Again, always keep the goal in mind. You’re not Solving Racism. The goal is to protect the victim.
After the incident:
- If you leave the venue, try to have someone stay behind and watch what the racist does next, in case they still end up calling the police.
- Exchange contact information with the victim and allies.
- Get contact information for the venue’s manager or the racist’s supervisor.
- Make sure any uploaded video got through.
- Contact aid groups if not done previously.
- Contact the ACLU.
- Contact media if they were not present.
- Contact the venue’s parent company.
- If the police were not involved, and if it is safe, file a police report. Yes, that sounds paradoxical — that’s because this covers non-police-involved situations too.
- Post a full description on social media.
- If appropriate, start a boycott.
Resources
Phone apps for recording and uploading incident video:
- ACLU Apps to Record Police Conduct
- It's Your Right to Film the Police. These Apps Can Help, Wired, May, 2015
- CopBlock’s list of apps
- Here’s how to go live on Facebook with your Android or iOS device, Digital Trends, Feb 5, 2018
- 13 Apps for Live-streaming Video, Sig Ueland, PracticalEcommerce.com, Apr 30, 2018
Bystander intervention and de-escalation techniques:
These are more general than racist incidents, e.g. they also cover sexual harassment. Some are aimed at college students. But many of the techniques are appropriate.
- A Guide to Bystander Intervention, Southern Poverty Law Center
- Speak Up: Responding to Everyday Bigotry, Southern Poverty Law Center
- How to intervene when you see street harassment: an illustrated guide, Vox, Soo Oh, Jan, 2017
- Step UP! Bystander Intervention Program, University of Arizona, NCAA
- Active Bystanders, Mediation@MIT
- Bystander Intervention Training, Hollaback!
- Green Dot Bystander Intervention
- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has an in-person bystander intervention training program. Check your local CAIR branch for events in your area.
Discussion Questions and Information Requests
What else should be included above? Is anything in there wrong?
Have you ever intervened in a racist incident? or witnessed an intervention? Please tell us about it. What worked or didn’t?
Who’s got more resources or references on this sort of intervention? How about info on how to de-escalate, preferably specific to racist / police incidents?
What appropriate white ally groups exist? Note that a white ally group involving only whites may not be optimal — it would be missing out on people who could correct misapprehensions and provide real-world experience. (But also, don’t expect to wait and have people of color tell you what to do, step by step. Again, this is a white people problem...) Coordination with BLM groups can make up for an ally group with only allies. Of particular interest would be pragmatic groups that are involved in planning responses and doing support, and also trying to prevent incidents. This may not be the same as activist ally groups that participate in demonstrations or political actions.
What local aid organizations exist, that can help at the time of an incident, or help the victim afterward? Are there larger organizations that have local branches?
Related / Future Discussion
The original comment, and hence this diary, only covers intervention in incidents. It would, of course, be better to not have incidents in the first place…
Would you like to discuss what we can do to prevent incidents? Obviously, reducing the level of racism will help. But what specific and concrete steps can reduce the frequency of incidents? (E.g. making sure police departments have civilian oversight, getting police prosecuted for their actions in racial incidents, putting businesses “on notice” that incidents lead to boycotts, talking to neighbors, political challenges to racist police chiefs,...) If it would be useful, I can do preliminary research on what concrete steps can help with prevention, and post another discussion diary.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018 · 10:48:50 PM +00:00
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ptressel
There's great info in comments! Here are several:
TrueBlueMajority has an excellent list of tips and recommendations, with a repeated call to practice practice practice! Especially note the tip that, if you can't do everything, you can still prompt others to act -- identify other potential helpers and call on them.
www.dailykos.com/…
Rikon Snow links to the video 5 Tips for Being an Ally, and ickamaus notes there are more resources linked from the video description.
www.dailykos.com/...
Clio2 has information on "Justice Teams Network", an organization that aids victims of racist police incidents. This is exactly the sort of group whose contact info we should have queued up and ready to call!
www.dailykos.com/...