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Conversations with coworkers, friends and family are essential to pushing back against racism. While it's important to understand the history and systemic factors that play into racism, it's important to also confront what's known as "microaggressions." These are the thinly veiled, everyday instances of racism, homophobia, sexism (and more) that you see in the world. Sometimes it's an insult, other times it's an errant comment or gesture.

Kevin Nadal, a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has spent years researching and writing books on the effects of microaggressions. He says as big structural issues play out, it's important to confront the small stuff, too.

"We navigate all of these things in our lives," Nadal says. "For many of us on a daily, hourly basis. And for some of us where we might not even recognize that we are navigating them or even perpetrating them."

To be clear, the "micro" in microaggression doesn't mean that these acts can't have big, life-changing impacts. They can, which is all the more reason to address them when you see them. If you can, that is. I spoke to Nadal about how.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity and was originally published in June 2020. Andrew Limbong: What exactly is a microaggression?
Kevin Nadal: Microaggressions are defined as the everyday, subtle, intentional - and oftentimes unintentional - interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups.

The difference between microaggressions and overt discrimination or macroaggressions, is that people who commit microaggressions might not even be aware of them.

Someone commenting on how well an Asian American speaks English, which presumes the Asian American was not born here, is one example of a microaggression. Presuming that a black person is dangerous or violent is another example. A common experience that black men talk about is being followed around in stores or getting on an elevator and having people move away and grab their purses or their wallets.

Oftentimes, people don't even realize that they're doing those sorts of things. And in fact, if you were to stop them and say, 'Why did you just move?' They would deny it because they don't recognize that their behaviors communicate their racial biases.
If someone says something racist to me, what does their intent matter?
At the end of the day, if somebody says something racist to you, it's racist. And if it hurt your feelings, it hurt your feelings, so it doesn't really matter what we define it as.

But it is important to understand that a lot of times people who engage in microaggressions will not believe that what they said was racist or sexist or homophobic. And so calling them racist or sexist or homophobic would make them very defensive and make them unable to even recognize what their impact was.

We're all human beings who are prone to mistakes, and we're all human beings who might commit microaggressions. And it's not necessarily that you're a bad person if you commit a microaggression, but rather that you need to be more aware of your biases and impact on people. We all need to commit to working on these things in order to create a more harmonious society.
So let's say you get into a conversation about current events. And the conversation turns toward police and racism and police brutality. Maybe the conversation gets a little tense and you can sense that a microaggression might be coming. What are your options then?
I think there are a lot of things that people need to consider when having what we would call difficult dialogues. First, think about whether or not the person is worth talking to. Is this somebody that you care about? Is this somebody who you think would actually have the capacity to hear what you have to say? A lot of times people get into arguments with people they don't need to necessarily be emotionally invested in because they don't have that sort of relationship.

If you are close and if you do have a relationship it might be important just to say, 'Look, I feel like we're both getting really emotionally charged right now. I don't feel like I'm able to hear what you're saying. I don't feel that you're able to hear what I'm saying. So maybe we need to table this and talk another time.' Or maybe offer to give them something they could read - that could be more helpful or effective than a conversation that might just turn into yelling and hostility.
Is there a risk of this feeling like homework?
Yes. Oftentimes people of color are asked to educate white people on issues that the person of color has lived with and thought about for their entire lives. That can be very psychologically and emotionally exhausting for a person to then have to care about the white person's feelings and to take those extra efforts so that they can learn something that they should have - and could have - learned throughout the duration of their life.

You don't have to do that if you don't want to. Or you could provide them with resources or a book to read before they even come to the conversation.

At the same time, if you're a person with privileged identities and you want to be a true ally, maybe you do have to do that homework. Maybe you do have to engage in those uncomfortable emotions because you know that it's your job and responsibility to have those conversations so that other people of color or women or LGBTQ folks won't have to have those conversations for you.
There can also be a certain amount of discomfort if you're talking about a group that isn't involved in the conversation, right? Here we are talking about police brutality against black people and neither of us is black.
You don't have to be of a certain group to understand that something is unjust. It's really about learning how to be empathetic to people. And also just to be really aware and knowledgeable of history. This country is founded on racism toward indigenous people and racism toward black people, and that's not new.

Even if we might not necessarily understand exactly what it means to be a member of the targeted group at that moment, we certainly rely on our knowledge and our awareness of history and of the lived experiences of people of those groups.
Let's assume that we're close friends and talking about being brown in New York. And then I say something homophobic, but we're friends and you know that I could be better. Where do you go from there?
So what I might say immediately is, 'What do you mean by that?' So somebody says, 'Oh, that's so gay.' And then I say, 'What do you mean by that?'

And if we're friends, that means that I trust that you do care about social justice issues - that maybe this is just a slip in that moment that that person will say, 'Oh, I'm sorry.' I didn't mean that. Because asking someone what they mean by that is giving them that opportunity to explain themselves.

And for some people, they say things just because they've been so socialized to say certain things. But when they're really asked to explain what they're trying to say, that's where, you know, they have to think about it and sometimes even retract what they originally say because they don't want to perpetuate something that isn't actually who they are.
So what would you say are three quick bits of advice on having these difficult dialogues?
1. Do your own work before you even get there. Read blogs and personal essays, understand the lived experiences of historically marginalized groups, watch documentaries and try to think outside of your own perspective.

2. Set realistic expectations of what you want from these conversations. Also think about, is this actually helping? Is this a conversation that I view as being helpful in any way, shape or form? It's important to acknowledge that no one is going to learn everything in one conversation overnight.

3. Always be aware of yourself and your mental health when having these conversations. In a world where we all fought for social justice all the time, we would be getting into productive arguments and fights and having protests every day and changing laws, but we don't and we can't because we're also human and we need to rest.

But again, think about your role and your positionality, because if you're a person with privilege and you could fight a little bit longer, then do it. But if you're a person of a historically marginalized group, we want you to be alive and we want you to be healthy in order to continue this fight toward justice.
The audio portion of this story was produced by Andee Tagle.

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Microaggressions are a big deal: How to talk them out and when to walk away : Life Kit

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Microaggressions are the everyday, thinly veiled instances of racism, homophobia, sexism and other biases that come across in gestures, comments or insults. But the "micro" doesn't mean that the acts don't have a big impact. While there's no one right way to address a microaggression, we have some pointers for ways you can begin to respond.

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Should you let that comment slide, or address it head on? Is it more harm than it's worth? We can help.

Credit... De rek Abella

For many of us, microaggressions are so commonplace that it seems impossible to tackle them one at a time. Psychologists often compare them to death by a thousand cuts.

The metaphor is both the subtitle to a paper that Kevin Nadal, professor of psychology at John Jay College, wrote about the impact of microaggressions on L.G.B.T.Q. youth, and the title of another paper on the health implications of black respectability politics by Hedwig Lee, professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis, and Margaret Takako Hicken, research assistant professor at the University of Michigan. The phrase is commonly found in additional studies on the topic.

I felt my thousandth cut a few Novembers ago standing outside a bar as my friend's boyfriend explained to me the concept of American Thanksgiving. From the time in fourth grade when my teacher made me read the part of "slanted-eyed child" in a play to every time a stranger in the online dating world told me he "loves Asian women," I have been pressed with the dilemma of how I should react to these seemingly small lacerations. Should I respond? Is it worth it?

When I tell people that I am writing about microaggressions, most - even some of my closest friends who are women of color - ask me why. It's tempting to ignore microaggressions, considering blatant, obvious discrimination is still a real problem, but the buildup of these "everyday slights" has consequences on a victim's mental and physical health that cannot be overlooked. The normalization of microaggressions is antithetical to a well-rounded society with equal opportunities for marginalized individuals.

So many of us ask the same questions: Was that really a microaggression? Is this worth tackling? What should I say and how should I cope? Or worse, we've convinced ourselves that the questions are not even worth asking. Dancing in circles myself, I weigh in with experts who have witnessed microaggressive acts and had them share their insights based on years of research and data.

Originally coined in the 1970s by Chester M. Pierce, a Harvard psychiatrist, today's definition of a microaggression can be credited to Derald Wing Sue, a professor of counseling psychology at Columbia University. Since 2007, he has written several books on microaggressions, including "Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation." In it, Dr. Sue writes that microaggressions are the everyday slights, indignities, put-downs and insults that members of marginalized groups experience in their day-to-day interactions with individuals who are often unaware that they have engaged in an offensive or demeaning way.

Microaggressions are often discussed in a racial context, but anyone in a marginalized group - be it as a result of their gender, sexual orientation, disability or religion - can experience one.

Microaggressions can be as overt as watching a person of color in a store for possible theft and as subtle as discriminatory comments disguised as compliments.

The first step to addressing a microaggression is to recognize that one has occurred and dissect what message it may be sending, Dr. Sue said. To question where someone is from, for instance, may seem fairly innocuous but implicitly delivers the message that you are an outsider in your own land: "You are not a true American." Subtle actions, like a white person's clutching a purse closer as a darker-skinned person approaches, are nonverbal assumptions of criminality and examples of microaggressions.

While there has been debate about the definition of microaggressions and how they should be addressed, Dr. Sue says their existence is impossible to dispute. "When I talk about the concept of microaggressions to a large audience of people of color and women, I'm not telling them anything new, but it provides them with a language to describe the experiences and the realization that they're not crazy," he said.

Discrimination - no matter how subtle - has consequences. In 2017, the Center for Health Journalism explained that racism and microaggressions lead to worse health, and pointed out that discrimination can negatively influence everything from a target person's eating habits to his or her trust in their physician, and trigger symptoms of trauma. A 2014 study of 405 young adults of color even found that experiencing microaggressions can lead to suicidal thoughts.

For many members of marginalized groups, it is easy to believe that simply growing a thick skin will provide protection from these experiences. However, Dr. Nadal argues that the consequences of microaggressions are real, whether or not you believe yourself to be numb to them.

"Experiencing the spectrum of racism - from microaggressions to systemic oppression to hate violence, may negatively affect people whether someone is aware of it at all," Dr. Nadal said. "If the person who committed the microaggression is in your life, it can always be worth bringing up. In the same way that a family member or friend may hurt you and it takes years to recover, the impact of a microaggression can be long-lasting too."

When discussing microaggressions, people from privileged backgrounds often say marginalized individuals are simply overreacting. Dr. Alisia G.T.T. Tran, an associate professor of counseling and counseling psychology at Arizona State University, disagrees. She says that most people actually ignore and shake off a lot of microaggressions. "They have no choice, they're so common, and you can't fight every battle - but these things can stay with you or build up," she said. She and many other psychologists say that responding to a microaggression can be empowering, but with so many battles, how do you decide which to fight?

To help, Dr. Nadal developed a tool kit called the Guide to Responding to Microaggressions. It lists five questions to ask yourself when weighing the consequences of responding to a microaggression.

If I respond, could my physical safety be in danger?

If I respond, will the person become defensive and will this lead to an argument?

If I respond, how will this affect my relationship with this person (e.g., co-worker, family member, etc.)

If I don't respond, will I regret not saying something?

If I don't respond, does that convey that I accept the behavior or statement?

Diane Goodman, a social justice and diversity consultant, says the process is unfair, but having to decide whether or not to take action is inevitable in today's society. "The emotional labor should not have to fall on people from marginalized groups. In the real world, people are confronted with microaggressions and people need to decide what they want to do."

Before moving forward with confronting the microaggression, she recommends you assess the goals of your response: Do you simply want to be heard? Or are you more interested in educating the other person and letting them know they did something wrong?

Even once you have decided that you can respond to a microaggression, knowing what to say or how to behave can be nerve-racking. In his research on disarming microaggressions, Dr. Sue uses the term " microintervention " to describe the process of confronting a microaggression. "Unless adequately armed with strategies, microaggressions may occur so quickly they are oftentimes over before a counteracting response can be made," he said.

While your response will vary by situation, context and relationship, Dr. Goodman recommends memorizing these three tactics from her list of prepared statements.

Ask for more clarification: "Could you say more about what you mean by that?" "How have you come to think that?"

Separate intent from impact: "I know you didn't realize this, but when you __________ (comment/behavior), it was hurtful/offensive because___________. Instead you could___________ (different language or behavior.)"

Share your own process: "I noticed that you ___________ (comment/behavior). I used to do/say that too, but then I learned____________."

One principle underlying these statements is helping the aggressor understand she or he is not under attack for their comment. "If we want people to hear what we're saying and potentially change their behavior, we have to think about things that will not immediately make them defensive," Dr. Goodman said.

It happens all the time - a friend of yours likes a racist comment on Facebook or a co-worker shares a meme with misogynist undertones. How can you respond when communicating online seems so visible and permanent?

According to research by Robert Eschmann, an assistant professor at Boston University's School of Social Work, the visibility of microaggressions also means you can have like-minded allies step in to respond with you. "When you experience a microaggression when you're by yourself," Dr. Eschmann said, "there is no one else that can validate that experience for you. When you're online, you can have lots of eyes on it and more people that can call it out and say that's wrong."

Another tactic Dr. Nadal suggests is to send links to articles that identify the microaggression. "It can be exhausting to have to explain microaggressions each time you encounter them; however, copying and pasting a link may be a simple tactic to use." After you send the link and call out the microaggression, it is also important to identify when the person you are speaking to is actually open to a conversation.

Dr. Sue reminds us that so much of what happens online are monologues and not dialogues. "To me, responding to microaggressions online are a waste of time, because I don't think - unless I have time to interact with the person on a personal level - I will be able to effect any change," he said. Knowing when to step away and shut off the screen, especially when you sense a dead end, is crucial to self-care, he adds.

Learning to draw boundaries and find support among allies is one of the most important steps in dealing with microaggressions.

For those looking for an immersive experience, one Psychology Today article suggests a process of radical healing - developing pride in your community, sharing stories with people from it and taking action to make changes on a local and political level, reflecting on the challenges of your ancestors and practicing self-care by staying healthy - physically and spiritually.

Self-care, however, can be as simple as having a few friends to discuss common experiences with. Shardé M. Davis, a professor of communication at the University of Connecticut, has studied supportive communication about microaggressions among groups of black women and finds that talking can facilitate the coping process. Although Dr. Davis's study was limited to black women, she believes the spirit of what that represents could easily translate to other groups of people.

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Should you let that comment slide, or address it head on? Is it more harm than it's worth? We can help. For many of us, microaggressions are so commonplace that it seems impossible to tackle them one at a time. Psychologists often compare them to death by a thousand cuts.

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What is a microaggression? 14 things people think are fine to say at work — but are actually racist, sexist, or offensive

Updated

2021-03-01T18:59:14Z

Think before you speak. That's the best way to avoid a microaggression.
Francisco Osorio/Flickr

Two managers at Salesforce have publicly resigned within one month, citing racist microaggressions as a major reason.

Research shows that most American workers have seen or experienced workplace discrimination.

Some of this prejudice comes out in the form of microaggressions, or indirect expressions of racism, sexism, ageism, or ableism.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In less than one month, two employees have publicly resigned from Salesforce, citing discrimination and a culture of microaggressions at the company.

Vivianne Castillo, a former manager in the firm's design research and innovation unit, published her resignation letter on LinkedIn last week, writing that she endured "rampant microaggressions" as a Black woman. The letter comes weeks after a former Salesforce senior manager, Cynthia Perry, also publicly announced her departure from the company.

"I am leaving my job at Salesforce because of countless microaggressions and inequity," Perry wrote on LinkedIn.

The recent news at Salesforce puts a spotlight on microaggressions, or indirect, often unintentional expressions of racism, sexism, ageism, or ableism. They are a form of racism that come out in seemingly innocuous comments by people who might be well-intentioned.

From telling a new female worker that she "looks like a student" to asking a Black colleague about her natural hair, they can make a workplace feel uncomfortable, unsafe, and toxic.

Salesforce is certainly not alone in having a problem with racism. Prejudice, bias, and discrimination at work are a lot more common than many business leaders would like to admit. A 2019 survey by Glassdoor of 1,100 US employees found that 61% of US employees had witnessed or experienced workplace discrimination based on age, race, gender, or LGBTQ identity.

"Because microaggressions are often communicated through language, it is very important to pay attention to how we talk, especially in the workplace and other social institutions like classrooms, courtrooms, and so on," Christine Mallinson, professor of language, literacy, and culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, told Business Insider.

Since microaggressions are so subtle, it's often hard to know if you're committing one or if you're on the receiving end.

"One thing is that they are in a sense ambiguous, so that the recipient is apt to feel vaguely insulted, but since the words look and sound complimentary, on the surface (they're most often positive), she can't rightly feel insulted and doesn't know how to respond," Robin Lakoff, Professor Emerita of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, told Business Insider.

Here are some of the most common microaggressions.

This updated article was originally published in July 2020.

'You're so articulate'

El Nariz/Shutterstock

"When a white colleague tells a colleague of color 'You're so articulate' or 'You speak so well,' the remark suggests that they assumed the person in question would be less articulate — and are surprised to find out they aren't," Mallinson told Business Insider.

Commenting on a black person's language or speaking habits has a complicated history, and this is a problem that African-Americans especially encounter in the workplace or school.

"We (a white-dominant society) expect black folks to be less competent," wrote A. Gordon in The Root. "And, speaking as a white person, when we register surprise at a black individual's articulateness, we also send the not-so-subtle message that that person is part of a group that we don't expect to see sitting at the table, taking on a leadership role."

What to say instead: Nothing. You can commend people on their specific ideas or insights, but commenting on how people speak is unnecessary.

'You're transgender? Wow, you don't look like it at all'

Lynne Sladky/AP

Telling a transgender person that they don't "look trans" might appear to be a compliment.

But trans people like Elliot Wake know that while these people have good intentions, it's an offensive comment that implies being trans isn't desirable.

"(T)hey assume if I'm trans, my ultimate goal must be to look as much like a binary cis male as possible — and that trans masculine folk who don't look like cis men have somehow failed that unstated goal," Wake told Bustle.

It indicates that the speaker feels looking as close as possible to cisgender (those who identify with the gender they were born with) should be what trans people aim for.

"Trans women can be beautiful in our own way without being judged on ridiculous cis beauty standards," Katelyn Burns told Bustle.

What to do instead: Say nothing.

'Oh, sorry, wrong person'

MR. Nattanon Kanchak/Shutterstock

If you're an underrepresented minority, and there's one other person of your identity in the room, there's a chance that the majority group will confuse your names.

"When I started grad school, the intro class was taught by two white women and I was one of two Mexican-Americans in the cohort," one Buzzfeed reader shared. "They constantly called me Maria, the other girl's name. My name is Alejandra and we look nothing alike."

What to say instead: Learn your coworkers' names. It's a pretty basic concept.

'Oh, you're gay? You should meet my friend Ann. She's gay, too!'

Renat Latyshev/Strelka Institute/Flickr

Adi Barreto wrote for The Muse about a few issues she's faced in the workplace as a queer woman in tech.

One of the things she's encountered: that classic suggestion that many well-intentioned straight people pull out for LGBTQ friends and family — offering to set them up with another LGBTQ person they know.

"Just because two people you know have one thing in common, doesn't mean they'd be a match," Barreto wrote. "Yes, there are fewer people we can date, but that doesn't mean we don't have standards in personality type, values, and everything else you care about, too."

Barreto added that this would be like setting up a straight coworker with a random straight person you know of the opposite gender — just because they happen to both have the same sexual orientation.

What to do instead: Say nothing. If your coworker of any sexual orientation wants your help meeting new people, they'll ask you.

'My boss is crazy'

Mikhail Goldenkov/Strelka Institute/Flickr

Calling your female boss "crazy" or "hysterical" has sexist undertones, because these words have a long, problematic history.

"In the past, especially in 19th century Europe, women who had anxiety or who were seen as troublemakers were often diagnosed as being 'hysterical,'" Mallinson told Business Insider.
"The word 'hysterical' comes from the Greek word hystera, meaning uterus, signifying that the so-called disease was specific to women."

So, when you call a woman "crazy," it suggests that her concerns or actions are illogical, rather than the result of critical thinking.

What to say instead: Try to understand your colleague's viewpoint rather than ascribing her actions as illogical. If you still don't agree, you could say: "I don't understand her perspective on this" — then ask her for her insights.

'Where are you actually from?'

Girl Geek Academy/Flickr

Asking someone about their ethnic heritage appears to just be a way to get to know someone.

But for Latinos, Asians, and "people who fall in between the black-white racial binary in the United States," the question gets tiresome, wrote journalist Tanzina Vega in CNN.

"The next time you want to inquire about someone's race, ethnicity or national origin, ask yourself: Why do I want to know?" Vega wrote. "Or better yet, rather than asking anyone 'where are you really from?' try listening — or letting that person ask you a question — instead."

Receiving that question again and again can imply that a person isn't really American or doesn't truly belong in their country, just because of their appearance.

"The wrong here is that the question presupposes that being a person of color is inconsistent with being American," Dr. Ashley Lauren Pennington told Business Insider.

What to say instead: Nothing. If the person in question wants to discuss their identity, they can bring it up at their own discretion.

'The way you've overcome your disability is so inspiring'

Matt Rourke/AP

"Too often do we forget that people with disabilities, too, have to deal with microaggressions on the regular," wrote Wendy Lu, who has a tracheostomy tube, on Bustle. "They can take place in everyday conversations, making them hard to call out unless you want to be looked down upon for making a big deal out of 'nothing.'"

If you have a coworker who has a disability, avoid tropes like telling them their disability is "inspiring," or tip-toeing around it by referring to their disability to a "special need."

"I want to live in a world where we don't have such low expectations of disabled people that we are congratulated for getting out of bed and remembering our own names in the morning," comedian and activist Stella Young said at TEDxSydney.

In other words, you shouldn't be shocked when your coworker with a disability is able to accomplish just as much as their able-bodied peers.

What to do instead: Say nothing.

'Your name is so hard to pronounce'

Girl Geek Academy/Flickr

"The remark suggests that the person in question does not fit in culturally or linguistically, and that their identity is not worth taking time to learn about," Mallinson told Business Insider.

What to say instead: If you can't pronounce a colleague's name, just ask them how to say it. Don't point out that it's foreign or unfamiliar to you.

'I think you're in the wrong room — this is the programmers' meeting'

Sebastian ter Burg/Flickr

Kieran Snyder, now CEO of Textio, told Fast Company about one of her first experiences with microaggressions as a Microsoft employee. She was going to a company lecture on math.

"I walked over a few minutes early, and in the room two men were already seated," Snyder said.

According to Snyder, one of the men saw her and quickly asked if she was looking for a talk on design that was being held nearby. He assumed that, as a woman, Snyder would not be interested or able to go to a math talk.

It appears to just be a helpful suggestion, but it communicates that it's impossible or unlikely that a woman couldn't be an engineer.

What to say instead: Don't assume people don't belong or make them feel as if they're outsiders.

'Do you even know what Snapchat is?'

Evgeny Belikov/Strelka/Flickr

Those who believe that only those in their 20s and 30s could possibly know about memes and Twitter are stereotyping older people.

And while joking about your gray-haired colleague's texting habits seems innocent, age discrimination is a serious problem in many workplaces. In tech, for instance, older professionals said they have problems getting hired despite a litany of past experience.

These sort of innocent comments can lead to, say, older workers not getting new training opportunities, being left out of the workplace social circle, and other signs of illegal age discrimination.

What to do instead: Once again, say nothing.

'Are you an intern? You look so young!'

Mikhail Goldenkov/Strelka Institute/Flickr

"By complementing a woman on her appearance, in a professional setting, you are reinforcing sexist beliefs about women's worth — that first and foremost, women must be attractive, and this is a primary function of their social role," Pennington told Business Insider.

"When an older male colleague tells a junior female colleague 'You look so young' or 'You look like a student,' the comment focuses attention on her appearance rather than on her credentials, and it may subtly undermine her authority on the job," Mallinson told Business Insider.

Remarking on someone's apparent youth also implies that they seem inexperienced or potentially unqualified for their job.

What to say instead: Nothing. There's no reason to comment on a coworker's appearance. If you genuinely want to know their job title, look it up in a company directory.

'Is that your real hair?'

WOCinTech Chat/Flickr

Receiving comments about one's natural hair is a frequent struggle for African-American women in particular. Black women's textured hair is often seen as "less professional" than smooth hair, according to the Perception Institute.

"My cubicle partner is black and has natural hair," an anonymous reader wrote to Buzzfeed. "She has a pretty big afro, and at least once a week someone asks me if I think her hair is unprofessional, if it violates the dress code, or if it distracts me. No, Kathy. Her hair does not make me feel anything. You, however, leaving your desk and interrupting my work to try and start s--t makes me feel things."

For black women, the bias against natural hair results in higher levels of anxiety about their appearance. One in five black women feel socially pressured to straighten their hair for work, which is twice the rate for white women.

What to say instead: Nothing. A person's natural hair, regardless of their ethnicity, should be accepted as professional and workplace-friendly.

(Interrupting) 'Well, actually, I think…'

Strelka/Flickr

Men are nearly three times as likely to interrupt a woman than another man.

The New York Times called men interrupting women "a universal phenomenon." And the kicker is when a man parrots the same idea as the woman he interrupted, receiving all the credit for it.

"I can't even count the number of times I've witnessed a woman being interrupted and talked over by a man, only to hear him later repeat the same ideas she was trying to put forward,"  Grace Ellis told the Times. "I'd say I see this happen … two to three times a week? At least?"

Elizabeth Ames, senior vice president of marketing, alliances, and programs for the Anita Borg Institute, also said this is one of the biggest workplace microaggressions she hears about.

"Another thing we hear a lot is when they share an idea or comment and everyone ignores it, then the male in the room says it and everyone thinks it's the greatest thing," Ames told Fast Company.

What to do instead: Wait for the person to finish their thought. And if you like their idea, give them credit.

'Why do you wear that?'

Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

Those who are Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, or another religion and choose to wear religious head coverings might get overly probing questions at work.

In reality, that one person isn't a representative of their entire religion. If you want to learn more about that religion, you shouldn't ask people while they're just trying to do their job.

Muslim women who wear a hijab, for instance, often say that people ask them "if they're bald underneath" or if someone is "forcing" them to wear a hijab.

"Don't stare. Don't judge. Teach others. Know that I'm not somebody to be saved," wrote an anonymous hijab-wearing woman in Everyday Feminism. "Treat me as you would treat anyone else. That's all you need."

What to do instead: Say nothing. If you're curious about why religious people choose to wear certain articles of clothing, read articles or books by those who do it. Don't go around asking random colleagues about their life choices.

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What is a microaggression? 14 things people think are fine to say at work — but are actually racist, sexist, or offensive

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Microaggressions and unconscious bias are everywhere. We identified some of the most common, and what to say or do instead.

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Learn from Dr. Wing Sue and a few movie clips!

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What is the definition of microaggression?

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"...the underlying messages communicated by their questions or comments are hurtful."

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Watch and reflect.

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"Breathe through your defensiveness..."

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Understanding My Privilege | Sue Borrego | TEDxPasadenaWomen

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Learn about the first female bank president in the US.

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The power of privilege: Tiffany Jana at TEDxRVAWomen

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"I was taught not to see (insert identifier)..."

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Your Privilege Is Showing | Lillian Medville | TEDxBeaconStreet

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Ebony & Emily

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Jamal & Kevin

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"The contrast is between racist and anti-racist."

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How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

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1.Educate
2.Show Up
3.Understand Your Role

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What does it mean to be anti-racist? l GMA

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Tune in to learn about how this manifests in YOUR content area.

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Education Now: Practicing Antiracism in Your School

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What does it mean to be an ally?

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Welcome to the Guide to Allyship.

Think of this guide as one of many starting points in your journey to become a better ally. This guide isn't meant to be comprehensive nor is it perfect. There are people far more versed than I, who have dedicated their life's work to this sort of education.

In light of recent events and tragedies, I've been hearing the word "ally" a lot. Many people want to be an "ally", and even more people are unable to fulfill the duties allyship requires.

I use the word "ally" loosely because I find it overused and often abused by those who label themselves "allies." Despite its current misuse, using a different word would only cause confusion. As you read through this guide, be aware that your definition of "ally" may not be the same as the definition I'll introduce you to.

What's so special about this guide?

There are many great guides out there, and I acknowledge their existence. What's different about this guide is that it's open source (any one can contribute to it) and it doesn't get into specifics: racism, transphobia, gender discrimination, etc. and that's by design.

This guide can't and shouldn't be everything to you. At some point, you need to take responsibility and further your education. When you're done with the guide, please find ways to learn more.

Finally, this is a resource to help anyone considering allyship better understand the pros and cons of what being an ally entails. Allies understand their role in collaboration with people whose lives are affected daily by systemic oppression.

Don't take the responsibility of being an ally lightly.

In the summer of 2016, someone I considered an ally stood by and watched as I, a Black person, was berated by a racist. To make matters worse, I had a conversation with this person earlier in the day about the power allies can wield in situations of discrimination. But when the time came for them to take action, they were more interested in protecting their comfort.

Upset, I couldn't understand what happened. Did the conversation we had not get through? What didn't they step up? Then it dawned on me:
Saying you're an ally is much easier than actually being an ally. Saying you're an ally looks good on paper, especially if you're never questioned about your inaction.
Many self-defined "allies" wear the phrase and ideology like an article of clothing, easily discarded when it's no longer fashionable to wear.

If only those from marginalized and underinvested communities could cast away the identities marking them as targets with such ease.

I noted before that I used the word "ally" loosely. In fact, I personally no longer use the word. However, I do think it's a good starting place for those learning to be better allies. I also believe there's an opportunity to explore a better definition of the word. The best definition of "ally" (that I've found) comes from author Roxane Gay in her article for Marie Claire, "On Making Black Lives Matter." In it, she notes:

Black people do not need allies. We need people to stand up and take on the problems borne of oppression as their own, without remove or distance.

We need people to do this even if they cannot fully understand what it's like to be oppressed for their race or ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, class, religion, or other marker of identity.

We need people to use common sense to figure out how to participate in social justice.

To recap: Being an ally doesn't necessarily mean you fully understand what it feels like to be oppressed. It means you're taking on the struggle as your own.

An individual from an underinvested community cannot easily cast away the weight of their identity (or identities) shaped through oppression on a whim. They carry that weight every single day, for better or for worse. An ally understands that this is a weight that they, too, must be willing to carry and never put down.

Why allies are necessary

Anyone has the potential to be an ally. Allies recognize that though they're not a member of the underinvested and oppressed communities they support, they make a concerted effort to better understand the struggle, every single day.

Because an ally might have more privilege and recognizes said privilege, they are powerful voices alongside oppressed ones.

Being an ally is hard work.

Many would-be allies fear making mistakes that could have them labeled as "-ist" or "-ic" (racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, etc). But as an ally, you're also affected by a system of oppression. This means that as an ally, there is much to unlearn and learn-mistakes are expected. You need to own this as fact and should be willing to embrace the daily work of doing better.
As an ally, you need to own your mistakes and be proactive in your education, every day.
If you refuse to acknowledge that your words and actions are inherently shaped and influenced by systemic oppression, you're setting up yourself to fail.

Lack of self-awareness is not a trait of an ally. You'll be complicit in the oppression of those you intend to help. If you choose not to understand this, but label yourself an "ally", you're essentially a wolf in sheep's clothing. You'll find ways to infiltrate vulnerable communities and wield far more power than someone who is outwardly "-ist" or "-ic" because you're "trusted."

Just as society will not change overnight, neither will you. Here are some important do's and don'ts to consider as you learn, grow, and step into the role of an ally.

The Dos

Do be open to listening

Do be aware of your implicit biases

Do your research to learn more about the history of the struggle in which you are participating

Do the inner work to figure out a way to acknowledge how you participate in oppressive systems

Do the outer work and figure out how to change the oppressive systems

Do use your privilege to amplify (digitally and in-person) historically suppressed voices

Do learn how to listen and accept criticism with grace, even if it's uncomfortable

Do the work every day to learn how to be a better ally

The Don'ts

Do not expect to be taught or shown. Take it upon yourself to use the tools around you to learn and answer your questions

Do not participate for the gold medal in the "Oppression Olympics" (you don't need to compare how your struggle is "just as bad as" a marginalized person's)

Do not behave as though you know best

Do not take credit for the labor of those who are marginalized and did the work before you stepped into the picture

Do not assume that every member of an underinvested community feels oppressed

Contributed by Presley Pizzo. Please credit Presley when referencing this section.

While mistakes are to be expected, what's the best way to go about resolving them?

Note: Parts of this section were originally based on Kayla Reed's (@iKaylaReed) tweet sharing her definition of what it means to be an ally. It's another great definition that'll help you follow along with this section!

Imagine your privilege is a heavy boot that keeps you from feeling when you're stepping on someone's feet or they're stepping on yours, while oppressed people have only sandals. If someone says, "ouch! You're stepping on my toes," how do you react?

Because we can think more clearly about stepping on someone's literal toes than we usually do when it comes to oppression, the problems with many common responses are obvious:

Centering yourself: "I can't believe you think I'm a toe-stepper! I'm a good person!"

Denial that others' experiences are different from your own: "I don't mind when people step on my toes."

Derailing: "Some people don't even have toes, why aren't we talking about them instead?"

Refusal to center the impacted: "All toes matter!"

Tone policing: "I'd move my foot if you'd ask me more nicely."

Denial that the problem is fixable: "Toes getting stepped on is a fact of life. You'll be better off when you accept that."

Victim blaming: "You shouldn't have been walking around people with boots!"

Withdrawing: "I thought you wanted my help, but I guess not. I'll just go home."

In reality, most of us naturally know the right way to react when we step on someone's toes, and we can use that to help us learn how to react when we commit microaggressions.

Center the impacted: "Are you okay?"

Listen to their response and learn.

Apologize for the impact, even though you didn't intend it: "I'm sorry!"

Stop the instance: move your foot

Stop the pattern: be careful where you step in the future. When it comes to oppression, we want to actually change the "footwear" to get rid of privilege and oppression (sneakers for all!), but metaphors can only stretch so far!

Reacting in a fair and equitable way isn't about learning arbitrary rules or being a doormat. Rather, it's about restoring and maintaining dignity and respect for everyone involved - both the person who is hurt, and you. Still, it's hard to remember in the moment, because these issues are so charged in our society. As such, it may be helpful to reframe the situation so that you don't feel defensive.

You may have noticed it's easier to handle being corrected about something you didn't know if you're grateful for and even open to the opportunity to learn rather than embarrassed to have been wrong. Being able to let go of your ego is an incredibly important skill to develop.

Try starting with "Thanks for letting me know" to put yourself in a better frame of mind. If after you say that, you need to take some time to think about the situation, that's fine, too. Just remember that this isn't about changing the other person's frame of mind. They're allowed to be upset about being oppressed.

You've made a mistake and you want to apologize. Where do you begin?

What is an apology?

Before you can apologize, you need to know what an apology is.

Apologies are social contracts that hold you accountable. They tell others that you are taking responsibility, are open to the consequences of your actions, and plan to do better in the future.

Bad apologies are performances meant to protect pride and ego. They exist to make the apologizer feel and look good, while defending their intent.

Good apologies are heartfelt acts that let go of pride and ego. They center the pain of the impacted, regardless of the apologizer's intent.

Think of pain as a gradient-it doesn't have to be extreme to have a significant impact. Accidentally misgendering someone can cause them pain. Stepping on someone' toes can cause them pain.

Attributes of a good apology

Apologies aren't a magic fix and won't solve mistakes of the past, but there are a few attributes that make for a good apology.

Timely
Delivered at the right moment in the right place and time.

Consider the context in which you want to apologize and how that might affect not only you but also the person receiving your apology.

Context can include your current mental state (are you feeling defensive? Upset? Nervous? Calm?), the physical space you're in (private or public area), or the apology's medium (phone, online, text message, in person).

Respects boundaries
Given when the person receiving the apology consents to it.

Your desire to give an apology right now doesn't mean that the receiver is ready for it. Some people need space to process, and you should respect that. When they're willing to reconnect, if at all, they may let you know (or they may not).

Self-aware
Know that the act of apology may not lead to the closure you expect.

The apology receiver may choose to never interact with you again. Either after you give an apology or before you give it. You have to find a way to make peace with that. Do not pressure or shame someone into accepting your apology.

One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is learning how to create closure within rather than expecting other people to give it to us.

Reflective
Signals that the apologizer is taking full responsibility for their actions.

Apologizing means letting go of your ego to show that you care about someone and want to make things right. Good apologies center the person being apologized to. They also take direct ownership of the actions that caused pain by naming them clearly.

This Guide is open-source, meaning that anyone can contribute. I'm a queer Black femme and my voice should not be the only one shaping this guide.

If you identify as a member of an underinvested community and want to contribute, please submit a pull-request on this GitHub repository.

If you aren't a GitHub user and would still like to contribute, send me an email at guidetoallyship [to] byamelie [dot] co.

This Guide is a labor of love and provided as a shareable resource for you to use. Please make sure to credit back to the site if you decide to use any content here.

And if you've found this Guide helpful, feel free to show your support and buy me a cup of tea.

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An open-source guide for anyone interested in becoming an ally.

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Try practicing YOUR skills in these scenarios...

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Racial Discrimination | What Would You Do? | WWYD

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"What Would You Do?" reveals how people behave when they think no one is watching by using hidden cameras to record real reactions to thought-provoking scena...

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Notes from a team of educators to help others.

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Working Assumptions*

Privilege and prejudice are two sides of the same coin; as I am elevated, someone else is marginalized or oppressed.

It is critical to distinguish between prejudice and racism: racism = prejudice + power + privilege.

I will never see the world through the eyes of a Woman of Color; my attempts to make comparisons of exclusion will never be on par with what People of Color might face in certain contexts.

As a woman, I can relate to gender inequality. In many ways, oppression cuts across social identifiers, but experiences of oppression can be different and need to be recognized.

My White identity includes white privilege as an aspect of my whiteness. It is not all, but it is a part of what it means to be white, and I have to be willing to accept this reality.

Solidarity does not mean everyone thinks alike, but multiracial solidarity is geared toward points of intersection, not a false universalism or false unity. ( Peter McLaren)

I do not expect People of Color to thank me or to acknowledge my antiracist work. I consider it my moral responsibility and will not look for validation from People of Color. I am the one who benefits most from multiculturalism.

Individual accountability is what changes cultures; the way I see myself is intimately connected to way I see others. If I don't understand what it means to be White, or heterosexual, or upper- middle class, how can I ever hope to understand another colleague or student?

If I am called a racist, it is not the end of the conversation. It is the beginning.

I recognize that there will be "slippage" ( Enid Lee) in my work, meaning that sometimes I will make mistakes in the process of learning how to dismantle racism. Yet I know I have to pick myself up and keep going, and it will be easier each time.

When I begin to feel complacent, thinking that I have "done" multiculturalism, or if I feel the need to list my multicultural credentials, then I know I still have a lot of work to do.

Actions

Explore my own whiteness; become firmly rooted and aware of my own ethnic identity; think about what it means to be White in my school.

See myself as diverse; make sure that "multicultural" is not synonymous with "other than White."

Distinguish between individual and group identity.

Understand the social, political, and historical role of teaching:

I will teach the way I was taught unless I learn another way.

Teachers are not neutral; teaching strategies and methods are not objective.

We all speak from a particular standpoint based on our experiences.

There is no essential, observable single truth; rather, there are multiple truths.

Everything is not relative, but rather we recognize that cognition - the way we think and learn - is dependent upon experience and context.

Understand and implement multicultural teaching strategies; design a curriculum that is explicitly antiracist; be committed to raising issues of identity development in my classroom.

Learn the distinction between speaking for someone and speaking with someone; be committed to dialogue, as opposed to discussion, when appropriate.

Recognize the difference between intentions and outcomes:

Schools are full of people "who without intending to create racial hurdles or hostility, manage to create a fair amount of both. That they cannot see what they have done is due partly to the fact that they meant no harm and partly to a disinclination to examine whether the assumptions they hold dear are in accord with reality." ( Ellis Cose)

Practice "distinguishing" behavior ( Randolph Carter): interrupting prejudice and/or racism, advocating for social justice, being an ally, using my privilege to dismantle systems of oppression.

* This list was inspired by Beverly Daniel Tatum's working assumptions that she used to begin all of her courses on racial identity development.

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Working Assumptions* Privilege and prejudice are two sides of the same coin; as I am elevated, someone else is marginalized or oppressed. It is critical to distinguish between prejudice and racism: racism = prejudice + power + privilege.

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Demetria Poe is applauding Delta Air Lines for "taking a stance" against racism and discrimination after she was harassed by her seatmate during a recent flight from Minneapolis to Washington, D.C.

Poe told USA TODAY Wednesday that a white woman appeared to purposefully swap her American flag face mask for a Blue Lives Matter mask once realizing her seat assignment was next to Poe, a Black woman. Blue Lives Matter supports police officers and is a counter movement to Black Lives Matter, which aims to eradicate white supremacy and has organized nationwide protests in response to police violence against Black people.

"That woman was trying to entice me into an argument because there was no need for her to flip that mask in my presence," Poe said. "She didn't do it for anyone else. It was as if she was making a statement and wanted me to know."
American Airlines temporarily bans passenger who refused to wear a face mask
More: Former Navy SEAL from Bin Laden raid banned by Delta for not complying with mask rule

Morgan Durrant, spokesperson for Delta Airlines credited the Reagan Washington National Airport team with a thoughtful response..

Poe, 25, shared her experience in a viral Facebook post Tuesday. Despite the harassment, she was pleased with how Delta handled the incident and said she "will only fly Delta" after the company stood in solidarity with her and gifted her a Black Lives Matter pin along with a seat upgrade on her return flight.

Here's what happened, as told by Poe:

'I'm sitting here in the face of racism'

Despite feeling "uncomfortable" and "fearful," Poe said she didn't engage with her neighbor. "I feel like in that situation they do want to see a Black woman get angry," Poe told USA TODAY.

But, according to Poe, the woman initiated dialogue by saying, "I support blue lives because I support our officers."

"I explained to her blue lives do not exist," Poe recalled, adding that she remained "very calm" throughout the conversation. "The life of an officer exists, but there is no such thing as a blue life and that statement is nothing but a rebuttal to the fact that BLM has been disregarded time after time," she wrote in her Facebook post.

"Us saying black lives matter don't mean all other lives don't matter," she said. "We are saying if all lives matter, 'Why is it justifiable for anyone to slaughter Black people?' "

Poe, a kindergarten teacher in Minnesota, said she pointed to the unjust deaths of Philando Castile and George Floyd, who were killed by Minnesota officers. But Poe said the woman continued to spew inflammatory remarks, including, "Floyd didn't die from suffocation. He was on drugs." ( Autopsy reports stated Floyd died from asphyxiation from sustained pressure after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.)

"It's so ironic because I got on this flight to go to the 'Commitment March,' " Poe told USA TODAY, referring to the " Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks" in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28 where demonstrators demanded long-lasting change to end systemic racism.

She continued: "I'm marching for something that my grandparents had to march for, and I'm sitting here in the face of racism once again. I can't escape it. Now I'm having someone who is trying to test my humanity and my history all in one breath."

Poe said she was "grateful" that fellow passengers came to her defense and flight attendants offered to relocate the woman.

"I felt the genuine and sincere concern the flight attendants had for me and the people around me," Poe said. "I was shocked. I was happy, but I was still fearful. Living in Minnesota, I have seen how things get blown up. I just really wanted to get off the flight."

Delta Air Lines responds in support of Poe

The company replied to Poe's viral Facebook post, writing, "When we say Black lives matter, we mean it. You matter to us, Demetria."

Poe said Delta Air Lines went above and beyond to rectify the situation by upgrading her seat on her return flight back to Minneapolis. Poe said she also received a gift bag filled with goodies, including a Black Lives Matter pin engraved with Delta Air Line's logo.

"This is a major corporation saying that Black lives matter," Poe told USA TODAY. "It was very heartwarming. I cried because I look at God using me for the movement."

On Facebook, Poe added, "It's time and situations like these were these companies need to take a stance."
Keep your hands clean: Contributing: Morgan Hines Delta adding in-flight hand sanitizing stations during pandemic
"The actions by our people in the air and on the ground are what really sets us apart as a company bringing humanity to air travel," Durrant told USA TODAY.

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'You matter to us': Delta Air Lines upgrades Black traveler harassed by white flyer

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Demetria Poe is applauding Delta Air Lines for "taking a stance" against racism and discrimination after she was harassed by her seatmate during a recent flight from Minneapolis to Washington, D.C. Poe told USA TODAY Wednesday that a white woman appeared to purposefully swap her American flag face mask for a Blue Lives Matter mask once realizing her seat assignment was next to Poe, a Black woman.

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Anti-racism is a process of actively identifying and opposing racism. The goal of anti-racism is to challenge racism and actively change the policies, behaviors, and beliefs that perpetuate racist ideas and actions.

Anti-racism is rooted in action. It is about taking steps to eliminate racism at the individual, institutional, and structural levels. It is not a new concept, but the Black Lives Matter movement has helped increase the focus on the importance of anti-racism.

Why Anti-Racism Is Important

The problem with systemic racism is that it is all around us. We are born into it. It is deeply embedded in our culture and our communities including our schools, the justice system, the government, and hospitals. It is so pervasive that people often don't even notice how policies, institutions, and systems disproportionately favor some while disadvantaging others.

People often mistakenly believe that simply being "not racist" is enough to eliminate racial discrimination. The problem with this perspective is that White people are often unaware of their own unconscious biases. People often don't fully understand the institutional and structural issues that uphold White supremacy and contribute to racist behaviors, attitudes, and policies.

Saying "but I'm not racist" also allows people to avoid participating in anti-racism. It's a way of saying "that's not my problem" while failing to acknowledge that even people who are not racist still reap the benefits of a system that is biased against other people.

Another problem is that research has found that people who believe that they are not racist are often much more prejudiced than they think they are. One study found that people who described themselves as believing strongly in racial equality tended to have significant implicit biases against Black people.

In his book How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi, a leading scholar on race and racial discrimination, examines many of the individual attitudes held by both White and non-White people that play a role in sustaining racism. It is impossible, Kendi notes, to be "not racist" if you hold negative attitudes about entire groups of people based on their race, ethnicity, or cultural heritage.

As Kendi explains in How to Be an Antiracist: "the only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it - and then dismantle it."

Understand What Racism Is

People often think of racism solely in terms of individual actions. The word may conjure up images of people in White cloaks or neo-Nazi's with shaved heads. While both represent racism, it is important to realize that racial discrimination is not always so overt.

Believing that racism is always so direct blinds us from recognizing and examining our own biased beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.

For example, Merriam-Webster dictionary defined racism as, "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race." In the wake of the George Floyd protests, editors of the dictionary decided to update the definition in response to one reader's request to more clearly include the role that systemic racism plays.

Kendi suggests that a racist is "One who is supporting a racist policy through their actions or inaction or expressing a racist idea."

The Effects of Racism

Anti-racism also involves working to understand how race and racism affect people. Research has shown that racism has wide-reaching negative effects on individuals, families, communities, and entire societies. Racism has an impact in areas you may not have considered including healthcare, education, employment, and housing.

Economic Disparities

Racism influences economic status for a number of reasons. Racialized individuals are discriminated against in educational and employment access. For example:

White households are on average 13 times wealthier than Black households.

One 2016 report found that while 72% of White households owned their home, only 44% of Black households and 45% of Latino households owned their homes.

Black bachelor's degree-holders earn significantly less than White bachelor's degree holders.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2021 the median pay for White workers was about 23% higher than it was for Black and Latino workers.

Employment Inequality

Ethnic minorities are less likely to be offered jobs compared to their White counterparts. Black workers are twice as likely to be unemployed as White workers. Statistics also show that Black employees are more likely to be underemployed in comparison to their educational and skill levels.

Incarceration Disparities

Statistics show that there are significant disparities in how the criminal justice and legal system treats White vs. non-White defendants. People who belong to an ethnic minority receive longer, harsher sentences. For example, Black men receive almost 20% longer sentences than White defendants for the same crimes.

Healthcare Inequality

Racial discrimination has a detrimental impact on health for a number of reasons. Research has shown that racism has negative effects on physical and mental health. Studies have also found that BIPOC are less likely to receive adequate healthcare, both because of reduced access to healthcare and because of poor patient experiences.

Understanding these issues as well as how systemic racism contributes to such disparities is an essential part of anti-racism. Redlining, which is the systematic denial of services, is one reason for the significant disparities in homeownership. Racial minorities are less likely to be offered financial services including loans and insurance. They are also less likely to be shown available homes for sale.

They are less likely to receive job offers and are frequently paid less than their non-racialized counterparts for the same work. All of these factors - as well as many others - contribute to the social and economic disparities that are indicative of widespread systemic racism.

Examine Your Own Biases

Anti-racism requires looking at your own beliefs and actions critically. Research has shown that even people who support racial equality often unknowingly hold racist attitudes. This discrepancy is often explained by the existence of implicit biases, or attitudes that are largely unconscious but nevertheless influence behavior. For example:

While people may consciously support racial justice, they can still hold subtle beliefs about different races, often based upon internalized stereotypes.

Data from the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has found that while nearly 70% of White respondents claim that they have no preference between Black and White, almost the same percentage of respondents showed some type of preference toward Whites on the test.

Such biases can have an impact on behavior. One study found that having implicit racial biases made doctors less likely to recommend appropriate treatment to Black patients.

These unconscious, automatic associations are a result of how the brain operates. In order to make sense of a complex world that inundates us with information, our brains like to create categories and shortcuts that help us make sense of the world. The problem is that these shortcuts can lead us astray, causing bias and making it difficult to think critically.

If you are interested in learning more about your own implicit biases, you can take the Implicit Association Test free through Project Implicit.

How to Practice

Kendi explains that anti-racism requires the ability to examine your own biases and engage in critical thinking. The events that helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement have helped many see the critical need for anti-racism.

Learn About Racism

Do the research to learn about the history and effects of racism. Learn how racism is still happening today and how it shapes our social, economic, and political landscape. There are many great ways to learn more about the history and effects of racism including books and online resources, including:

Listen to what racial justice advocates have to say about racist behaviors and policies. Remember that just because you have never experienced or witnessed these things doesn't mean that they don't happen. Reflect on things you may have done or believed that might have been rooted in racism.

Also recognize that race intersects with many other aspects of a person's identity including sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, and disability. Not all people are impacted by race in the same way. Black women, for example, are affected by both racial discrimination and sexism. And Black and Indigenous people often experience discrimination differently than other people of color.

Listening to these experiences and thinking about how policies may affect people differently can help people adopt an anti-racist stance.

Participate

Take part in events that are designed to combat racial injustice. Steps you can take to help make a difference include:

Volunteering for and donating to organizations that fight injustice

Participating in social movements

Amplifying minority voices

Voting on issues in your community

Getting involved in politics such as serving on committees or running for office

Discuss Racism

Talk to friends and family about the effects of racism. Call out racism when you see it. Posting your support on social media can be helpful, but real conversations with the people in your life can often be more influential and effective.

Talk to Your Kids

Opening up a conversation about race and racism with your kids is an essential part of raising kids to be anti-racist. Staying away from conversations about race and skin color can lead kids to think that such topics are bad or taboo. It also leaves kids to draw their own conclusions based on the often stereotyped representations they see in the media.

Adding multicultural books to your child's reading list can be helpful. Books can also be helpful for guiding conversations about difficult topics such as slavery and segregation.

Seek Diversity

One way to combat racist beliefs is to seek diversity in your life. It's hard to gain a new perspective if all you do is spend time with people who look like you, think like you, and act like you. It is also hard to learn about other people if the media you consume only reflects people who are similar to you.

One study found that simply living in areas with greater diversity cause people to be less racist and more tolerant.﻿﻿ This phenomenon, known as passive tolerance, happens because people are exposed to more positive examples. Rather than basing beliefs on racial stereotypes, people gain a more representative and realistic perspective through direct experience.

Impact of Anti-Racism

Because anti-racism is an active process, it has the potential to have an impact on the individual, community, and societal levels.

Some of the potential effects include:

Reducing obstacles to employment

Improving educational experience and attainment

Reducing racial disparities within the criminal justice system

Improving interventions for youth who are at risk

Increasing access to community resources

Encouraging social and political participation

Reducing bullying, hate crimes, and racially motivated violence

Electing officials to office who are committed to anti-racism

A Word From Verywell

Anti-racism requires reflection and action. It involves looking not only at your own beliefs and behaviors, but also fighting racism on the interpersonal, institutional, and structural levels. Being anti-racist is a conscious choice to make choices and engage in actions that support equality.

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Anti-racism is a process of actively identifying and opposing racism. The goal of anti-racism is to challenge racism and actively change the policies, behaviors, and beliefs that perpetuate racist ideas and actions. Anti-racism is rooted in action. It is about taking steps to eliminate racism at the individual, institutional, and structural levels.

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Speak up and out in your own circles.

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How to be anti-racist: Speak out in your own circles | CNN

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You can fight racism by being the change you want to see, understanding microaggressions, speaking up against racist remarks in your own circles and listening to your black friends.

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he hamlet of White Sulphur Springs, two hours north-west of New York City, tumbles toward the rolling foothills of the Catskill mountains off New York state route 52 in rural, verdant Sullivan county. The first white settlers, drawn by the dense hemlock forest, set up sawmills; later, dairy farms and tanneries were the area's main economic drivers. But now and for the past hundred or so years, this bucolic wedge of New York countryside relies on tourism.

Nowadays in White Sulphur Springs, there's one inn, a gardening store, a small grocery that doubles as the local post office, a quaint used bookstore, a Methodist church, and a Dollar General.

And, in 2020, a couple of dozen Trump signs. In a town of 377 people, where 351 of those people are white, you can't help but notice the Trump flags, even if you're just driving through.

***

Sheila Parks says this proliferation of insignia displaying the US president's name might be her fault, at least inadvertently. Back in late spring, Sheila decided that she was going to put a Black Lives Matter sign and a Biden For President sign in the front lawn of the house where she lives with her husband, Jimmy, and their two teenage sons. Theirs is the only house in White Sulphur Springs with a Biden or a Black Lives Matter sign. Their home is right before the main stretch of town. You can't miss it.

"All the Trump signs came up after," she says. "It was in response."

Sheila is Catholic but was raised in a Jewish hotel, where her parents worked, in nearby Swan Lake. She remembers guests with tattooed numbers from the Holocaust concentration camps. Her mother grew up in the Bronx, the daughter of Irish immigrants, and Sheila herself has traveled the world and lived in multiple places. She's also an army veteran.

She credits those experiences with broadening her perspective. "We were raised as people who, no matter your race or economic position, everyone should interact equally," Sheila says. "Obviously it wasn't that way when I grew up here in the 70s and 80s. They were still using the N-word, you didn't see people of color in positions of power, and it's pretty much the same way now."

In 2016, Sheila supported Hillary Clinton, but she didn't feel like she needed to put a sign out. Then, well, Trump won. This time around, she wanted to display a small act of resistance, but she was nervous. White Sulphur Springs is a conservative place -you'll also see one or two Confederate flags if you drive through - and her husband's family are Republicans all the way down, though Jimmy doesn't count himself in that number. She was also concerned about consequences for her children, one of whom is especially supportive of progressive causes on social media.

But that was never going to stop her. She wanted to show that people who didn't cleave to the town orthodoxy of "supporting the NRA, Trump, and hating AOC" wouldn't be intimidated. And she wanted to show her kids that it's important to stand up for what you believe in.

All the Trump signs came up after. It was in response.

Sheila Parks

Plus, it's not like Sheila is totally without support. Elderly Mrs Hogencamp, across the street, couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the signs. She supports Biden and BLM, but she doesn't want the drama that comes with advertising that. Same goes for the Parks' neighbors, a Latino family who moved to White Sulphur Springs about a year ago. And Sheila's friend in town, Christina, is also supportive (her last name is being withheld at her request).

Christina is Puerto Rican and her husband is Black. He has been nervous since the pandemic began because when he wears a mask, people can't see him smile when he goes to the supermarket, and that's the best way to show you're not an angry Black man. When their 13-year-old daughter saw the video of George Floyd being killed by police officers, she was devastated. "She was like, 'Mom, I don't want my dad and my brother to end up this way'," Christina remembers. "To be a parent and have to express to your child, 'I can't promise you it won't happen, but I'm here for you' ..." she trails off. "To see Sheila's signs just gave me a little sense of hope. I reached out to her literally in tears. Because it's hard."

People drive by the Parks' house and yell things like "Biden sucks!" or "Biden's going down!" (Occasionally there are more supportive gestures.) But a lot of politically opinionated people in White Sulphur Springs feel like they can't talk to Sheila - if they'd even want to. She's the town liberal, a role she seems to take some pride in. Same goes for her eldest son, 16-year-old Dylan. ("He's very opinionated," says one Trump-supporting woman, who happens to be Dylan's aunt. " Very opinionated.") For his part, Dylan "can wholeheartedly say I don't feel like I belong in this town at all".

No, the individual who's borne the brunt of the backlash is Jimmy Parks, who has lived in White Sulphur Springs for 54 years. Jimmy is like a lot of people in the US: his political identity is not neatly divisible along party lines. "I just want a good country," he says. "I got kids." He's voted Republican in the past, but he's colorfully unapologetic about his support for Biden and Black Lives Matter, and as for the Trump administration: "They don't care, they're racist people."

Racist people who just want that Chevrolet, apple-pie lifestyle. It's not that way any more, man, and really at the end of the day, it never was

Jimmy Parks

Whereas most of the Trump supporters in town dismiss Sheila out of hand, they're befuddled by Jimmy. He seems a lot like them: white, working class, from the area and never really left. His family goes way back here. There are people in White Sulphur Springs who simply don't believe that Jimmy believes what he believes. He's been approached at the store, confronted by cousins and strangers, all questioning why he has those signs on his lawn.

"A lot of people in these small towns, they don't understand about equality, how much diversity there is in this country," Jimmy says. As for whether they ever can, he's not all that optimistic. "There's so many people in this country who are truly set in their ways," he reasons. "Racist people who just want that Chevrolet, apple-pie lifestyle. It's not that way any more, man, and really at the end of the day, it never was."

***

April Kissel put up her Trump signs out of political loyalty, not in response to Sheila. She lives with her husband, Joe, in one of the first houses on the road into White Sulphur Springs. Joe is also a Trump fan. He watches Fox Nation all night, and was in the US national guard for nearly two decades after joining in 1969.

The Kissels have had four Trump 2020 placards on their lawn for the past month, but April says she's always advertised her political support, even for local elections. She's not trying to start a dialogue, but "to help other people think a little bit". Especially the people driving through. "It's a small town; we all know each other," April says. Which means: where everybody stands politically.

April is Jimmy's first cousin, but despite the fact the Kissels and the Parks live half a mile down the road from each other, the families don't interact much. "The Biden sign is fine, but I don't agree with the Black Lives Matter sign at all," April says. "Black lives aren't the only lives that matter. It has nothing to do with politics."

Paul Lindsley feels much the same way. "Whether Black, Spanish, white, Chinese - all lives matter," he says when I find him sitting on his front porch, with a beautiful view of the hills, smoking a cigarette in a green wool overshirt. Paul is "a hunter and a shooter", and he thinks Joe Biden is going to take his guns away. His house is next door to the Parks', and he's actually related to Jimmy, too - a distant cousin. As is Judy Bradley, who lives across the street, next door to Mrs Hogencamp. When I first drive out to White Sulphur Springs, the Bradleys have two Trump lawn signs, an All Lives Matter sign, and a fire department sign. Judy's not interested in talking. Two weeks later there's a "Trump 2020: No More Bullshit" flag flying in their yard.

It's not the most ostentatious display in White Sulphur Springs, however. That honor goes to Ed Roth, whose house is bedecked with three large flags: a thin blue/red line flag for policemen and firefighters; a flag depicting Trump standing proudly atop a panzer tank, assault rifle in hand, with an explosion in the background and a bald eagle soaring into battle; and, right in the middle, raised above the other two, an American flag. From the detached garage out back fly two more banners: A "No More Bullshit" flag and a Gadsden flag, the yellow banner depicting a coiled rattlesnake above the words "don't tread on me". (The Gadsden flag was originally designed during the American revolution, but has subsequently been embraced by Confederate war veterans' groups, white supremacist groups, and the American Tea Party, lending it the dual symbolism of revolution and racial animosity.)

When he speaks, Roth has to hold his thumb to the hole in his throat, which was cut out on his 50th birthday. The cancer is on his tongue now. "I've beat it twice," he says. "Having trouble beating it this time."

To him, flying flags is all about respect. He used to be a Democrat, but he left the party a long time ago. He says he'd hang a Confederate sign if he had one. "They believed in what they were fighting for, just like the north believed in what we were fighting for," he explains. "It was the same thing."

Not everyone is motivated by grievance politics, though. At the far end of town flies a bright blue Keep America Great banner, a gift to logger Dale Klein from his dying grandmother. Klein fashioned a makeshift pole out of two-by-fours painted blue and stapled together to raise the flag in her honor.

Dale is friendly. He refers to strangers as "buddy". When I find him, he's wearing a racing cap and a T-shirt that reads "Intercourse, PA", which is a real place in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. The makeshift pole where the Keep America Great flag hangs will be replaced by a 30ft aluminum pole as soon as Dale and his coworker find the time to pour concrete for a base.

As for the current set-up, "we got a few compliments here and there, but that's about it", Dale says. "Never got no complaints."

If there's any self-censorship of political expression in White Sulphur Springs, it isn't only exhibited by supporters of Democratic causes. When Alan Werlau hung a Trump banner from his front deck, his neighbor expressed support, but said he couldn't put one out himself because he works in real estate and is concerned it would harm his business.

***

The Trump signs just keep going up in White Sulphur Springs, from supporters who run a typological gamut of rural whiteness: a tatted-up biker who lives in an old hotel, a bottle-blond housewife with hot pink nails, men in rocking chairs with cigarettes and American light lagers. They're showing support, or acting out of fear or anger, or honoring some long-lost ideal. Mostly they're affirming an identity.

What there isn't much of is dialogue, in a place you might expect there to be some. Everyone knows each other, after all. The state assembly district that includes White Sulphur Springs has been represented by a Democrat who has run unopposed since 2014. The district voted for Obama twice before swinging to Trump in 2016.

As for the 2020 election, Jimmy Parks knows its importance - the pandemic, and its attendant threat to voter turnout, has only heightened the stakes for him. "That sumbitch ain't gonna stop me from voting," he says, referring to Trump.

The prospect of the US president winning re-election sends his mind to a scary place, though. Or at least an uncomfortable one. "I've been peeing in my backyard and living off the land my whole life thinking this is the greatest country in the world," Jimmy says. But if Trump were to upset the odds again, "I think I'd want to move," he says despairingly. "But where would I go?"

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The family whose Black Lives Matter sign shook their conservative town

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he hamlet of White Sulphur Springs, two hours north-west of New York City, tumbles toward the rolling foothills of the Catskill mountains off New York state route 52 in rural, verdant Sullivan county. The first white settlers, drawn by the dense hemlock forest, set up sawmills; later, dairy farms and tanneries were the area's main economic drivers.

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BETHEL, Ohio - Donna Henson sat on her front porch last weekend, as she always does when the weather is nice, and watched dozens of her neighbors walk by with bats in their hands or guns strapped to their sides.

They were married couples, friends and relatives, young people and old. All heading up Union Street, toward the center of town.

Henson, 78, figured they'd heard the same rumors she had, the ones about busloads of people coming to her town to join small Black Lives Matter protests on Sunday and Monday. Word was hundreds could arrive from Cincinnati or Columbus or Detroit.

Henson was afraid, and she guessed her neighbors were, too. If they didn't do something, if they didn't show up armed and ready, the unrest they'd seen on TV for weeks on far off American streets could come to Bethel, a village of 2,800.

"Everybody had a gun," Henson said Tuesday, recalling the scene. "Like a cowboy show."

A movement that had swept into many of the nation's big cities was about to reach a small town, a rural enclave where the message from demonstrators would be heard not as a wake-up call or a rallying cry but as a challenge to a way of life.

In Bethel, peaceful protesters would be seen by some as no different from looters and rioters. They represented chaos, the problems of other people from other places.

The protesters call for police reform, decry racism and criticize President Donald Trump. Many from Bethel support the police, say racism isn't a problem here and fly "Trump 2020" flags in their front yards.

"We just want it to stop," said Brad McCall, a carpenter and longtime resident who joined counterprotesters. "We got a peaceful town. We don't want our town destroyed."

As it turned out, there were no busloads of protesters, there was no invasion by outsiders. Police estimated 80 to 100 people showed up to support Black Lives Matter, including the organizer, a 36-year-old substitute teacher from Bethel who makes arts and crafts.

They were met by the much larger crowd Henson had seen from her front porch. Hundreds of them, counterprotesters and curious townspeople, many on motorcycles and brandishing weapons.

Some yelled at the protesters to leave, blocked their way when they were marching and pushed and shoved them to the ground. A man with a Confederate flag covering his face ripped up one of the protesters' signs while the crowd cheered.

"I felt like we were walking a gantlet," said Lois Dennis, 63, who attended the demonstration with her daughter.

Images of the confrontation went viral on social media, in part because few had seen anything quite like it since the protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis began almost a month ago.

Suddenly, tiny Bethel was another act in an unfolding national drama. Critics called the town a racist backwater. Supporters praised residents for standing up to ignorant protesters. Townspeople, for the most part, were stunned by all the attention.

Before this, Bethel, about 30 miles east of Cincinnati, was known mostly as the home of Ulysses S. Grant's father, though the nation's 18th president and commander of Union forces during the Civil War lived here only a short time. Bethel also was a stop on the Underground Railroad, a bit of history some protesters said made it a logical choice for a Black Lives Matter rally.

History didn't matter much last weekend. Counterprotesters said they didn't understand why anyone would want to protest police brutality against African Americans in a small town like this one.

Bethel is 97% white, according to the U.S. Census, and almost 0.5% of the population identifies as Black.

"Why bring it to Bethel?" McCall said. "Why not go to Chicago? Look how many Black people are getting killed in Chicago. Black people are not getting killed in Bethel."

'They don't want change'

Sharon Middleton listened Tuesday afternoon as McCall spoke in a parking lot not far from the site of the protests the previous days. Middleton was born and raised in Bethel and still lives in the house she grew up in.

She said the demonstrations were a mistake but not for the same reason McCall did.

"It's not a tolerant community," she said.

Middleton, who is white, has been living for years with Jon Richardson, an African American man. She said most people don't give her trouble about it, but some do, including her mother, who hasn't spoken to her in months.

When she read about the Black Lives Matter protest on Facebook, Middleton figured the protest organizers didn't know her town as well as she did. "They were naïve," she said. "They think they can put their Black Lives Matter signs up and change people's minds."

Richardson said he went to the protest and took some photos, but he said he wasn't going to carry a sign. Since only a handful of the protesters were people of color, Richardson said, he would've stood out and been an easy target if things got ugly.

"I live here," he said.

Richardson said he saw neighbors who never carry guns carrying them for the first time at the protest. "A lot of it is foolishness," he said.

For Middleton, the guns and the anger are all about the fear of change. She said Bethel hasn't changed much in her lifetime and that's fine with most of its residents. "They don't want change," she said.

Richardson put his arm around Middleton and kissed her cheek.

"People are just people," she said. "He just has a little more melanin in his skin."

'A sad day for Bethel'

Chris Karnes hasn't lived in Bethel as long as Middleton, but he said he's more hopeful the town's residents can find common ground.

He moved here with his wife, a native, about 10 years ago, and he likes the place. He said his neighbors are friendly, even if they don't share his more liberal politics. "It's Trump country," he said Tuesday. "You have to learn to live with people's differences."

Karnes wasn't encouraged by the response to the protests. He saw people he knew, some better than others, swearing at protesters and trying to intimidate them. He saw punches thrown at a man who did nothing but carry a sign.

"You live in a small community like this, you get to know a lot of people," he said. "I don't know. It was a sad day for Bethel."

As he spoke, Wayne Sulken, who's lived in Bethel for almost 30 years, parked his pickup and got out. He listened to Karnes for a few minutes before speaking.

"I know it got ugly," he said. "But there were thugs on both sides."

Sulken said he went to the protests Sunday and Monday, bringing his pistol Monday, not to cause trouble but to keep the peace. He said that's why most residents showed up: They had heard outsiders were coming to stir things up.

"We didn't know what was going to happen," Sulken said. "Are our homes going to get burned down? Are our stores going to get looted? We heard the rumors they were going to bus them in."

Sulken told Karnes he thought outsiders were behind the protests, namely antifa, a loose-knit anti-fascist group Trump has blamed for protests and unrest. Whoever was behind it, Sulken said, Bethel residents didn't want any part of it.

Karnes and Sulken were on opposite sides of the protest, but they agreed on one thing Tuesday afternoon. Sort of.

"The worst thing is the impression the world is getting from Bethel," Karnes said. "I'd say it was the actions of a few violent individuals."

"On both sides," Sulken said.

"Ahhhhh," Karnes said, shaking his head. "I thought you might say that."

Before parting ways, the two men shook hands. Karnes walked toward his home a few blocks away and Sulken climbed back into his pickup.

Hope for more conversations, less anger

As evening approached Tuesday, Bethel Police Chief Steve Teague responded to a noise complaint about a man with a bullhorn across the street from the Grant Memorial building, where protesters had gathered on previous days.

He found an African American man shouting, "Black lives matter" on the sidewalk. He told him about the complaint and asked him to stop.

Then the two sat down on the steps with a few other Bethel residents and talked about what was happening.

"Everybody was respectful," Teague said. "We welcome all of them, as long as they're peaceful."

He said most have been. Despite the images circulating on social media, Teague said, most interactions were nonviolent and only a few counterprotesters got physical with demonstrators.

Teague, a former jet engine designer at GE, has been chief in Bethel for a year. The past few days are unlike anything he's faced on the job, and he knows it doesn't look good for the town he's called home for the past six years.

He got emails and texts from people he's never met from all over the country, saying, "I can't believe your town is racist."

"Those people have a 15-second clip, and they're judging our entire town," Teague said. "That's just not right."

A few blocks away, Donna Henson was on her front porch again, watching evening fall on an empty Union Street. It was another beautiful afternoon.

She sat next to her boyfriend, Mike Luck, surrounded by flower boxes and an American flag flapping in the breeze. Her dog, a Pekingese named Goldie, roamed the porch.
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Henson said she's watched the protests on TV for weeks and struggles to understand why everyone has been so upset for so long. She's lived in Clermont County her whole life and, until now, the protests and unrest had seemed distant, like someone else's problem.
Contributing: Erin Glynn and Cameron Knight Follow reporter Dan Horn on Twitter: @danhornnews
"I've never been around Black people," she said. "I just wish everybody could get along."

She said she was appalled by the video of George Floyd's death, but she wants the protests to end. She wants her town to get back to normal, back to the way it's always been.

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'It got ugly': What happened when Black Lives Matter protests came to small town Ohio

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BETHEL, Ohio - Donna Henson sat on her front porch last weekend, as she always does when the weather is nice, and watched dozens of her neighbors walk by with bats in their hands or guns strapped to their sides. They were married couples, friends and relatives, young people and old.

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The Lunch Table Group worked through this together in the summer!

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There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.
- James Baldwin

The Council of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law is proud to announce our participation in a "21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge ©," and we invite LEL Section members to join us. The 21-Day Challenge concept was conceived several years ago by diversity expert Eddie Moore, Jr. to advance deeper understandings of the intersections of race, power, privilege, supremacy and oppression. We are grateful to him for publicly sharing and encouraging others to use this concept as an educational tool.

Our Section will begin its 21-Day Challenge on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 based on our own syllabus, which was created for the Section. The goal of the Challenge is to assist each of us to become more aware, compassionate, constructive, engaged people in the quest for racial equity. It transcends our roles as lawyers. It is, of course, completely voluntary to do, and participation in the Challenge shall not be construed as agreement with every word of every assignment nor a commitment by any person to a particular professional position or strategy. Further, participants are free to opt out of participating along the way. There is no grade at the end of the Challenge.

The Challenge invites participants to complete a syllabus of 21 short assignments (typically taking 15-30 minutes), over 21 consecutive days, that include readings, videos or podcasts. It has been intentionally crafted to focus on the Black American experience. The assignments seek to expose participants to perspectives on elements of Black history, identity and culture, and to the Black community's experience of racism in America. Even this focus on Black Americans cannot possibly highlight all of the diversity of experiences and opinions within the Black community itself, much less substitute for learnings about any other community of color. This syllabus is but an introduction to what we hope will be a rewarding journey that extends far beyond the limits of this project.

If you plan to participate in the Challenge and would like to add your name to the Section's list of colleagues who are doing so, please send a message to the Section office.
21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge is the registered copyright of America & Moore, LLC. 2014.

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Syllabus: 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge ©

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The Equal Opportunity in the Legal Profession Committee deals with affording all qualified individuals equal access and opportunity to practice law, especially labor and employment law, regardless of race, creed, color, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or any other arbitrary distinction.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson says racism is an insufficient term for the systemic oppression of Black people in America. Instead, she prefers to refer to America as having a "caste" system.

Wilkerson describes caste an artificial hierarchy that helps determine standing and respect, assumptions of beauty and competence, and even who gets benefit of the doubt and access to resources.

"Caste focuses in on the infrastructure of our divisions and the rankings, whereas race is the metric that's used to determine one's place in that," she says.

Wilkerson notes that the concept of caste has been around for thousands of years: "[Caste] predates the idea of race, which is ... only 400 or 500 years old, dating back to the transatlantic slave trade."

Caste, she adds, "is the term that is more precise [than race]; it is more comprehensive, and it gets at the underlying infrastructure that often we cannot see, but that is there undergirding much of the inequality and injustices and disparities that we live with in this country."

Wilkerson's 2010 book,The Warmth of Other Suns, focused on the great migration of African Americans from the South to the North during the 20th century. In her new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Wilkerson says that acknowledging America's caste system deepens our understanding of what Black people are up against in the United States.

Interview Highlights
On hearing a Nigerian-born playwright say that there are no Black people in Africa
It's so shocking to our ears, because, of course, we say that there is an entire subcontinent of people who we would view as Black, but what she was saying was that until you come to the United States, they themselves do not see themselves as Black, they are Igbo ... or they are Yoruba or whatever it is that they are in terms of their ethnicity and identity.

It is only when they enter into a multilayered caste structure ... a hierarchy such as this, do they then have to think of themselves as Black. But back where they are from, they do not have to think of themselves as Black, because Black is not the primary metric of determining one's identity.
On how being "white" is an American innovation
It's an innovation that is only several hundred years old, dating back to the time of the transatlantic slave trade. And that is because before that time, there were humans on the land wherever they happened to be on this planet, and because of the way people were living on the land, they were merely who they were.

They were Irish or they were German or they were Polish or Hungarian, and only [thought of themselves as white] after the transatlantic slave trade, only after people who had been spread out all over the world converged in this one space - the New World - to create a new country, a new culture where all of these people were then interacting and having to figure out how they were going to relate to one another.

That is when you have a caste system that emerges, a caste system that emerges that instantly relegates those who were brought in to be enslaved ... to the very bottom of the caste system, and then elevated those who looked like those who had who created the caste system - meaning those who were British and Western Europeans - at the very top of the caste system. And anyone who entered that caste system had to then navigate and figure out how were they [were] going to manage, how are they [were] going to survive and succeed in this system. And also upon arrival, discovering that they were assigned to a particular category, whether they [wished] to be in it or not.

That means that until arriving here, people who were Irish, people who were Hungarian, people who were Polish would not have identified themselves back in the 19th century as being white, but only in connection to the gradations and ranking that occurred and was created in the United States - that is where the designation of white, the designation of Black and those in between came to have meaning.
On where people of color who are not Black fit into the caste system
There was a tremendous churning at the beginning of the 20th century of people who were arriving in these undetermined or middle groups that did not fit neatly into the bipolar structure that America had created. And at the beginning of the 20th century, there were petitions to the Supreme Court, petitions to the government, for clarity about where they would fit in. And they were often petitioning to be admitted to the dominant caste.

One of the examples, a Japanese immigrant petitioned to qualify for being Caucasian because he said, "My skin is actually whiter than many people that I identified as white in America. I should qualify to be considered Caucasian." And his petition was rejected by the Supreme Court. But these are all examples of the long-standing uncertainties about who fits where when you have a caste system that is bipolar [Black and white], such as the one that was created here.
On the surprising origin of the term "Caucasian"

There was a physician, a German physician in the 18th century who had this obsession with skulls, and he collected these skulls from all over the world and his effort to determine who was supreme in humanity. So he had skulls from all over the world, and he identified the most beautiful skulls as having come from the area around the Caucasus Mountains. And as a result of that, because they were, in his view, so beautiful, he decided to identify this skull as Caucasian clearly, and to name the group to which he belonged as Caucasians.

In other words, this was the group that was the most beautiful and perfect of all groups of humanity. This was a group that he presumed himself to belong to - though he was German. And this was the group that he described as European, and thus the word "Caucasian" actually refers to people who come from the Caucasus Mountains.

Now, what's fascinating about that as well is that the very people who were from that region of the world actually are among those who had the most difficult time gaining entry to the United States as citizens as white in the early 20th century, because they did not qualify based upon the preferences for those who were from Northern European ancestry.
On how the U.S. used immigration as a legal way to maintain the caste system
Curating the population means deciding who gets to be a part of it and where they fit in upon entry, and so there is a tremendous effort at the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century, with the rise of eugenics and this growing belief in the gradations of humankind that they wanted to keep the population closer to what it had been at the founding of the country. And so there was an effort to restrict who could come into the country if they were not of Western European descent.

Tremendous back and forth, tremendous efforts on the part of eugenicists who then held sway in the popular imagination, tremendous effort to keep out people who we now would view as part of the dominant group. It was a form of curating who could become a part of the United States and where they would fit in, and they used immigration laws to determine who would be able to get access to that dominant group.
On why the Nazis studied American Jim Crow laws
I have to say that my focus was not initially on the Nazis themselves, but rather on how Germany has worked in the decades after the war to reconcile its history. But the deeper that I got, and the more that I looked into this, the deeper I searched, I discovered these connections that I would never have imagined.

It turned out that German eugenicists were in continuing dialogue with American eugenicists. Books by American eugenicists were big sellers in Germany in the years leading up to the Third Reich. And then, of course, the Nazis needed no one to teach them how to hate. But what they did was they sent researchers to study America's Jim Crow laws. They actually sent researchers to America to study how Americans had subjugated African Americans, what would be considered the subordinated caste. And they actually debated and consulted American law as they were devising the Nuremberg Laws and as they were looking at those laws in the United States.

They couldn't understand why, from their perspective, the group that they had identified as the subordinated caste was not recognized in the United States in the same way. So that was the unusual interconnectedness that I never would have imagined.
On the Nazi reaction to America's "one drop rule," which maintained that a person with any amount of Black blood would be considered Black
That idea of the one drop rule, that was viewed as too extreme to [the Nazis]. It was stunning to hear that. ... The Nazis, in trying to create their own caste system, what could be considered a caste system, went to great lengths to really think hard about who should qualify as Aryan, because they felt that they wanted to include as many people as they possibly could, ironically enough, and as they looked at the United States, it did not make sense to them that a single drop of Black blood would make someone Black, that they could not and did not accept. And in defining and creating their own hierarchy, they ended up coming up with a different configuration that actually encompassed more people into the Aryan side than would have been considered than the equivalent would have been in the United States.

Sam Briger and Thea Chaloner produced and edited the audio of this interview. Bridget Bentz and Molly Seavy-Nesper adapted it for the Web.

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It's More Than Racism: Isabel Wilkerson Explains America's 'Caste' System

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson says racism is an insufficient term for the systemic oppression of Black people in America. Instead, she prefers to refer to America as having a "caste" system. Wilkerson describes caste an artificial hierarchy that helps determine standing and respect, assumptions of beauty and competence, and even who gets benefit of the doubt and access to resources.

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Recognizing white privilege begins with truly understanding the term itself.

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Barbie and Nikki Discuss Racism | Barbie Vlogs | @Barbie

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For the historians!

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Mark lopez

director, designer & animator

Mark Lopez is an award-winning director of motion design who has refined his craft at world-class motion studios on both coasts of the U.S. alongside some of the most creative minds in the country. Mark specializes in illustrated 2D mixed media storytelling with an eye for composition. Silkworm is Mark's studio practice, based in Austin, Texas, and collaborating all over the world.

RICHARD ROTHSTEIN

WRITER & NARRATOR

Richard Rothstein is a distinguished fellow of the Economic Policy Institute, a senior fellow, emeritus, at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and a senior fellow of the Haas Institute at the University of California (Berkeley). Richard's book, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America , was designated one of ten finalists on the National Book Awards' long list for the best nonfiction book of 2017.

YOUTOOCANWOO

MUSIC, SOUND DESIGN & MIX

YouTooCanWoo is a an artist-owned music and audio production company based in Brooklyn, New York. YouTooCanWoo's holistic approach to audio blurs the lines between the conventional roles of music and sound design, blending genres, influences, and historical context to create truly immersive experiences. They have been responsible for the production and mixing of MGMT's debut EP Time to Pretend, creating the sound identity of Spotify, MTV, and NBCUniversal; the sound design for official SXSW Film Festival selection Mateo. as well as the original music, sound design and mix in ads for major brands like Apple, Google, Hershey's, and Pepsi.

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Short Film based on the book, The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein. The forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy.

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If you have ever attended any session where I have presented and the topic of diversity has come up, you know I am quick to tell attendees that I do not give out diverse book lists. Here is my reason why: there are no diverse texts. It is in the transaction (Rosenblatt, 1986) between the reader an

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Before:

Preparing for a tough conversation about identity can improve your communication skills and increase your confidence. While you cannot control how someone may respond to you, going into a discussion with some understanding of what you think, how you feel, and what you hope will come from it can help you manage your expectations. After thinking it through, you may decide that you no longer want to have the conversation, and that's okay.

To anchor yourself going into these discussions, consider these questions:

What is your motivation for having the conversation?

What is your degree of comfort with talking about race, police brutality, and white supremacy?

How does your experience as an LGBTQ person inform your point of view?

What aspects of the subject do you find challenging?

What research might help you in communicating your viewpoint?

What are your assumptions about the other person's understanding?

What environment and time do you think will be the safest to ask someone to engage in a conversation with you?

What are the ground rules for the conversation? Examples include: one person speaks at a time, using "I" statements to communicate from your own experiences, and not making assumptions about others' experiences.

What is your plan if the conversation reaches a point where you no longer feel safe? This can include making alternative arrangements for housing, food, or transportation in advance.

Do you need help organizing your thoughts? If so, try reaching out to someone you trust and ask them to practice. You can also have a conversation with yourself, either out loud or by writing it down.

Thinking through these questions in advance can lay the foundation for a productive conversation. If you would find it helpful to have moral support throughout the conversation, invite someone you both know to be present during the discussion.

If this is your first time discussing your sexual orientation or gender identity with them, you may want to reference The Trevor Project's Coming Out: A Handbook for LGBTQ Young People and our Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth.

During:

Focus on your experience

Upon entering the conversation, consider communicating any ground rules that might help to create a safe space for you to express yourself. If these ground rules are not respected, or the discussion has reached a point where it is no longer productive or safe for your well-being, consider putting your safety plan into action and ending the conversation.

As the conversation plays out, you may fundamentally disagree on certain subjective ideas. Depending on your goal for the conversation, that can be healthy and conducive to learning from each other. But remember: you are the expert about your experience, and they're the expert about theirs. If someone questions or denies realities of your Black or LGBTQ experience, that is in no way a reflection of the validity of your experience. Two differing experiences can both be true and valid at the same time, even among people who share similar identities.

If the discussion veers off course, or if the other person steers the conversation off-topic, remember your goals and try to return their attention back to the original topic. Or, you can end the conversation if you wish. Remember, this discussion is a choice, not an obligation.

When making your points, try to be clear and use examples when possible. It's always helpful to be an active and engaged listener when the other person is speaking. At different points in the conversation, you may feel a variety of emotions - remember to breathe! This range of emotions is normal, and it's healthy as long as you feel safe.

A productive conversation about lived experiences should feel less like a debate than an exchange of ideas. The important thing is that one or both of you feels more informed, empathetic, or seen as the discussion ends. It's okay to end the conversation without it feeling "complete" - as with many conversations around identity, this will just be the beginning of a long process of understanding. Some conversations may not feel "productive" in the moment, but after reflection, you may realize that they were actually helpful. Don't put pressure on yourself to make sure that the conversation was "effective" - you are doing the best that you can!

After:

Reflect on the outcome

How did the actual conversation compare to the goals you set beforehand?

Were you able to successfully follow the boundaries of the conversation you established beforehand?

What do you wish you would have talked about that you didn't?

How do you think you can best follow up to explore the conversation further?

After you've had time to reflect, allow this experience to inform future intersectional conversations. Modeling this approach to these difficult discussions will help others approach intersectionality in their lived experiences, and have a positive ripple effect.

For additional ways to care for yourself as a Black LGBTQ young person or to learn how you can support Black LGBTQ youth, check out our article: Supporting Black LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.

If you need support at any point, The Trevor Project is here for you, 24/7, and for free. Visit TheTrevorProject.org/Help any time to connect to a trained crisis counselor via phone, chat, or text.
Adapted from a Trevor blog post by Kendra Gaunt (she/they)
If you're not Black, but you are interested in engaging in conversations about the intersection of race and LGBTQ identities, here's how to do so while maintaining active and authentic allyship:

Do your research. Though you may think that asking your Black friends to share their lived experience is creating space for them, it is not the job of Black people to educate you on the racial injustices they face. Proactively seek out resources that allow you to engage in meaningful dialogue with Black people on their lived experiences, so that you can fill in the gaps of your understanding.

Get uncomfortable. At certain points in the conversation, you may be told you are wrong, or even that your opinion is harmful. This may make you feel uncomfortable, and it's okay to acknowledge that and learn from the experience. This work is required as you learn how to be an ally, and unlearn some of the assumptions and biases you hold about race.

Hold yourself accountable. Everyone has conscious and unconscious bias. A big part of being an ally is examining how yours creates or reinforces harmful conditions for Black people. With this knowledge, consider the role that you or anyone from your community plays in shaping the lived experience of Black people.

Listen. Open yourself up to understanding without the desire to be heard. When someone approaches you to have a conversation regarding race and how that intersects with their other identities, they are coming from a vulnerable place. Respect their experience even if their perspectives do not align with your own.

Take action. Think about the ways you can use your privilege, personal platform, money, time, and access to actively support all Black people. Use your voice to uplift the voices of Black people, educate others, support Black businesses, creators, and organizers. And don't forget to vote!

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Black and LGBTQ: Approaching Intersectional Conversations - The Trevor Project

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Before: Preparing for a tough conversation about identity can improve your communication skills and increase your confidence. While you cannot control how someone may respond to you, going into a discussion with some understanding of what you think, how you feel, and what you hope will come from it can help you manage your expectations.