Anti-Racism

Home > Ethnic and Cultural Studies > Racism > Anti-Racism

Studies personal and collective actions that can be taken to combat racism and promote equality.

Definitions and Key Concepts: Understanding the definitions and key concepts of racism, privilege, oppression, systemic racism, and intersectionality is crucial to learning about anti-racism.
Historical Context: Learning about the history of racism, such as slavery, colonization, and segregation, helps individuals to contextualize current social and political issues.
Implicit Bias: Understanding unconscious or implicit biases and how they impact actions and decision-making is essential to anti-racism work.
White Privilege: Acknowledging the existence of white privilege and its effects on marginalized communities is an important part of anti-racism.
Microaggressions: Identifying and understanding microaggressions, subtle and often unintentional insults or slights directed towards marginalized groups, is essential in anti-racism work.
Allyship: Learning how to be an ally and work towards dismantling racism through support, education, and action is important in anti-racism work.
Intersectionality: Acknowledging the intersections of identities and how various forms of oppression, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism, can overlap and compound is necessary in anti-racism work.
Community Organizing: Understanding the importance of community organizing and activism to achieve systemic change is an important aspect of anti-racism work.
Conflict Resolution: Learning how to constructively navigate conflicts that arise when engaging in anti-racism work is important in avoiding harmful behaviors and maintaining positive relationships.
Self-Reflection: Engaging in self-reflection and consistently examining one's own biases and actions is necessary in anti-racism work.
"Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups."
"Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate actions which are intended to provide equal opportunities for all people on both an individual and a systemic level."
"It can be engaged in by the acknowledgment of personal privileges, confronting acts as well as systems of racial discrimination and/or working to change personal racial biases."
"Major contemporary anti-racism efforts include the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and workplace anti-racism."