Antiracism is about whiteness

The most well-meaning white people didn’t want harm against me to continue, but they didn’t know how they contributed or how whiteness affected them.

“Certainly, whites must learn to listen and validate the stories shared with them by BIPOC. Undoubtedly, they need to learn to share power and at times follow the lead of BIPOC. Unquestionably, they need to pay attention to their attitudes, microaggressions and unconscious biases. But at the same time, white people need to better understand themselves and the impact that whiteness has on them.”—Drick Boyd, Disrupting Whiteness

Drick Boyd’s words above lingered with me when I read Disrupting Whiteness. Boyd enlightened me to see that antiracism wasn’t just about keeping BIPOC from harm but allowing white folks to see whiteness as affecting them and oppressing them. Antiracism is about whiteness and its impact on all of us, not just making sure racism doesn’t happen.

For a long time, I considered antiracism to be centered on helping white people understand my experience. I expected that when I shared personally about my experience with racism and the harm I’ve faced that even suspicious white people would come to understand the importance of it. I thought, faced with the evidence of oppression, surely followers of Jesus, who came to set the captives free and liberate the oppressed, would be moved by the spirit to join the fight against white supremacy. But what I found was that my personal witness wasn’t enough. The most well-meaning white people didn’t want harm against me to continue, but they didn’t know how they contributed or how whiteness affected them.

It isn’t as if stopping harm against BIPOC isn’t part of antiracist work, it is. We must interrupt harm wherever we see it. We need to advocate for laws that lessen racism. We must raise consciousness of racist harm and educate ourselves and others about it. But we also need to tackle the source of that deadly racial animosity, which is whiteness.

Whiteness doesn’t mean white people, but rather the power that is in the white-skinned majority. It’s not reducible to individual white experiences, but rather, is expressed in the collective. Some have listed out characteristics of white supremacy in hopes of shining a light on what may seem like seemingly fundamental parts of our society. Whiteness is hard to perceive because it is the water we swim in; so like a fish may not perceive itself as wet, we often (BIPOC and white folks alike) do not perceive that we are experiencing it and are surrounded by it.

In general, we have approached confronting whiteness through individual, organizational, and systemic means. Through personal relationships, those willing and wanting to see whiteness in and around them can become transformed agents against racism. Organizations that are willing can change their structures and their policies, as well. Even societies that want to confront whiteness can change their laws and even aspects of their culture. I have hope that all of these things can happen for those who are willing to change.

But becoming willing is the most challenging part, certainly, there are challenges after that, but the first of acknowledging a problem and wanting to solve it is the biggest hurdle I have encountered. For individuals, they must see how whiteness affects them, for organizations, their stakeholders must, and for society, our leaders must. Without the alliance and partnership of these groups, confronting and ending whiteness is a fool’s errand.

So how do we collect that willingness, I believe it must be internally motivated. That doesn’t mean that the only way people can become opponents of whiteness is through individual, internal transformation, but it does mean that if you want to lead yourself, an organization, or a society to that change, you need to work on changing yourself and confronting whiteness within you.

I am afraid that without a willingness to change and grow, there aren’t enough lecture halls, books, or consultants to help us change. For most of us, we won’t be agents of change when it comes to confronting whiteness. But we will be influenced by how our organizations and society change. But for our organizations and our society to change, their leaders need to. This is why Christian nationalists are so fearful of curricula in schools that address things like transphobia and racism. Because of those structures change, so will our society.

Leaders have to want to change. They can’t just want the optics of changing, they actually want to be transformed. How does that willingness happen? The most common way I have encountered people attempting is through personal relationships. Many suggest through personal relationships and stories, leaders can change and grow, and in turn, so can their organizations and society as a whole. I believe this is an effective way to transform ourselves, too. I have been changed this way, but I have also failed at changing others this way. So what option is left when personal relationships fail to change leaders? Where do we turn when personal transformation doesn’t occur as a result of personal relationships?

We turn to powers that are not material. We turn to the Spirit. We turn to God. Whiteness is a spiritual force and power. It is a sin that covers everything in our society. So we need a spiritual confrontation to address it, and we need a spiritual comfort to be a balm to those of us who are tired of fighting. Spiritual solutions are sustainable because they not only don’t demand our labor and expectation, they allow us to find our own source of hope and freedom from God. They help us set boundaries, as well. They help us transcend our pain while also giving us hope of imminent change as well.

I think this is what Jesus meant when he told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We don’t need to be responsible for our enemies nor do we need to single-handedly end our persecution, rather, when they do not want to repent, we simply pray for their repentance, trusting that forces greater than we are at work.

Prayer for and loving our enemies does not mean communing with them. It is appropriate to set a boundary and to leave organizations when our leaders won’t change. But hope isn’t lost after that. People can change but they may need forces greater than ourselves to do so. Whiteness is a scourge that is often more powerful than our willingness to confront it. Thus, we need divine intervention for such changes to happen. We need the power of God and the comfort of God’s spirit to confront whiteness and transform ourselves, our organizations, and our societies.