For my advocacy project, I will be focussing on anti-racism. Anti-racism is the act of continually pursuing equality for all races by unlearning racist ideals in your mind and addressing racism in your personal environment. I am hoping to make a “beginner’s guide” to anti-racism where I go over a brief history of the United States’ relationship with different races and ethnicities. I also plan to provide strategies for unlearning white supremacist ideas and racial tropes. There will be further information such as books, essays, and documentaries provided as well.
I think this an important time to address anti-racism especially because systemic racism and other long-standing animosities towards people of color are currently being addressed in the media. Largely, these ideas and discussions are entering the American critical consciousness and it’s imperative that they are properly understood. The goal of my advocacy project is to encourage the audience to objectively look at how they think about race and begin (or continue) to make changes to their thinking. The audience should also be motivated to continue learning about marginalized communities beyond the scope of my project.
While I think that white people reading and educating themselves about racial issues is very crucial, my target audience is people of color (POC) because it is very beneficial for us, in particular, to decolonial our minds. I think they can be easily persuaded as well. People of color often internalize the racist ideas that we are taught, many of which can have a negative effect on our self-image or self-worth. Deconinalizing our minds can also help us end racism against other POC in our minds and build solidary between other racial groups. It should be noted that anyone can perpetuate white supremacist ideas, even people of color. White people are the secondary audience because they definitely need to be aware of the histories of people of color and they should be aware of how their whiteness benefits them.
There are several motivations that people of color have when it comes to achieving equality. Most people of color believe that issues such as systemic racism or colorism are products of racist institutions. They have an idea of how oppression and racial dynamics work in this country. I can use this understanding to appeal to the different oppressions that each group faces. One motivation that some people of color have is POC solidary which is the idea that as a collective, people of color can undermine and combat racism. This is a highly contested idea, but I know that some are interested in cultivating unity among the marginalized. I could appeal to these groups by helping them root out the perpetuated racist ideals within their community. Another motivation is helping people of color create generational wealth. I can appeal to the individuals who support this idea by providing mutual aid organizations that support funding for POC students’ education or funding school districts directly.
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source: https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/905515398/not-racist-is-not-enough-putting-in-the-work-to-be-anti-racist