As a White Person, Who Genuinely Wants to Help My Fellow Human Beings, What Can I do?

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

What can I, a single person, do to help? What would be meaningful? How do I help bring about lasting change in our society? How can I be an ally? I’ve asked myself these questions over and over again.

Here is what I have come up with so far. The first step is education, I need to learn more about the issues, and the history behind institutional racism, and injustice. So I started reading, because that is what I was taught growing up, if you want to learn about something find a book and read. ( I didn’t grow up with the internet and “the google”.) And I watched videos, because that is the new way to learn. There is so much out there, though you do have to search and dig a little. I am open to suggestions if anyone has them for me.

One of my go tos for learning and inspiration is TED. On IDEAS.TED.COM under the We Humans tab I found a great, thought provoking article titled ‘Why we need to call out casual racism’, by Luvvie Ajayi. I want to highlight one point from the article, of the many, that I took away .

This is the starting point to me answering the above questions. Acknowledging my privilege. Being mindful on a daily basis of my privilege. When I first started reading about white privilege I got a little defensive. I’m not rich, I grew up in a working class family, my Dad worked his ass off doing construction and raising seven kids (though the latter was self inflicted). I work full time and pick up side hustles so I can afford to live, and not just get by. I don’t feel privileged. But that is not what it is about. Privilege is about me getting opportunities solely because I’m white. Not because of my talent and skills, because the color of my skin.

“We need to admit that some of us had a head start and aren’t just flourishing on our strength alone. Our privileges are the things not within our control that push us forward and move us ahead from that starting line. Acknowledging them does not mean you are admitting to doing something to purposefully contribute to someone else’s oppression or marginalization. It means you recognize that some part of your identity puts you in a better position than others,”

Luvvie Ajayi, in the article, ‘Why we need to call out casual racism’.

My privilege means I can drive home from work and not worry about being pulled over by the police because of my skin color. It means I have never worried that when I applied for a job that I would be denied because of my skin color. It means I can walk in a store and not have my motives questioned based on my skin color. The list goes on and on. That is privilege.

In my quest to become a better person everyday and to help others I now have two concrete steps to start with:

1. Education. Learn about the issues, research, read, watch, talk to the people who are impacted on a daily basis.
2. Acknowledge and be mindful of my privilege. Do not take it for granted. Do not use it to harm others.

My journey is just beginning, I know as I learn more my list will grow, and I will continue to share what I find.

You can read Luvvie Ajayi’s article here, https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-to-call-out-casual-racism/

I am not affiliated with TED, I have found their videos and articles to be an amazing source of inspiration and education, and I do not know the author Luvvie Ajayi, though she is now on my list of “people I hope I get to meet and have lunch with someday.”