Anti-Racism Plan

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year! Are we still allowed to say that 3 weeks into the year? What a year it's been already!

The end of a year, and a start of a new one usually brings a lot of reflection of the past "me", as well as planning the ideal "me" I want to be in the New Year. Owning a small business also means a lot of critical thinking about my business, about where I want to put my time and effort, and what I need to be spending my time on.

For my business I created a year plan, a six month plan and monthly plans. Another typical New Years resolution of mine was to be healthier. To ensure I stuck to it, I made a do-able exercise plan, with realistic eating habits I wanted to tackle! Organised, right?!

Another New Years resolutions is to be anti-racist and to try to give myself the education that my school system failed to. To educate myself on history, how to be more anti-racist, and to have it in the forefront of my mind.

I'd made plans for my business, and all my personal resolutions, so it was only natural to make a realistic anti-racism plan that I could stick to! And, as it can be something that people don't know where to begin, I thought I'd share it with you.

We can't learn everything in one week. Anti-racism is a marathon, not a sprint. So, I've given myself a little longer for books as (although I like to buy loads of books) I don't read as much as I'd like to.

If you're new to term 'anti-racism', here's a quick video to start with when it comes to understanding the difference between being not-racist vs anti-racist: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zs9n2v4

"Anti-racists are constantly looking around to say, what tools do I have available to make it clear that this [racism] is not acceptable?"

Without further ado, my anti-racism learning plan:

JANUARY 2021

Book: Natives by Akala

Watch: Whose Vote Counts, Explained - 3 part series (Netflix)

FEBRUARY & MARCH 2021

Course: Rachel Cargle - DoTheWork - A free 30 day course (free)

Watch: Small Axe: Mangrove

Watch: An Introduction to Environmental Racism - Live Event shared & saved on IG

APRIL & MAY 2021

Book: Me & White Supremacy - Layla F Saad

Watch: Racism - A History (BBC) on DailyMotion - 3 part series

JUNE 2021

Book: Sister Outsider - Audre Lorde

This is my simple six month plan for learning more about systemic racism within society, our systems and the world. I want to keep it simple, as I know that when I get stuck into different books, shows and documentaries I'll start to add more things to watch, more books to read and more podcasts to listen to. This simple plan will grow and morph. As I am interested in sustainability and environmentalism, a lot of the influencers I follow (and have shared below) also talk a lot about the intersection with this.

Here's a few other resources that I've found --

Diversifying your reading list -- Non-Fiction:

• Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Renni Eddo-Lodge

• How to be Antiracist - Ibram X Kendi

• Dark Days - James Baldwin

• Good Immigrant - Nikesh Shukla

Diversifying your reading list -- Fiction:

• Noughts & Crosses - Malorie Blackman

• The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

• Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo

Podcasts:

• Yikes Podcast

• About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge

• 1619 - The New York Times

• Witness Black History - BBC

• Slay In Your Lane - A Podcast

Diversifying your Instagram feed:

• @MikaeLaloach

• @AjaBarber

• @IntersectionalEnvironmentalist

• @GreenGirlLeah

• @ToriTsui_

Actions:

• Start an anti-racism zoom with your pals once a week (or once a fortnight, or once a month if that's what's manageable)

• Begin to critically think about comments from your friends and family that make you feel icky and why they feel icky

• Call out icky comments you hear friends / family saying

• Add posts on social media that you want to research more to a saved folder to go back to when you have to research more

• Find an accountability buddy

• If you can afford it, give back to charities working towards systemic change

All of these lists are non-exhaustive. I hope if you've been thinking about anti-racism in your life, this can help in a small way.

Lots of love,

Mayen