ICYMI

Sharing my personal PSA (again)

Hey friends,

For more than 10 years I’ve been a racial justice educator… and figuring out the healthiest ways for me to embody that mission. As I’ve been reflecting on this work, I find myself coming back to two ideas:

•Centering Black people in antiracism provides a better education for everyone.

•Our antiracism education can be a joyful experience.

I’ve done a lot of work to incorporate these ideas into my approach when giving a lecture, workshop, interview, etc but I want to do a better job of doing that here.

When I first started doing antiracism work, I centered the education, feelings and outcomes of white people. And I always left tired and unsure of whether or not anything meaningful had taken place after that outpouring of energy.

Over time I realized that I was far more interested in talking to Black people about our experience of racism and what to do about it, than trying to talk white people out of perpetuating racism. Then I realized, they were not mutually exclusive goals. The more I affirmed the experiences of Black women, the more I realized everyone was experiencing a far deeper sense of learning.

And that’s what I mean by “centering Black people”. For the foreseeable future, this space is going to be talking about antiracism to the people who experience racism. Because we deserve.

And I need to laugh. I need to laugh at the ridiculous of white supremacy. Sometimes this work is trauma-filled. I just don’t believe it must always be trauma filled in order to be meaningful. Here we laugh at the ridiculousness of white supremacy.

Now, of course I have lots of caveats, but the most important is this: These ideas are about *my* approach to antiracism. Im not suggesting that anyone who does it differently is wrong or that this way is better. Im just sharing what works for *me* and what you can expect from this space.

I’ll probably do this imperfectly (is there any other way?) But I’ll be here trying.

A FEW MORE THINGS FOR YOU THIS WEEK…

This post by artist Joy Oladokun made me FEEL some kind of way.

My love and respect for Brittney Cooper aka Professor Crunk runs deep, and this video is worth your time. Trust me.

I’m still thinking about last week’s gathering of my Patreon Troublemaker’s. There were several new faces on the screen which made my heart so happy. If you are looking for more community in your life with fellow system disruptors, you are most welcome.

A WORD*

*Planning a whole Substack post around this quote soon. Get ready.

And stay wild and holy and free,

Austin