A question I am often asked is “What does it mean to ‘do the work’ of inclusivity?” In An Unintentional Accomplice: A Personal Perspective on White Responsibility, I explore this question and include the following Checklist with numerous real-life ways an ordinary person can do something extraordinary – take responsibility for building a community in which all people are valued and equal in the eyes of the law:
· Speak up on behalf of those who have it less comfortable than me within my sphere, right where I am — my neighborhood, my office, my place of prayer, my street, where I shop;
· Examine to what degree my lifestyle inflicts damage and contributes to poverty on the labor of others;
· Be willing to see myself as less tremendous and more human;
· Work to see the blindspots, the unconscious daily implicit racial biases still buried within my psyche;
· Meaningfully and regularly interact with races, ethnicities, ages, orientations, genders, abilities, political views, and faiths other than my own. Talk to others with an open mind, rather than a fixed position. Better yet, stop talking and listen;
· Put my God-given abilities to work in service to the whole, rather than self-advancement;
· Become a “Legal Observer”;
· Participate in Black Lives Matter and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) in my area;
· Volunteer as an elections worker;
· If a white person attacks or demands a black person to defend #BlackLivesMatter, direct that conversation to myself for further discussion;
· Be an accountable ally to people of color;
· Take responsibility for the journey of my racial identity;
· Notice ways in which white privilege makes me free from race-based humiliation and suspicion;
· Knowing the truth about black history and the racial justice movement by reading books by black authors;
· Love America by looking at it in the face;
· Nurture a white identity within my family that honors the heritage of all people;
· Host a community forum, a discussion salon, concerning implicit racial bias and how to address this in everyday life. Commit to no longer ignoring and being silent on this issue;
· Speak with clergy about ways the church, through its silence, is perpetuating racism and structures limiting equal access to democracy, justice, education, and the economy. Ask the leaders to redouble their commitment to being instruments of peace, and evidence it;
· Donate when I can to those changing culture and advancing civilization concerning race and class issues.
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