rescheduling book group, plus
stuff you may have heard me say a million times
OK, so I was down with a BRUTAL case of food poisoning the week we were supposed to discuss Disability Visibility. If you’d like to be in the discussion group, click HERE to select all the options that work well for you and we’ll make the one with the most “yes”es happen! And if you couldn’t make the previously scheduled time, maybe this one will work! You can definitely skim the book for the chapters that really speak to you. That’s part of what we’ll talk about when we gather.
I want to offer a PROFUSE thanks to everyone who’s been in a position to become a paid subscriber (and if you were able to go above $60/year, and be a “founding subscriber,” I hope you liked the free e-book Nash designed for you from my writings!)
Paid subscribers will get a special newsletter later this week on Kant, Foucault, and anti-oppression that will be even more interesting and more relevant than it sounds. ;)
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Sometimes I think people are tired of hearing me say the same thing over and over, but usually, it’s the first time someone’s hearing it. Or it’s the first time they’ve been able to take it in. Here are a few of mine, related to anti-oppression work. What are some of yours?
(Note: my former colleague Nash Micabani designed the images; if you ever need someone to design social media content for you, he’s a star. You can reach out to him at nashjohnm@gmail.com)
[Image description: 1st slide: THINGS I WORRY I’VE SAID TOO MUCH but keep being helpful when I say them.]
2nd slide: BEING FRIENDS WITH PEOPLE OF COLOR IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING ACCOUNTABLE TO PEOPLE OF COLOR. Sometimes just pausing and asking yourself or a colleague, “does this decision protect white people? Or does it serve what people of color are asking for?” is a simple way to pay attention to this dynamic.
3rd slide: IT’S RACIST VERSUS ANTI-RACIST, NOT RACIST VERSUS NON-RACIST. Not fighting oppression is the same thing as protecting the status quo. Non-racist isn’t actually a win, because it doesn’t confront what’s wrong in order to make things closer to right.
4th slide: ASIANS ARE PEOPLE OF COLOR. Many people don’t realize that by treating Asians as “honorary white people,” they’re actually propping up a narrative, “the model minority,” created by a white man as a way of diminishing the power of Asian activism and solidarity with other people of color movements, thus erasing Asian experiences and attempting to pit Asians against other people of color.
5th slide: YOU ARE POWERFUL. Some people constantly have power taken from them but have an amazing inner strength that should be acknowledged. Other people deny that they have power so they don’t have to take the risks that are part of anti-oppression work. Either way, pay attention to where you have power and join with others so your collective power can build the community we all deserve.
There are a lot more things I say all the time (such as “we spend 80% of our energy on D&I when 80% of the payoff is located in E,” but that might be its own post for another day), but I thought I’d share them in the hopes they inspire you to share your own anti-oppression truisms, things you think you say too often but still need to be said regularly. Feel free to share in the comments; I’d love to engage!
If you have time to share with someone you think would find this content valuable, I’d be delighted.
Keep saying these things! I was in programming and it takes an audience to hear something 7 times before it sinks in! Slide 2 reminds me the importance of defining our terms so we are on the same page. Thanks much!