As another wave of white folks decide *now* things have gone too far, *now* I need to get involved, I thought I'd share what @4noura and I learned when we studied how attitudes & behaviors of white activists can cause burnout in antiracist activists of color. (1/thread)

This followed a broader burnout study in which without being asked about white activists, racial justice activists of color who experienced burnout kept referring to the labor they expended dealing with white activists as one of the, or THE, leading cause of their burnout. (2)

Noura and I found that white activists contribute to the burnout of activists of color in these ways:

(1) carrying racist views or simplistic understandings of "racism" into racial justice movements...

(2) Undermining or invalidating racial justice work, often by exerting their "expertise" while failing to acknowledge the expertise of activists of color

(3) Being unwilling to step up and take action when needed, especially when action wasn't purely performative...

(4) Exhibiting white fragility, prioritizing their own emotional needs and defensive posturing over movement goals, and

(5) Taking credit for the work and ideas of activists of color...

Activists of color demanded that white activists:

(1) do deeper self-work internally (addressing privilege and fragility, for instance) and broader learning work (addressing gaps in their understandings of structural racism) BEFORE entering BIPOC-led racial justice movements...

(2) be willing to defer to activists of color, not on labor or on addressing white people, but on the the development of movement vision and goals

(3) prioritize movement goals over their needs for recognition and validation...

(4) police one another around credit- and spotlight-grabbing behaviors

(5) put in the labor, not just showing up at events and meetings or when they benefit by being visible, but in furthering movement goals overall...

Full article: http://edchange.org/publications/White-Activists-Causing-Burnout-Racial-Justice-Activists-Gorski-Erakat.pdf