Lots of good threads on what white people can do, read, etc, to become anti-racist and good allies. But I think it’s important that this is not a “one and done” thing, but a process. What I learned in 1963 does not serve me now /1

My parents were liberal New Yorkers: when they separated in 1961, my father started attending an integrated church near his new apartment on the lower east side. Our white rector went to Selma in 1965. It was serious about civil rights./2

What I learned there was very much 60s civil rights: but from an early age I saw that Black people mattered. When militants(!) came and made demands, many people left. Because of issues with my Dad, I had stopped going there by then, but knew what happened. /3

I attended NYC public schools, though over time the tracking meant my world was more white. During the 1968 school strike, both my parents helped open schools in opposition to the striking teachers - this would have been the “pro-Black” position. /4

But I think this “we are all the same but I have no issues with Black people” was my basic orientation into my 30s. Certainly feminism alerted me to thinking about systemic issues, but nothing pushed my thinking forward./5

My husband had taught at Sewanee in the 1950s, and spent a lot of time at Highlander Folk School (as it then was), & knew Miles Horton; he understood the civil rights movement from there - & as a Brit was targeted by theFBI in Highlander’s legal struggles. / 5a

What happened? I started teaching at a non-residential university for adults with an amazing faculty of scholar activists (Sylvia Hill, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Judith Arcana, Elizabeth Minnich) who were engaged in anti-racist work. I slowly started learning. /6

The visceral learning came when Judith Arcana and I were leading a seminar on “The Politics of Feminist Scholarship” - a 5 day event - in 1990. We read both theory (Audre Lorde) and practice - the blow up at NWSA in 1989 or 90. /7

Our students were varied - some experienced activists, some Nice White Ladies. Two women came from Maine - a brilliant Black woman political scientist teaching at Bates, and a NWL. On the last day, the NWL said, “There are no Black people in Maine”. Kaboom. /8

It was the first time I’d seen (really seen) how easily Black people are rendered invisible. That started a process of learning for me: reading, talking to people, etc. My scholarship changed because a Black student asked me a question I couldn’t answer. /9

As my research engaged more with issues of race, I kept reading, and slowly changing. An interracial church community helped, so did engaging with New Haven, where I lived for over 20 years. I began thinking not about Black people, but whiteness./10

Recognizing the power of whiteness was a real shift (and I think my writing has been more interesting on that aspect of race). It gave me a framework for self-critical thinking. Moving to California, teaching at a majority minority uni has also been important/ 11

I’m still learning, disagreeing with myself 10 years ago. I’m not perfect, but I try to keep learning. I follow lots of Black people here to hear different voices. All this, as well as conversations with my colleagues, push me to keep learning. /12

Which is all to say, becoming an anti-racist is not an event, it’s a process. The commitment may be always there, but what that means changes over time. /end