[THREAD] White academics are expending a great
deal of energy on performing “woke-ness” right now. That energy should be used to find places where they can show up for black people. I've drafted a list of ways to do this based on my experiences with racism from academics.

Do not talk to Black People like you know their realities better than they do just because you “study it.” Not only is impossible, it is also a colonial and violent way of understanding knowledge. It's condescending and you sound ridiculous.

Make sure the communities you write abut receive material benefits from your scholarship not just an acknowledge section mention about how “grateful” you are. You don’t get paid in gratitude so don’t compensate the people whose knowledge you rely on just with gratitude.

Cite Black Scholars. Cite Black scholars in the body of your work not just in the footnotes/endnotes. Why hide them?

Don’t be silent in contentious meetings/ emails and leave your black colleagues/students stranded but then send follow emails to telling them how much you agreed with their points and how “sorry” you are. This is pure cowardice. SAY IT IN THE MEETING/EMAIL!!

Don’t ever ever ever say that you prefer black people in one region over another. (i.e. " I love Africans because they don't worry about race so much") This is a poor, sad attempt at veiled racism.

Don’t try to do a research project about black people that you know is problematic and then go around trying to get the approval of your black friends in your field of study. The violence of this behavior cannot be overstated.

Do not try to get Black people to do the labor of validating you and soothing your discomfort with being a white scholar studying black people. I mean, seriously!?