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This is a thread for white people who feel overwhelmed and worried about how to do the ‘right thing’ right now:
My young adult life gave me a lot. Not just because of where and who I was with (which was massively important) but also because of professional development and education I got while surrounded by a brand new contexts and experiences. 1/
I lived in several places in the U.S., including minority-majority regions & cities. This gave me the chance to see and experience my own race & whiteness in personal & tangible ways. Like the time at a co-worker& #39;s house party 2/
When police showed up for a noise complaint. Everyone rushed to the kitchen or bedrooms & got really quiet. Except when folks saw me in the kitchen & urged me to go FAST right to the front door. And stand in front of my co-worker. 3/
And I didn& #39;t know why until. The cops at the door saw my white face. And took their HANDS OFF THEIR GUNS. And gave us a warning to quiet down & left. Me & #39;just seeing my friends& #39; & not thinking critically about my race created risk 4/
Or the time another friend and I were stopped in a state park. I was driving. Park trooper asked if I & #39;knew why& #39; he pulled us over. (I didn& #39;t.) But what I SAID was: & #39;maybe I was over the posted speed limit?& #39; (I wasn& #39;t.) 5/
Trooper ran my plates and made us sit & sit. He let us go with no ticket. Trooper followed us & wasn& #39;t subtle. I drove half the posted limit to our campsite. My gregarious, mischievous friend was stone silent. 6/
A group of friends met us. When the trooper saw we weren& #39;t alone, he drove off. That& #39;s WHY he& #39;d pulled us over. WHY he& #39;d followed us. WHY my friend wasn& #39;t saying. a. word. If you need me to, I can spell out WHY: my friend is a black man. 7/
These experiences of policing & whiteness were incredibly eye opening. But they would be just scary memories without also learning about identity & how to start seeing & naming privilege. Without words & tools to understand power. 8/
How power is created and distributed by systems of privilege, whether or not I wanted to see it or believe it. Or participate in those systems. And, most transformative for me, learning about shared power. 9/
Learning that paying attention to my power vs. pretending I didn& #39;t see it meant I could make more equitable relationships and systems in my personal and professional life. Starting to practice sharing power changed everything. 10/
I& #39;ve been thinking abt shared power, asking myself what I& #39;m doing to actively create more equitable spaces & relationships in my immediate circle, my work and my community. And pairing this w/ actually doing a thing, even if it& #39;s small. 11/
But that’s not what I want to share about here. I want to talk about ANOTHER question I’ve been asking myself: Will doing [x] or sharing about [y] create more work or emotional labor for someone with less power/capacity right now? 12/
I use the answer to guide my actions. I’m definitely not doing it all right. I’m worried it’s not enough. I’m afraid of causing harm. But I have tools to use. If you don’t, then a really good thing to do right now is get some tools. 13/
I& #39;m struggling and exhausted on lots of fronts. But I have tools to help me pair 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💔" title="Gebrochenes Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Gebrochenes Herz"> with thoughtful action, and to do it without making someone else help me. Actions matter, our words matter. #BlackLivesMatter https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt="">. 14/
There are lots of resources out there. A few I dug up, trying to find the great organization that led a training I had in shared power (which I didn& #39;t find):
https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/diversity-workshop-guide-to-discussing-identity-power-and-privilege/
https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-bl... href=" https://everydayfeminism.com/2014/09/what-is-privilege/
https://everydayfeminism.com/2014/09/w... href=" https://hbr.org/2018/09/use-your-everyday-privilege-to-help-others
https://hbr.org/2018/09/u... href=" https://www.presence.io/blog/understanding-privilege-and-power-in-leadership-roles/
/end">https://www.presence.io/blog/unde...
https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/diversity-workshop-guide-to-discussing-identity-power-and-privilege/
/end">https://www.presence.io/blog/unde...
