As a white person, it is my responsibility to dismantle white privilege, white supremacy, and institutionalized racism.
While I believe that as writers it’s our calling to make the world better, to share deep, often painful and challenging truths, I see that work as only part of creating a more equitable and inclusive society.
Real change, like racial equality, will only come from intentional action. Real change requires facing up to painful and challenging truths about ourselves and our world.
I wasn’t always aware of my privilege as a white person. And even when I was aware, I struggled to turn that awareness into action. At my first meeting after I joined the editorial collective at Room magazine in 2010, I discovered I was one of nearly twenty white women sitting at the table we booked in a meeting room at our public library! I looked around, truly baffled. I couldn’t understand how this happened. (Yet I said nothing.)
Had I the awareness I have now, I would have seen this lack of representation was structural and not simply bias or the result of hiring from within your acquaintance circle. (Though it was definitely that, too.) Because we were volunteers, the unpaid labour required to “pay our dues” in publishing means that only people who can afford the time were there. So many structures exist to create financial hardships for marginalized writers, who therefore can’t afford to volunteer, and then never get started in our business.
Had I the integrity that was required at that moment, I could have spoken up and helped to immediately create the structural changes (like paid positions) and help create the space for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Colour) on the collective that we finally have today thanks to the hard work of BIPOC writers and allies who later joined the collective.
I share this story to say that maybe you’re like me and at times find it hard to speak up. I share it for you if you’re starting to see the ways we have knowingly and unknowingly upheld racist ideas and perpetuated racist ideologies—like the idea of a meritocracy in a game that is rigged. Maybe, like me, you’re starting to further recognize how white supremacy works. If so, can we embrace this truth together? Real change requires facing up to painful and challenging truths about ourselves and our world.
This is why, when I started teaching online courses in 2017, I set out to create an inclusive community that welcomes writers across gender and race and ability. A deliberate action I take is to ensure many of the guests on my podcast and paid experts I hire to consult me are BIPOC writers, editors, and agents.
I continue with my aim to make more space for Black and Indigenous writers, and writers of colour and trans writers in the work I do, by hiring businesses run by BIPOC women and non-binary people to support my work.
I also aim to make writing critiquing in our course community more respectful and inclusive, with an awareness of cultural, gender, social, economic, ability, and other differences—and a decentering the presumed white reader. Whenever we workshop/critique writing, we go over our community values of inclusiveness and justice. Is this a perfect practice? Not by far. I remain open to critique and suggestions for how to improve our approach to create a more inclusive space with the help of BIPOC writers in our community. (And am grateful for this support.)
Other Actions to Be An Anti-Racist Writer & Human
These are things I do and that I recommend for all white writers to do:
- Read books written by Black and Indigenous writers.
- Learn about racial justice from books and podcasts.
- Be aware of whiteness as we write.
- Use our voices to challenge racist ideas.
- Amplify the voices of BIPOC writers.
If you’re a white writer, what challenging truths have you learned about yourself and the world recently? If you’re a BIPOC writer, thank you for reading and for the grace in allowing me to continue to learn.
