For so long, the work was focused on getting white people to acknowledge that racism is real and it’s happening right now.

And that was a super hard, emotionally exhausting uphill battle for years.

Now with the Trump administration’s blatant racist policies, more and more white people are acknowledging its existence.

And they’re desperate to do something to stop racism.

That’s great!

But it’s still not enough…

We have a different obstacle in front of us now, because...

Privilege means that you don’t know what you don’t know.

Just because you’re ready to do something about white supremacy doesn’t mean you even know what it actually is.

People often don’t realize everyone (both white people and People of Color!) has internalized white supremacy to a certain degree — because it’s the air we breathe.

Unfortunately this means most white people who are newly coming into racial justice work are still very unconscious of how unconscious they are about it.

This unconsciousness can make bringing white people into racial justice work extremely fraught.

They are often emotionally resistant to seeing how they’re expressing white supremacy - and get mad when it’s pointed out or beat themselves up for it.

Too often that can mean them giving up on the work, continuing to beat themselves up, or insisting their racist actions aren’t racist.

For those who want to keep trying often struggle with questions like:

How can I make sure I don't accidentally say something racist - when I don't know what's racist and what's not?

- when I don't know what's racist and what's not? How can I know what to do without burdening a person of color to educate me - but still somehow follow their leadership?

to educate me - but still somehow follow their leadership? How do I know when speaking up against racism ends up speaking over people of color?

people of color? What do I do when I realize I've been unconsciously stereotyping and judging people of color?

and judging people of color? What do I do with my guilt around having white privilege ?

? What do I do with my fear around talking to other white people about racism when they get so angry with me?

about racism when they get so angry with me? What do I do with my fear that I'll never get it right and that I'll always just mess it up as a white person?

It. Is. Exhausting.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Let me tell you how I’ve learned to do it differently.