The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward. – Ijeoma Oluo
Where Do We Go From Here
The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.
– Ijeoma Oluo
Right here in our city, one week ago, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was murdered by the police. You know this already.
And I think you feel it, too – this is racism at work. This is not new. This is deeply unjust. This is exhausting and traumatizing for the Black community. This is evil.
Following George’s murder, there have been large, cohesive, peaceful protests in our city every day for over a week. There have been destructive riots that have been devastating to the communities, small businesses, and families in Minneapolis. It’s suspected that outside groups including white supremacists have been of coming into our state (or just coming out of their homes?) and wreaking havoc on neighborhoods, creating chaos and fear. The National Guard has been called in en masse and we are under a curfew with highways closed.
Things are really, really not good.
But also – things shouldn’t be good right now.
This post has been in my head for days but I’ve struggled to get it completed – a combination of factors including wanting to be thoughtful and intentional, and time limitations as we attend to the immediate needs of our family, friends, and city in crisis. But I know it will never fully be right. And I’m learning that imperfect words and actions are far better than none.
To our Black readers who are here now, who have been here for any length of time, I’m deeply sorry for the ways that we (white people, but also specifically myself) perpetuate racism day in and day out through actions and attitudes, whether we are aware or not. I’m sorry. I believe you. I’m listening. I’m learning.
Personally and collectively, we owe you, our Black friends and family and readers, not only a conversation that acknowledges this pain and these deep, deep problems – we owe you our action.
More than a quick Instagram stories post or social media message, we need to make sure that whatever message we are sending can really be backed up with follow-through.
All of this – the words, the conversation, the sentiment – is not valuable until we as white people, including myself, are willing to work to dismantle the systems of white supremacy that oppress BIPOC in our city and nation.
Pinch of Yum won’t be perfect. I won’t be perfect. This will be the best we can do until we know better, and then when we know better, we will do better (Maya Angelou’s words).
Today’s post is intended as a starting point (or continuing point) for white people looking to not just feel bad but to take action.
This is a team-sourced list of resources – some from me, some from individuals on our team. These are the voices of color we’ve individually found helpful in guiding our thinking and behaviors on racism.
We have two goals here:
- Centering voices of color
- Encouraging you to do something
Is this the only list out there? No. Here are two others that are much more comprehensive.
75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice
A List of Anti-Racism Resources (Google doc)
Use whatever you find helpful, but whatever it is, let’s start today.
What Can I Do Today
Donate to Black-Led Anti-Racist Organizations and Minneapolis Relief Efforts:
- NAACP
- We Love Lake Street (Minnesota)
- Black Visions Collective (Minnesota)
- North Minneapolis Business Community Relief (Minnesota)
You can find more ideas here.
Follow Black Leaders on Instagram:
- Osheta Moore – @oshetamoore
- Brittany Packnett Cunningham – @mspackyetti
- Austin Channing Brown – @austinchanning
- The Conscious Kid – @theconsciouskid
- Check Your Privilege – @ckyourprivilege
- Here Wee Read – @hereweeread
There are so many more out there – this is just a sampling of some of our favorites from within our team.
Listen to Podcasts Created by Diverse Voices:
What Can I Do This Month
Read Books About Anti-Racism and White Supremacy
- How to be an Anti-Racist by Dr. Ibram X Kendi
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Courses Taught by People of Color
- The Trinity Academy Course
- Rachel Ricketts Courses
- The Great Unlearn by Rachel Cargle
Explicitly Teaching Kids About Anti-Racism
- Something Happened in Our Town (a book)
- Guidelines for conversation with younger kids
- Guidelines for any aged kids
Here’s a list with more book recommendations.
Watch Educational Movies, TV Shows, and Documentaries
- 13th (Netflix)
- Dear White People (Netflix)
- The Hate U Give (Hulu or rent to stream)
What Can I Commit To For The Long Term
Support Black-Owned Businesses
- Pimento Jamaican Kitchen
- Handsome Hog
- Du Nord Craft Spirits
- Afro Deli
- Trio Plant-Based
- Mama Sheila’s
(These are our favorites in Minneapolis and Saint Paul! Here’s a list of more Black-owned shops and restaurants to support in Minneapolis.)
Get Plugged In To Local Activism
What Commitments Can You Make to Yourself and Your Family
- We will not be silent about racism.
- We will go beyond virtue signaling on social media and follow up our words with action.
- We will stand up against racist jokes.
- We will stand up against racist conversation.
- We will invite family and friends into conversations about race.
- We will intervene when we see racism.
If the amount of work feels overwhelming, I understand. It can be hard to know where to go from here.
But it is important that we start somewhere. We made a printable blank template that you can use to guide your planning for what your next steps of action will be if that is helpful. This is what I am using for myself.
This is not a comprehensive list of resources. Nor is this a complete conversation. It can’t be. I am one person, we are one small team – even when doing our best, there is always more we can learn.
With that in mind: What can you add? What are you learning, and what resources are helping you?
And most importantly: what is your next step right now?
Thank you for being here and for caring about things that matter, not just in word but in action.
Sending all our love from our beloved city of Minneapolis. ♡
Thanks to Rita and Jenna on our team for their pictures for this post.
Filed Under: Life
June 1, 2020
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
Thank you for this excellent resource filled article. I’m sharing it with others. I cannot March but I can help in other ways. Blessings to you. Fight on.
As a young Black American woman in college struggling with Chronic Depression, the current state of our country has made me feel more parazlyed than ever. I struggle to find the motivation to eat most days but finding delicious recipes on your blog gives me the push I need to nourish myself. Tonight I was overwhelmed by what I read. This is what we’re asking for. This is where it starts. This is what we need people to practice to the best of their ability each day moving forward. Thank you for sharing these resources with your audience including myself. Thank you for your commitment to America and the Black community 🙏💜
Hi, Aminna,
I’m just a reader, but I wanted to say that I’m glad that Pinch of Yum encourages you! I find it encouraging, as well. Sometimes it’s just what I need to get myself into the kitchen and into action. It must be so difficult to find energy in your situation. I’m praying for full health for you, and I loved reading your comment.
Aminna, I’m so glad you’re here. Times are so hard. We’ll keep the food coming, and you just keep on keeping on, one yummy meal at a time. ❤️ Thank you for your comment.
Thank you Lindsay for this post. I am (a white woman) from Europe but the protests following the recent murders have been all over our media too, and in our cities people have flooded the streets too to protest against the murders/ lynchings and the systematic racism underneath. I also had to think of you the last days since you’re living in Minneapolis, and wondering how you’ve been doing and how it would feel to be in the epicenter of the protests. I thought I was quite woke but I’ve been intensively educating myself the last week and realising that we could and should do so much better. I am very happy with your post, and I hope that this last week will really get the wheels of change into motion.
I really appreciate your words and this list, in particular the 74 seconds pod. Philando Castile is just one example of a name I definitely know from limited news headlines but didn’t do the due diligence to learn about his life and what happened to him. I’m going to start with that pod. I’ll also add that I saw on another resource list the pod 1619 and Rachel Cargle’s episode on white fragility on Call Your Girlfriend.
I speak for myself as one white person, but these are truths that, when you take the time to put your excuses aside and truly see them once and for all, you can’t unsee them. I’m going to continue doing my best to learn, learn, learn, and be more active and supportive. In all areas of my life I often shy away in the face of a tough conversation, but that clearly helps no one, so I feel compelled now to do it even when it’s hard. Thanks again.
Yes, someone on our team just finished up the 1619 podcast and she said it was so good. 74 seconds was especially hard and meaningful to me as we lived just blocks away from the intersection where Philando Castille was shot. Thank you for your thoughtful comment.
Thank you for this post, for this list, for doing this work. And thank for this template to help me plan and hold myself accountable for the important work ahead.
Thank you for posting this. It brought me to tears. As a black woman I have been struggling with my emotions while trying to figure out what to do next.
And thank you for being an ally. It’s not enough for us to shout our plight because it can be and has been easily ignored. It’s the every-day things, conversation with friends and families, among other things, where we need allies to help people understand.
Deauna, thank you for being here. ❤️ I hope you are able to find some time to rest and breathe deep this week. Xo
Thank you for your post. I am also a native Minnesotan, I grew up in St Paul, and now live in Lakeville. It’s horrifying and eye opening to see so much hatred in our city. We all need to do our part in combating systematic racism and it does start by taking a good hard look at ourselves and admitting our white privilege . We cannot remain quiet, we must become Anti-Racists and keep learning and doing better.
p.s. another good book is ‘White Fragility’ by Robin Diangelo.
Wow, this was a fantastic post! Thank you so much for using your platform to educate and bring awareness to the social injustice that we are all too familiar with. You provided excellent resources. I have raised two black men who are Godly, respectful, loving, kind, and compassionate human beings. They deserve to be treated with respect. Racism, discrimination, bigotry, hate, and all these acts of violence must not be entertained or tolerated. We must continue to love each other and do better. We cannot be ignorant of what is going on in this country. Thank you for showing up. I hope more people will continue to do their part to fight these injustices. Peace and blessings …
Lindsay,
Thank you for the post. I am a white woman on an anti-racism journey. The google docs list is an excellent resource and all the other resources you listed as very important for white people. I want to recommend any work by Dr. Robin DiAngelo on White Fragility. Search for her books but also her lectures on youtube. (Deconstructing White Privilege and her lecture at The Seattle Library).
Thank you.
Well done. I would add that we need to work to get more blacks and others of color to register to vote and then get out and vote the day of election. It is amazing how many people do not vote to support the candidate who represents their interests!
Statements like these, though well-intended are part of the problem. I so appreciate Lindsay’s thoughtful words and message in this post and I don’t want her blog to be turned into an argument, but we also all need to be stepping up right now to call out problematic statements. Let’s be careful of putting more work (and burden) on people of color. The reality is black women consistently turn out at a higher rate to vote than all other demographic groups. They are already doing the work. White women helped get Donald Trump elected (more than 50% of white women voted for Trump, let that sit a minute). I am absolutely in favor of mobilizing as many people as possible to vote and showing our power through the polls, but let’s be careful of whom we are putting work on. Yes, people of color should vote, but this is not on them. It is on all of us.
For future learning(gathered quickly, there are more out there):
Black women voting rates:
https://aflcio.org/sites/default/files/2017-03/AFL-CIO%2BBlack%2BWomen%2BVote.pdf
https://fortune.com/2019/06/20/black-women-voters-2020-election/
White women voting Trump in:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/us/politics/white-women-helped-elect-donald-trump.html
Liz, thank you for speaking up. Voting is indeed everyone’s duty, and anti-racist candidates at all levels of government need our collective support.
You make an excellent point here, Liz. It’s also worth noting that in a number of states the voting process has been made extremely hard for people of color and the poor. In districts with predominantly minority populations, polling stations are more likely to be closed permanently/fewer in number or located far away, creating difficulties in accessing them outside of working hours or via public transportation. Fewer polling places also lead to long wait times, which makes it harder for single parents or individuals with family responsibilities to vote. In many of these places, the multitude of problems that tend to crop up in non-white districts make it hard to believe that there isn’t an intentional effort to make it as difficult as possible for certain groups of people to vote to disincentivize them from participating in democracy and making their voices heard.
Amy, YES. These are such important issues that we also need to remember and take into consideration. Thank you for for adding these critical points to the conversation. And Allison, I so appreciate your point that we need to look for anti-racist candidates at all levels of government. We tend to focus on the large national elections, but our local elected officials are incredibly important to our lives and to making systematic changes.
Lindsay, I echo the comments of appreciation to you for using your platform to voice your support and offer very specific suggestions on ways Allies can learn more, show solidarity or take action. My gratitude is immense and I will do my part in turn to support and promote the wonderful (and yummy) work you do!!!
Kindness and blessings,
DW
Can’t download template
Hi, Sheryl! Does this link work okay for you for accessing the template?
No that didn’t work for me either. Perhaps because I’m on a phone?
Just fixed the link in the post for you! If that doesn’t work still, feel free to email us at [email protected] and we’ll help you out. 🙂
Thank you thank you thank you for this beautifully written statement. I, too, am committing to take more action and do better. ❤️
Thank you for this. We always hear “we have to do something” but this is the first time I’ve seen all the resources to actually DO SOMETHING. Thank you.
Last night, I had a conversation with my 14 year old and 12 year old about how we can use our whiteness for good, not evil. I read someone else say that we need to be shields in this time – thank you for not remaining quiet. There is a lot going on, it’s overwhelming, and every time I am tempted to turn it off, I remind myself of the millions of people who don’t have that option, and watch on, looking for ways to help.
I feel a lot of this too. The analogy of shields is really powerful. If we (white people) are growing weary of doing this anti-racist work, imagine how exhausting it is for the people who live it. (I saw a quote card on Instagram this week that said something to this effect but I’m having trouble finding the original… if anyone reading knows what it is please let me know so I can credit.)
Well said, Lindsay, and thank you for saying it and for supplying other resources where we can get more information and action ideas. You make me proud to be from Minnesota!
Thank you for sharing this. I was looking for something actionable, and this is truly helpful.
In addition, I’d like to add voting as an informed voter, especially in local elections. My eyes have been opened to so many things in the last week including the importance of voting for the offices that can bring real change to the community – School Board, City Council, Mayor, Attorney General, Governor – some which are also often decided by only a few hundred or thousand votes.
I’m in MN too and have to admit that when I cast my vote for AG, I had very little idea of who I was voting for let alone the massive implications that my choice in that and so many other local positions could have. I viewed those as pretty inconsequential jobs, and now those are the exact officials we’re seeing at the center of these vital conversations.
Such good perspective. Thank you!
The blank printable template could not be found. 404 Not Found nix
Hi, Robyn! Just updated the link in the post for you. It should work now. 🙂
I have a church…its in the woods near a brook under trees with so many different shapes of leaves, colours, so many types of them surrounding me with all the birds singing and teaching me to enjoy every second, every moment of life!
These little messages of nature from heaven is sent to me to meditate, to rethink of negativity, to remember to love and leave my spot with a smile and to bring it back home and share that inner peace.🍃
Like with nature-close your eyes and hear the music of life around you-people their languages, their stories and understand that racist has no room in your inner peace.
I, believe that the world needs the feeling of closeness and friendship that exists between us all…
Decisions:
🦋 Choose the path, every path you take leads you to a choice and the choice you take changes everything!
Booge
(Canada)
Thank you so much for this heartfelt post.
Thank you SO much for this thoughtful post and particularly for you prompts to action. I have found myself paralyzed absorbing the pain around me and trying to process my own guilt and denial. I think at times like this some of us need the calm hand of an organized thoughtful person to help us take a breath and put one foot in front of the other to walk in the right direction – thoughtfully and purposefully into the fight. Again, 🙏
Thank you for this! Many people want to know how they can help but do not know where to start. The resources, overall structure, and heart of your article is greatly appreciated!
As a Black reader, thank you so much for this. This has all been so hard, and I’ve absorbed so much negativity, so genuine and thoughtful support really means more than you know.
💜💜💜💜
I’m so glad you’re here Nicole. I hope you can find time and space to rest this week. ❤️ We owe you our action.
Thank you so much for this post, Lindsay. I’ve loved and admired you as a food blogger and now your strength and depth of character is truly showing. Thank you for sharing these resources with us.
To suggest that Chauvin’s actions were just a “mistake”, to suggest that America doesn’t have a problem with racism, and to suggest it’s just blacks who are rioting and looting clearly shows that it’s people like you who are the very core of the problem.
Lindsay, you really outdid yourself with this valuable, heartfelt, and thoughtful post. Thank you so much for all these amazing resources and suggestions. I live in Vancouver, Canada (though I’m originally from Los Angeles) and tried to find some of the books you suggested, but the bookstores are all sold out—which is such a good sign! I have passed this on to friends and family.
BTW, I love and appreciate your blog and one can feel the love and caring you express through your delicious recipes and entertaining writing. Thank you so much for all you do.
Dear Lindsay, You are amazing, thank you so much for this information. You have provided excellent resources that will help me take action, instead of feeling immobilized and helpless as many of us are feeling, what can we do for the world at this time? Blessings, Brunie, Oceanside, NY