It's Time to Dismantle the Master's House
Plus, Love, rage and the radical race read
Black lives still matter, even though your feed is back to “normal”. Now that the immediate scramble to catch up to systemic racism has passed, it’s time for us, white people, to get to work.
The work that I’m referring to is the everyday practice of liberating our minds from the condition of whiteness. Cheri Huber defines conditioning as the internal programming by which an individual is turned into a person who will fit into a given culture. We must examine not just how we’ve been indoctrinated but how we’ve been participating in upholding white supremacy. Without this analysis, we are doomed to repeat the harm even in our attempt to dismantle it. Audre Lorde says:
We must be willing to go deeper, to risk our comfort, to interrogate our complicity and to refuse compliance to a system that has caused so much harm. Our liberation depends on it.
Kerri (she/her)
‘Black leaders aren’t just trying to save their lives, they’re trying to save your lives too’ — an essential conversation with Eric Ward. [click to tweet]
The face of elite panic in the US is chrome-plated pistols and pink polos. Rebecca Solnit on plutocracy and its paranoias. [click to tweet]
“Roll up your sleeves, and lean the f*ck all the way in to dismantle the master’s house of white supremacy”. S. Rae Peoples on why it’s time for white folks to dismantle the master’s house. [click to tweet]
“You want a confederate monument? My body is a confederate monument”. A powerful piece on the living legacy of racism in America. [click to tweet]
We Insist: The story of Black American music and its response to oppression and state-sanctioned violence (with epic playlist). [click to tweet]
RADICAL READ: Join Rev angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens and Jasmine Syedullah and 20 amazing change makers for the Radical Race Read on June 5th - a live read-a-thon of Radical Dharma.
SAVE THE VOTE: The United States Postal Service helps ensure fair elections through mail-in ballots. Help keep the USPS alive so that every voice can be heard this November. Sign the petition.
ACT: #BreonnaTaylor’s name is no longer trending and the police that murdered her are still free. Demand justice.
In Love & Rage, Lama Rod says there is a difference between anger and rage. Anger is a reaction in the present moment to something that we don’t agree with, while rage is an intense experience that seems old and ever present. Both are appropriate in these times. But it’s how we work with those feelings that matter. Anger is telling us something important about who we are, what we are trying to protect and what lies underneath. It points us to what is most important. He says:
“When I am rooted in love, anger reveals itself as trying to point us to our hurt; and when I’m taking care of my hurt and loving at the same time, the energy of anger becomes an energy that helps me cut through distractions and focus on the work that needs to be done.”
And it’s connected to love. It asks us to consider “what do we love that’s at stake?” and how can we harness our anger and direct it with skill and compassion. Only then can we see the path and move towards love and liberation.
Join us Tuesday, July 7th (7p EST) for CTZN Live, a radical conversation with Lama Rod Owens on how to metabolize and harness our anger and rage into a force for liberation.
I can’t believe we still have to say this but wear a fucking mask. Wearing a mask is about collective care - it only works when we all wear them.
Stay well, y’all.
(art by @closecallstudio)
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