Author: SpencerMann
← Older postsAnti-Oppression Organizing Tools
Principles of Anti-Oppression Power and privilege play out in our group dynamics and we must continually struggle with how we challenge power and privilege in our practice. We can only identify how power and privilege play out when we are … Continue reading
Ten Things to Remember: Anti-Racist Strategies for White Student Radicals
After many years as a white student radical (in high school and then college), I’m reconsidering my experience. I made a lot of mistakes and was blind in many ways, particularly as a white person. What follows are some lessons … Continue reading
25 ways to tokenize or alienate a non-white person around you (or, 25 examples of the racism we witness on a regular basis)
1. walk up to that black girl you barely know in the co-op and say “what do you think of the new (insert hip-hop artist here) album.” 2. ask one of the only arabs in your community to write the … Continue reading
List of demands from a gender liberation conference
These are a list of demands from women that arose from discussions at a recent statewide gender liberation conference held for the activist community. Men should read this list carefully, reflect on how items on it may correspond to our … Continue reading
Shinin’ the Lite on White, Part One: White Privilege
Introduction Tonight is the first of three sessions entitled, “Shinin’ the Lite on White.” This one is on white privilege. The second will be on white privilege behavior, and the third will be on white culture, or the culture of … Continue reading
Racist Activism 101 [or “How to be a Completely Clueless and Aggravating White Activist”, or again “How to Get on Nadine’s Personal Shit List”]
[This article was originally written for the Concordia Student Union Handbook.] DISCLAIMER: This is far, far FAR from being an exhaustive checklist. Sure, this is my opinion and mine only, but run it by your comrades of colour [I’m sure … Continue reading
Tools for White Guys who are Working for Social Change and other people socialized in a society based on domination
1. Practice noticing who’s in the room at meetings – how many gender privileged men (biological men), how many women, how many transgendered people, how many white people, how many people of color, is it majority heterosexual, are there out … Continue reading
Challenging patriarchy in political organizing
What is Patriarchy? Patriarchy, a system that gives men privileges, results from a gendered socialization process in all areas of our lives – social, economic, ideological, cultural, political, and spiritual. According to bell hooks, “Patriarchy is political-social system that insists … Continue reading
The Male Privilege Checklist:An Unabashed Imitation of an Article by Peggy McIntosh
In 1990, Wellesley College professor Peggy McIntosh wrote an essay called “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. McIntosh observes that whites in the U.S. are “taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring … Continue reading
When calling me your beautiful sister is not enough
“Facilitator of anti-sexism workshop wanted for nonprofit” read the message on the Colours of Resistance listserv one gray February before the war started. I emailed them right back. Hello $300 workshop fee! “Most of the men in the group are … Continue reading
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