Did You Know Dismantling Racism is an Inside Job?

Dismantling racism from the inside out is based on the belief that social change emerges from personal transformation. It’s not just about laws and legislation or politics and economics. It’s also about the thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and assumptions that lie within the hearts and minds of individual people just like you. It’s making the choice to confront your own internalized and interpersonal racism. It begins with knowing who you are and the role you play as a member of a racialized society.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.”
— Nelson Mandela

Every person can consciouusly choose to strive for deeper racial understanding and healing through truth and reconciliation. No matter where you come from or how you were raised, as a human being you have the capacity within yourself to make a choice. You can choose to do nothing and let racism go uncontested and flourish or choose to do something specific to allow personal change to emerge from deep within yourself. And personal change leads to social change.

Daily you can choose to apply the tools of interpersonal activism to disrupt the forces of racism all around us. It will not be easy, and it will not always be comfortable, but courage coupled with conversation, relationship, and accountability is a great place to start.

1. Educate yourself beyond your personalized life bubble. Consider this powerful Biblical proverb: “Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.” Strive to be open-minded; to seek education from more than one source by exploring life outside of your own bubble. Inside the bubble is where you encounter only beliefs or opinions that coincide with your own. In other words, listen, read, and watch a diverse mix to help you analyze, investigate, and consider all points of view before…