Black Lives Matter: Anti-Racism and Acknowledging the Roots of Self-Care
The murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and the many innocent Black lives taken before (and since) them represent the stark reality of the systemic racism that is killing Black people in our country and around the world. There is no place for racism, white supremacy, or police brutality in our society and we must all use our voices to take action and demand the basic human rights that everyone deserves, regardless of the color of their skin.
As the creators of a product that focuses on making room for self-care and setting boundaries, it’s important that we acknowledge that the roots of self-care are tied to marginalized and oppressed communities. It became a mainstream concept and term during the civil rights movement, when the Black community needed to practice self-care to continue the fight for justice and equity.
Writer, feminist, and civil rights activist Audre Lorde notably said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
We must acknowledge the continued necessity of self-care and boundaries in the Black community, as the same fight against systemic racism continues in 2020. It is also important to take a critical look at the self-care industry that has largely erased the Black community from its narrative (and subsequently become an $11-billion dollar industry). This is just one of many industries that has appropriated Black culture and claimed it as its own for a profit.
Our following may be small, but we promise to use our platform to amplify Black voices in the self-care space, and beyond.
And for those of us who benefit from white privilege, self-care should be seen as an incredibly important tool in caring for ourselves so we can be better allies and activists for the Black community.
While we commit to actively doing our own work personally, we also commit to more openly and frequently using our platform to share resources, point you to educators in the anti-racism space, and create an open dialogue around important issues of systemic racism and white supremacy. We commit to maintaining a safe and welcoming space for all BIPOC followers — and owning up to it when we make mistakes (because we surely will). We commit to challenging our white followers to listen, learn, unlearn, and engage in these discussions that need to continue, even when issues of racial violence are not the top news story.
If you need help getting started on your anti-racism journey, below are just a few ways to do so. We recommend that you continue seeking out new information to further educate yourself and contribute to change, and pay the educators that you learn from.
Rachel Cargle
Brittany Packnett Cunningham
Layla Saad
Ijeoma Oluo
Ibram X. Kendi
Austin Channing Brown
LaTonya Yvette
Monica J. Sutton
Angel Kyodo Williams
Monique Melton
The Great Unlearn
The Opt-In
Check Your Privilege
The Conscious Kid
Embrace Race
* the above links go to Instagram. Click the links in individual bios to visit each individual’s or organization’s website and learn more about their work
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum
White Fragility by Robin D’Angelo
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Ibram X. Kendi
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity In A World Made For Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahesi Coates
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
* the above links go to bookshop.org, which supports local bookstores. Many titles are sold out in hard copy form, but are readily available as e-books and audiobooks
Black Lives Matter
Community Bail Funds
Minnesota Freedom Fund
Reclaim the Block
Campaign Zero
NAACP
Southern Poverty Law Center
ACLU
No matter how small each step, it is one toward dismantling white supremacy and demanding equality for all.
– Brooke and Terry
