Stopping the ripple effects of systemic anti-Black racism

Dear white friends, colleagues, and contacts –

STOPPING THE RIPPLE EFFECTS OF SYSTEMIC ANTI-BLACK RACISM

???This article is about police killings and brutalizations of Black men and boys, and the ripple effects of systemic anti-Black racism. It’s about what we do and don’t do within white-dominated systems after police killings. It’s about our responsibility to act and influence within our subsystems…our spheres of influence.

I’m using police killings, near-killings, and brutalizations to make my points because, as is too often the case, the issue is in the forefront of many of our minds.?

I could include other systemic anti-Black issues like the routine intimidation and abuse of Black individuals and groups, including children, but I’m not doing that today. I could include systemic anti-Black?issues such as inequities and inequalities in education, health care, housing, employment, or investment capital for Black business ventures, but I’m not doing that today either.??

???I’m writing today about what I know and believe to be true of white experience following police killings of Black men and boys.

SYSTEMS THEORY 101

All systems are subsystems of larger systems. All systems are contexts for subsystems. All systems are interlinked, interrelated, and interdependent. When one part of a system changes, every part is affected, however indiscernibly. As humans, we all participate in many systems: families, work environments, social networks, exercise and recreation groups, faith groups, etc.?

In our Western democratic countries, all of us are legally entitled to try to influence systems by our words and actions.

???Virtually all Western country systems — including companies, institutions, other organizations, and work occupations — are white-conceived and white-sustained through white dominance. This is undeniable.??

RIPPLE EFFECTS AFTER POLICE KILLINGS

???Every time a media-publicized horrifying killing, near-killing, or brutalization of a Black man or boy by police officers takes place, all of the following happens rapidly and simultaneously:?

???Video evidence and eyewitness accounts reveal use of needlessly excessive force by police officers…abuse of their roles as agents of white-controlled local, county, state, and/or regional subsystems of white-dominated country-wide policing systems.?

???Every white police officer and employee of every police subsystem in the country (and often beyond) has a visceral reaction upon hearing the news, watching the video footage, and reading and listening to the commentators, eyewitnesses, victim’s family members, community members, and police spokespeople and politicians. That’s hundreds of thousands of white people reacting. Probably millions. What do we do with our reactions? Most of us hold them fleetingly, filter them through our biases and beliefs, and then let them go and move on with our lives.?

???Every white family member and friend of every police officer and police subsystem employee has a visceral reaction upon learning of the killing. Further reactions arise when the police officer or other employee they know voices their reactions to -- and their biases and beliefs about -- the killing. That’s millions more of us white people reacting, filtering our reactions, and letting them go, with no objections voiced or actions taken.?

???Every white family member and friend of every police officer and police subsystem employee participates in at least one work environment and/or social network. With very few exceptions, all of us millions of white people do our work in white-led and mostly white-populated environments. Most white people’s social networks are overwhelmingly or exclusively white. The latest media-publicized police killing of a Black man or boy will be known to nearly everyone in all white-dominated work environments and social spaces. That’s countless millions more white people’s reactions that are being filtered, discussed (or not), and let go with no objections voiced or actions taken.???

???This systemic ripple effect of visceral reactivity, internal filtering, letting go, and silence and inaction quickly becomes all-encompassing…within and across white-dominated subsystems, including: police policy and oversight bodies, training and qualification bodies, support services, equipment suppliers, and facilities constructors and maintenance people; criminal lawyers and related employees and their training and qualification bodies, support services, facilities constructors and maintenance people; court systems and prison systems, probation system rehabilitation services prison education and production operations and services; and social and mainstream media platforms.?

???Beyond the subsystems most closely interlinked with policing systems are countless other white-dominated subsystems – for working, educating, socializing, playing, and praying – whose participants are reacting, filtering, letting go, and saying and doing nothing.??

OUR OPPORTUNITIES…OUR RESPONSIBILITY?

???By filtering and silencing our own reactivity to police killings of Black men and boys — actions that overtly and covertly reinforce the notion of white superiority and Black inferiority — we perpetuate systemic anti-Black racism within our subsystems…our spheres of influence.?

???We’re not powerless to challenge and change our white-dominated meta system. Each of us has power or influence within our subsystems. Some of us have authority as organization leaders, managers, consultants, and even lawmakers.?

???We each have daily opportunities to challenge and change every subsystem in which we live, partner with others, raise children, speak with friends, work with colleagues, look after neighbors, vote, and influence decisions about others’ employment. These are opportunities to make intentional choices…choices to object, to challenge, and to act against racist abuse, violence, and killings.?

???This is what antiracism is about…intentional day-to-day words and actions to influence and change our subsystems…our parts of the systemic whole. As white people, it’s our responsibility to do this.