programs : racial justice initiative
In early 2003, YWCA Missoula set out to develop a racial justice program. Working with the National Coalition Building Institute's Missoula chapter, our Racial Justice Task Force identified a need for a far-reaching racial justice social marketing campaign aimed at sparking dialogue, reflection and community change.
The campaign includes public service announcements aired on radio and television stations, billboards, bus signs and bumper stickers. The ads have generated much discussion. In addition to receiving numerous calls and letters, the YWCA has sparked controversy on radio call-in shows, and University of Montana classes are debating the issue. We continue to hear about many conversations happening between friends and families. The responses range from people who love the ads to those who really dislike them. We welcome all these responses and appreciate the opportunity to participate in this critical community dialogue.
Whether calling to voice their support or frustration with the campaign, most people have expressed a desire to see an end to racism. Several relevant questions continue to be asked and indeed, warrant public discussion:
Why does a campaign aimed at advancing racial justice target only white people?
Are you saying only white people are racist?
Are you saying I’m racist?
Isn’t talking about people in terms of groups racist?
These are important questions, and are at the very heart of this campaign. When we look back now to the ’50s and ’60s, it may seem obvious what needed to change. The inequity between people of different races was glaring, overt, literally written on the walls. As laws changed and the overt racism lessened, it has become increasingly difficult for many white people to identify what racism is and how it manifests today in our judicial, educational, political, housing and health care systems. We have come to think of institutional racism as a thing of the past, something that died with Brown v. Board of Education and the passing of the Civil Rights Act.
Most of us now think of racism as individual actions and behaviors — like burning a cross on someone’s lawn or using derogatory words. Yet thinking of racism only in these terms impedes our ability to see how racism is embedded in our lives. Few of us, if we define racism as individual actions, see ourselves as racist. And it’s true that most of us would not deliberately discriminate. Our unconscious attitudes and beliefs, however, are shaped from early childhood by a culture that maintains stereotypical images and messages about people of color. As white people, we inherit these messages regardless of whether or not we believe them. So embedded and normalized is racism in our lives that it is exceedingly difficult for us to see it at work around or within us, or to comprehend how racism has not only closed doors to people of color, but opened doors for people like us.
By nearly every indicator — education, employment, income, health, and even life expectancy — there remains a very clear and disturbing trend that white people are advantaged and people of color are disadvantaged. The data is overwhelming: racism — a system of advantage based on race — remains pervasive throughout our country. In using this definition we are neither calling individual white people racist nor excusing any white people from working to end racism. As long as systemic inequalities exist, all white people benefit. Our primary concern is addressing racism as a form of systemic oppression.
As a group of predominantly white people working in a predominantly white community, we see that our inquiry is not whether racism exists, for the answer to that is clearly yes. Rather, as a first step in working toward change, we seek to explore racism for ourselves, to understand the ways in which it has shaped our lives. How have I benefited — knowingly or unknowingly — by racism? What did I grow up learning about people of color? What didn’t I learn about people of color? Who is in my life — or not in my life — because of racism? What does racism mean to me?
It seems obvious to us that white people benefit from racism in many ways — whether we intend to or not — but we also suffer a significant cost. As long as racism continues, we are missing out on the full intelligence, creativity, friendship, passion, humor and leadership people of color in our community contribute. The work of ending racism requires everyone’s efforts, and white people have a unique role in working toward change. We invite you to join us in this inquiry as we move our community toward greater inclusion and equality.
We continue to welcome your thoughts, questions and insights as we grow and learn together.