Call To Action

Editor’s Note: Sabrina Portner, serving in Bolivia, shares resources that are helping shape her understanding of power and privilege. She invites readers to join her on the journey by listening to and uplifting the voices of people of color. 

My voice is not yearning to be heard, nor is it needed. Please listen to our brothers and sisters of color. Get out of your echo chamber. Follow them on Social Media, become their patrons on Patreon, support their businesses and work, donate and most importantly listen. Join me as I am checking my own soul. I ask myself: Where do my racist impulses and thoughts lie? 

Those of us who identify as white all have work to do. 

During the beginning of quarantine I participated in a 21-day Racial Equity in the Food System Challenge. If you are interested in learning more, please send me a message. 

These are people of color I am listening to. All descriptions are in their own words. 

Black Voices:

@misstej Teju Adisa-Farrar – Geographer •Writer •Poet || Consultant mapping Black {read: resilient} futures: alternative geographies x environmental / cultural equity

@soulfirefarm  Soul Fire Farm – committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system.

@tanehisipcoates  Ta-Nehisi Coates – Author and Journalist – Between the World and Me

@littlenows  bronte velez – little now(s) • “blk wellness is the antithesis of state violence” • $venmo @ bronte-velez / @lead2life & @weaving_earth

@ambertamm  Amber Tamm – BKLYN gurl anointed by momma earth, floral designer +horticulturalist + farmer

@ava Ava DuVernay – writer, director, producer and distributor of film and television @whentheyseeus

@decolonizingtherapy Dr. Jennifer Mullan – Decolonizing Therapy™, Clinical Psychologist, The Rage Doctor, Ancestral Trauma Worker, Community Organizer

@tlynnfaz Tatyana Fazlalizadeh – Artist, @stoptellingwomentosmile creator, @shesgottahave Artist/Art Consultant

@honeiee  Harmonia Rosales – Painter exploring black female empowerment through art that challenges ideological hegemony in contemporary society

@austinchanning  Austin Channing Brown – Writer. Speaker. | Racial Justice. Faith.

Black Womanhood. | Author of Im Still Here: Black dignity in a world made for whiteness

@blackcoffeewithwhitefriends  Black Coffee w/ White Friends – For the curious and the hopeful

@nowhitesaviors  NO WHITE SAVIORS – We never said “no white people”. We just know you shouldn’t be the hero of the story • If you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not listening •

 

Indigenous Voices:

@lawrencewelchnw S.A. Lawrence – First Nations Advocate. Artist. Speaker.

@josue_foto Josue Rivas – (Mexica/Otomi) is an award-winning visual storyteller working at the intersection of art, journalism, and advocacy to challenge the mainstream narrative about Indigenous peoples.

@nahkobear NAHKO – a musical collective with the mission to motivate and inspire our global Tribe

@xiuhtezcatl X – Hip hop artist, climate activist, model and philanthropist

@indigenouspeoplesmovement Indigenous Peoples Movement – a grassroots initiative to unite ALL indigenous voices & bring a positive change for ALL indigenous nations

@icollective2019_  I-collective – Indigenous, Inspired, Innovative, and Independent. An autonomous group of Indigenous chefs, activists, herbalists, seed, and knowledge keepers

@ms_eagleheart Sarah Eagle Heart – Emmy award winning social justice storyteller, Self-help/memoir @warriorprincessesxback @feministpress-2021, CEO @return2heart

@tallpaul612 Tall Paul – Anishinaabe/Oneida, First MC to rap in Ojibwe, @realsway Certified Hyena, Inspirational speaker

@frankwaln  Frank Waln – Sicangu Lakota | rapper/music producer | from the Rosebud Rez 

@honortheearth  Honor the Earth – Native-led organization, est. by Winona LaDuke and Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, in 1993

@sangre_indigena_art Jose Flores Chamale – Guatemalan Artist, Living in New York

Decolonizing, Reclaiming, Resisting

@mmiwhoismissing  MMIP | Who is Missing – Campaign for Missing & Murdered Indigenous People, a violence met with deafening silence in the so-called United States & Canada

@linda.black.elk  Linda Black Elk – Nerdy Indigenous Ethnobotanist, Food Sovereignty Activist

@winonaladuke  Winona LaDuke – Join me in creating the next economy for our people. Winona’s Hemp, Author of All our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life

@ndncollective  NDN Collective – national organization dedicated to building Indigenous power

@a_blackhorse  Amanda Blackhorse – Diné, Founder of Az Rally, Blackhorse et. al. vs. Pro Football

@matikawilbur  Matika Wilbur – a visual storyteller from the Swinomish and Tulalip peoples of coastal Washington

@nativeapprops Adrienne K – Cherokee prof. I write the Native Appropriations blog. Co-host of @amrpodcast. Cultural appropriators beware.

@lylajune  Lyla June – Indigenous performing artist, scholar and community servant
@seedingsovereignty  Seeding Sovereignty –  Indigenous folx growing radical change

@dearnonnatives  #DearNonNatives – Little brown girl, now comin’ at ya on Instagram | Unapologetically Indigenous | #notyourcostume | #MMIW | #Decolonize

 

Hispanic Voices:

@kat_armas Kat Armas – author of Abuelita Faith (forthcoming @BrazosPress), host of The Protagonistas podcast, Cuban, seminarian, spouse

@latinarebels Latina Rebels – 5 Latinas unveiling the complexities of Latina embodiment

@brownissues  Brown Issues – Cultivating the next generation of Brown Leaders through civic engagement, healing, and narrative change

 

Other informative accounts:
@subversive.thread  SubversiveThread – Educators & artists sewing the seams of disruption  

@vrye  Vienna Rye artist focused on political education and analysis

@theconciouskid  The Conscious Kid – Parenting and Education through a Critical Race Lens. Diverse #OwnVoices Books. Black and Brown Owned

 

Books on my reading list (aka haven’t read them yet myself):

How to Be an Antiracist – Ibram X. Kendi

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism – Robin DiAngelo

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander

Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Meditations of the Heart – Howard Thurman

Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel – Gary J Dorrien

Race and the Cosmos: An Invitation to View the World Differently – Barbara A. Holmes

Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land – Leah Penniman

 

Take action:

75 Things White People Can do for Racial Justice 

Corrine Shutack

https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234