Method 1:
Education
Learn about how white supremacy has shaped the world around you, and build anti-racist awareness by sharing what you learn with other white people.
Why Education?
As white people living in a racist system, much of our formal and informal education has been filtered through a racist lens. We have a lot to learn and a lot to unlearn. In the words of Dr. Neely Fuller, “If you don’t understand white supremacy, everything you think you understand will only confuse you.” As white anti-racists, we practice education by honoring and respecting the knowledge and wisdom of the people who’ve been most directly impacted by white supremacy and anti-Blackness.
Principles of Education
Respect Black people as experts on understanding and fighting white supremacy. We practice Education by listening more than we talk, and by allowing the perspectives of Black people to challenge even our most deeply held assumptions – especially the assumption that we know better than Black people. Anti-racist education means learning to see the things our privilege hides from us. The more “highly educated” we are, the more we probably have to unlearn, because most of the educational institutions in this country are steeped in white supremacy. “The schools we go to are reflections of the society that created them. Nobody is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them.” (Assata Shakur)
Study has its place, but nothing can replace observation and participation in real life struggles against oppression. In the words of Black Panther Party Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton Sr, “I don’t care how much theory you got, if it don't have any practice applied to it, then that theory happens to be irrelevant. Right? Any theory you get, practice it. And when you practice it you make some mistakes. When you make a mistake, you correct that theory, and then it will be a corrected theory that will be able to be applied and used in any situation. ” Education isn’t something we go off and do in an ivory tower; we practice education in how we show up in relationships and in struggle. Real life struggle is a messy, dynamic process. Mistakes are inevitable and growth is always possible when we are willing to learn.
When it comes to teaching other white people about anti-racism, actions speak louder than words. James Baldwin once critiqued white liberal and left-leaning folks by saying, “I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.” White people debase anti-racism when we turn it into yet another form of cultural capital, using anti-racist ideas to feel superior to others. Anti-racism goes much deeper than saying the right things and not saying the wrong things – it’s about taking action to transform ourselves and the society we live in. You can lecture people about anti-racism all day; most people won’t remember a word you said. We show people anti-racism by doing anti-racism, and by inviting other white people into the practice of the 5 Methods.
Method 2:
Organization
Build relationships inside the white community that are capable of collective action to end white supremacy and support Black self determination.
Why Organization?
“Rugged individualism” is one of the great lies of white supremacy, and one of the most deeply ingrained traits of white American culture. In order to defeat white supremacy and transform society, we will need to make the transition from activism to organizing.
Principles of Organization
From “me” to “we”: According to the 2020 Census, more than 200 million Americans identify as white - how many of us are politicized, organized, connected and capable of taking collective action for racial justice? Being the “woke” white person is not sufficient. We do this movement a disservice when we try to make anti-racism into an individual identity that keeps us on the margins and in small subcultures of the white community. Serious anti-racists join and actively participate in workplace, neighborhood, political, and religious/cultural organizations - these are sites of collective power where we can contribute to building an anti-racist culture.
From separation to connection: When we begin to awaken to the reality of white supremacy, our first impulse is usually to distance ourselves from other white people. Whether we know it or not, we’ve all been hurt by white supremacy. While white people benefit from white privilege, this system has also traumatized us - costing us our cultural heritage, our grasp on reality, our connection to others, and our humanity. We practice Organization by making the transition from focusing on how we are different or not like other white people, to tapping into how we are exactly the same. We stop pointing the finger at others and instead turn the mirror on ourselves. How has white supremacy shaped us? What’s our self interest, our personal stake, in ending white supremacy? We set aside our judgements of white people and take on the discipline of loving us. We can’t effectively organize people we don’t love.
From changing ourselves to changing conditions: Anti-racism is not about personal moral salvation for white people. It’s not about making better individual consumer or behavioral choices, thus becoming a better person. It’s about changing the conditions that produce unnecessary suffering, misery and death. This process is a collective responsibility, not an individual endeavor. It’s a massive undertaking that needs millions of white people to get involved. The most valuable work we can do as anti-racist white organizers is to bring other white folks along with us into this movement. The work of organizing is to facilitate other people to take up the work, not to do all the work ourselves.
Method 3:
Contribution
Not Control
Contribute your skills, knowledge, and labor to work that Black people are leading, without demanding decision-making power.
Why Contribution Not Control?
The need to control is the engine that drives white individuals to embody white supremacy. Anti-racism requires a surrendering of the control that white supremacy tells us we are entitled to as white people, and a genuine respect for the right of Black people to decide what’s best for themselves. Anti-racist white people recognize that our capacity to contribute to the Black community and the racial justice movement does not entitle us to decision-making power in those spaces.
Principles of Contribution Not Control
Regulate your nervous system. We are most likely to inflict racist harm when we are dysregulated - when our heart rates are elevated, when we’re dehydrated or haven’t slept enough, when we’re anxious or resentful or ashamed. To be effective as white anti-racists, we have to recognize that feeling uncomfortable is not the same thing as being attacked or being unsafe, while working to find embodied techniques that help us soothe our nervous system so we can show up in a healthy, principled manner. Everybody’s process for this is different - but having and using a process that works for you is mandatory for this work.
Be a supporter, not a savior. Black people do not need us to tell them what they should be doing. It is never our role to tell Black people how to organize or what should be happening in their community. We can, however, move from passivity to taking responsibility for white supremacy as the white community’s problem to solve. We can contribute to meeting needs and solving problems without centering ourselves. No matter how much we contribute, we never have a “right” to deny Black people their right to self determination. Our role is to be of service to Black people, not to lead, fix, or save Black people.
Commit to an unwavering respect for Black people. The true test of a white anti-racist is how we conduct ourselves in relationship to the Black people we disagree with. White anti-racists do not engage in behavior or speech that disrespects or degrades Black people in any way. There is never an “anti-racist” justification for doing so. We practice Contribution Not Control by being disciplined in how we express disagreements with Black people. We don’t tear Black people down. We don’t deploy racist stereotypes. We don’t pit Black people against each other. While we are well aware that it is a tactic of white supremacy to use Black bodies to grease the gears and Black faces to facilitate the objectives of a racist system, undisciplined and unstrategic pushback by white activists only serves to make that tactic more effective.
Method 4:
Intervention
Take responsibility for preventing white people from harming Black communities.
Why Intervention?
Violence is an essential feature of white nationalism, and that violence will keep happening until we make it stop. White supremacy is a system, not an event. Understanding this, we learn to recognize normalized forms of violence like criminalization and poverty, and contend with our own roles in the systems that produce those outcomes. On top of these layers of structural violence, racist violence is also happening at the grassroots level - from intimidation and harassment to shootings, bombings and other forms of terrorism. White people must take responsibility for putting an end to America’s culture of racist violence.
Principles of Intervention
Prevention is the best intervention. In May 2022, a young white man live streamed himself murdering 10 Black people in a grocery store in Buffalo, NY. Intervening against a determined, armed and armored attacker is very dangerous and has a low chance of success. The best time to intervene with that individual would have been during the preceding years, and effective intervention would likely have required more than one touch point from more than one person. CRC emphasizes that proactivity is always better than reactivity. We practice Intervention by proactively taking responsibility for preventing racist harm, working to heighten our awareness of how white supremacy is at play in our environment, and risking our comfort to increase everybody’s collective safety. When white people take on the practice of prevention as intervention at a mass level, mass shootings and other forms of racist violence will stop.
Do something, not nothing; every style can work. The Intervention method is an invitation for white people to move from passivity to activity in regards to fighting white supremacy. Intervention is political, not just physical, and there are opportunities to take action against racism in big and small ways every single day. White supremacy is everywhere, and there is value in fighting it everywhere that it exists. Practice intervention in ways that make sense for your context, whether that’s participating in civil disobedience or pushing back on a racist joke at the family dinner table. The important thing is to keep practicing, and to normalize pushback against white supremacy among white people. Each of the 5 Methods is, in its own way, a form of intervention and when practiced, are useful tools to prevent racist harm, whatever your personal temperament or political tendency.
Effective Intervention requires discipline and discernment. Intervention can be risky because it has both the potential to prevent AND to cause harm. We need to understand the risks - not just to ourselves, but to others. We ask ourselves the following questions when engaging in the Intervention method: Will our intervention create real protection, or will it create the conditions for more racist harm? Is our intervention really about preventing/addressing harm, or is it a way to satisfy an emotional need of ours? And who are we accountable to?
Method 5:
Divestment
Return stolen and hoarded wealth.
Why Divestment?
Although we are a small minority of the global population, white people have monopoly control of wealth on planet Earth. White people acquired this monopoly control through anti-Blackness - the processes of colonization, slavery, and imperialism. All white people have been implicated in these processes, though we have differing levels of access to the wealth and power accumulated thereby.
White monopoly control of wealth is the primary mechanism by which white supremacy perpetuates itself. If we are serious about ending white supremacy, we have to change our relationship (individually and collectively) to this stolen, hoarded wealth.
The struggle for Black self determination in all the areas that white supremacy has attacked it - Self Defense & Safety, Economics & Prosperity, Education & Competence, Family Systems & Stability, Traditions & Ways, Technology & Efficacy, Art & Media, Politics & Governance, and Health & Wellbeing - requires resources in order for Black people to build alternative systems outside of the white power structure.
Philanthropy is a vehicle for white power, not Black self determination. Philanthropy and foundations were originally created as tools for wealthy white people to increase not only their wealth, but also their social status and political decision-making power. For example, this 2020 report found that “More than one third of the top 20 racial equity recipients were founded by white billionaires or large corporations advancing their own theories in mostly Black, Brown and Indigenous communities, often independent of or in direct opposition to calls from racial justice leaders.”
This is why Community Ready Corps created the Black Solidarity Fund, which is a mechanism to facilitate the transfer of wealth from white, capitalist-oriented control to Black community-oriented control. The Black Solidarity Fund resources Black-led organizing around the Black Solidarity Process. By divesting wealth to the Black Solidarity Fund, white anti-racists also divest decision-making power, allowing Black leadership to decide how to best invest funds towards the development of Black self determination.
Divestment is a healing and restoring practice that benefits us as much as it benefits the people we divest to.
Principles of Divestment
Scarcity is a lie. There are enough resources to meet everybody’s needs, but white supremacy systems were not designed to meet human needs. Lack, scarcity, and poverty are manufactured by these systems in order to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of the very few. Reject the lie of scarcity and rediscover your shared interest in reclaiming the abundant resources that can fulfill every human need.
Because a cross-class alliance of white people is maintaining white supremacy, we believe that it will take a strong cross-class alliance of white people to dismantle it. It is not possible to build this cross-class alliance if we continue to practice a culture of silence, secrecy, and plain ol’ fronting about our class positions. The first step towards building an anti-racist cross-class alliance is to get clear and honest with ourselves and each other about what we have, why we have it, and what we’re doing with it.
Why do we have it? White wealth is stolen wealth. The global capitalist economy is anti-Black. Ending white supremacy necessitates a wholesale transformation of the economic system, starting with a radical redistribution of resources that can enable the construction of a new economy. Divestment is an essential practice for white people, especially those of us who have access to personal wealth. Holding on to stolen and hoarded resources to maintain a lifestyle built on the backs of Black people undermines our mission to destroy white supremacy.
Divestment is about what we can give, not what we can get. When we use our ability to give money as a way to increase our decision-making power and extract more social and political capital for ourselves, we perpetuate white supremacy. Divestment is about what Black people need, not what appeals to white wealthy people. Our role is to give, not to dictate how the money should be used. When we talk about divestment, we speak in terms of the percentage of access to wealth divested rather than the amount of money given. The goal of divestment is a meaningful shift in who controls the majority of the world’s wealth. This is why Community Ready Corps created the Black Solidarity Fund, as an answer to the question: how do I actually give up decision-making power when I’m returning stolen wealth? By divesting wealth to the Black Solidarity Fund, white anti-racists also divest decision-making power, allowing Black leadership to decide how to best invest funds towards the development of Black self determination.