My racism turning point
It required a lot of emotional pain for me to begin understand how, as Rev. angel Kyodo williams says, “love and justice are not two. without inner change, there can be no outer change; without...
View ArticleBeing Black in a white state: Why I “stick it out”
This story ran in Maine’s largest paper this past Sunday and it reminded of a question that I was recently asked by a Black woman from the south. What is it like to be a Black person in such a white...
View ArticleAfter the turning point, Part 1
Losing a friend because I was steeped in white supremacy (and didn’t even see it) was the beginning of my turning point in racial justice work; she showed me that my “writing for white people” in a...
View ArticleCalling All White People, Part 33: Racism isn’t the white person’s call
(A periodic attempt to mobilize white people for something other than supporting just other melanin-deficient folks and maintaining a status quo of a nation geared toward whiteness as the baseline and...
View ArticleActions I take (as a white woman) to help dismantle white supremacy
[An evergreen reminder: I am a white woman writing about racism so I might share with other white people what I learn—mostly what I learn from people of color—so we can all work toward societal...
View ArticleRaising kids of color in very white places
For the last several years of my marriage, while we never doubted that there was love between us, we were uncomfortably aware that there was something deeply amiss in our relationship. We spent our...
View ArticleBeing made “not to belong”
A couple of years ago, one Saturday night I was called—as I often was—by the security company that monitors my former school. As an administrator, specifically an administrator that lives less than...
View ArticleBringing my ‘day job’ work to Northern New England: Join us!
In the five-plus years, since I became executive director of Community Change Inc. (CCI), I have had readers ask if I would consider bringing some of our programming north of Boston. Because, while...
View ArticleCrying over spilled water? It’s more than that when it comes to interracial...
Last May, I attended an event called “Telling the Truth: Exploring the Heart of Cross-Racial Conversations.” At this event, Shay Stewart-Bouley (our own “Black Girl In Maine”) and a white author named...
View ArticleThis is a business and a mission, not a performance
I am a professional. I am a small business owner. And I am a human being. Why do I feel like I need to say these things? Because of a comment sent to the previous post here at the BGIM Media site,...
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Calling All White People, Part 40: Goodbye, ally…Breaking up is sometimes...
Calling All White People, Part 40 (A periodic attempt to mobilize white people for something other than supporting just other melanin-deficient folks and maintaining a status quo of a nation geared...
View ArticleThe audacity of whiteness, or How I was trying to mind my own business
Despite my years now as an anti-racism writer/speaker and non-profit director, the moments when I encounter casual racism can still at times take my breath away. While I prefer to look more deeply at...
View ArticleI’m tired of white women writing about racism
The research has been done. We know the facts. We know that the social construct called “whiteness” was created to make sure that the richest white men stayed rich and got richer and the rest of us...
View ArticleWhat do white people at large have in common with the shutdown protesters?
As I grow more and more furious at the white people protesting stay-at-home measures set up to keep all of us healthy, the temptation to see them as “other” grows stronger, too. Thousands of White...
View ArticleCalling All White People, Part 44: White supremacy is literally pathetic and...
Calling All White People, Part 44 (A periodic attempt to mobilize white people for something other than supporting just other melanin-deficient folks and maintaining a status quo of a nation geared...
View ArticleIntentions mean little when the impact hurts people
Ever since our phones became video recording devices, we have seen images of Black people being beaten up and murdered. In the name of “awareness,” people—especially those of us who are white—continue...
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Maine is open for illness…er, business? Or just business as usual?
So, news broke on June 15 that Maine Gov. Janet Mills was opening the whole state back open for business again. I guess it’s not surprising. Her predecessor, the despicably awful Paul LePage, made the...
View ArticleTo my white professional peers…
Each time I’m given the opportunity to share thoughts and information in this space, I’m struck by how wrong it feels to be putting myself (what I’ve learned from others) in the spotlight. I’m a white...
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‘Prim and proper’ might not cut it
My mother and I can fight. Like, we can yell and scream at the top of our lungs sometimes. Last summer my daughters had friends over and my mother and I got in a fight about…I don’t even remember…but...
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A pause in racism due to COVID
Like many of you, I have been sheltering in place at home since mid-March when I shut down my Boston office. Though I did spend late-May to late-June in Chicago when my Dad was dying, upon my return...
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