Like many other white spiritual businesswomen, I’ve only recently begun to understand that any unexamined business built with white privilege and unconsciously housed inside the cultural framework of white supremacy will have a racist bias, however unintentional.* As a solopreneur who brands myself, stepping into the cleaning of my own house has been gutting work.
I know this process is going to be gradual, ongoing and cumulative, but I’ve decided to start with the model of the Camden, NJ police force and “lay off” all my current products, materials and messaging, and make everything “re-apply” to see if it’s actually fit to serve. What’s not will get replaced.
This is going to take time, and I’m going to make mistakes. My pledge is to stay at it, to build my “non-fragility muscle” and support my white clients in doing the same, and to continue to “do the work” of anti-racism in all aspects of my life and business, including ongoing self-education, self-examination, study in BIPOC-lead groups, taking action to fight racist policy on local and federal levels, and financially supporting BIPOC businesses and anti-racism educators – with accountability (so far through active participation in two BIPOC-lead anti-racism communication and training forums, one local).
I say it all the time in my classes on habit change, this is the action of new awareness: when you know better, you do better. I’m deeply sorry for any harm I’ve caused or perpetuated in my unconsciousness, and am committed to a major course correction.
Joining the effort to dismantle white supremacy is going to take time, be uncomfortable and cost money. We likely won’t see enough change in our lifetime, though I never rule out miracles.
I believe this is what’s necessary. If we work from a harmful platform, how can we truly be of help?
*I’ve found this to be a useful tool for understanding the systemic nature of racism, and specifically, the culture of white supremacy: https://surjpoliticaledsite.weebly.com/white-supremacy-culture.html
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