“I am not free while any woman is unfree,
even when her shackles are very different from my own.”

Audre Lorde

This Lorde quote has guided my education and educational career for over 24 years.

I came to an awareness of my racial identity as a young woman radicalized into feminist theory and praxis in women’s studies classes while in college. My teacher and mentor, a white woman, centered her coursework in BIPOC, womanist, queer writing, and theory. Therefore, simultaneously, as I awakened to my oppression as a woman, I learned about my immense privilege as a white person.  As I learned about my white racial privilege, I learned too about the responsibility I held to dismantle white supremacy.

“Look for where your privilege intersects with somebody’s oppression. That is the piece of the system that you have the power to help destroy.”

Ijeoma Oluo

As a racially privileged educator, it is my responsibility to dismantle systems of white supremacy for which I benefit and BIPOC are harmed. One way I do this is by teaching mostly white people about whiteness, the construction of race, the various impacts of race, and the forms and functions of institutional and ideological racism. I do this work in hopes of teaching important racial history often not taught in school while also instilling a responsibility to my white students about their crucial and necessary role in ending racism. When I do my work well, students leave galvanized to fight for racial justice in their homes, communities, and the larger world.   

“Racism is a white problem. It was constructed by white people and the ultimate responsibility lies with white people.”

Robin DiAngelo

To expect BIPOC to fight individuals, institutions, and ideology which seek to oppress them is to place the problem in their lap when it is squarely in mine. Charlie McGeehan writes in his article, How Can We Build Anti-Racist White Educators? that “…we must also push back against the notion that people of color should be burdened with the responsibility of guiding white people through this work.” While some BIPOC educators choose to educate white people on whiteness and race, it is not solely BIPOC's responsibility to educate and challenge white people’s racism.   

“My feeling is white people have a very serious problem, and they should start thinking about what they can do about it. Take me out of it.”

Toni Morrison

All of my courses are intersectional and rooted in the voices of BIPOC. White students learn from BIPOC voices and course materials focuses students’ study and engagement with BIPOC writers, artists, theorists, and activists. Each course I create is reviewed and audited by BIPOC for their challenges, changes, and edits. As a white educator, it is imperative that I have built in accountability for my whiteness. As students, it is also important to have white spaces to explore whiteness and its destructive impact. White people have a race, and it is crucial learning to see ourselves in the story of race, not existing outside of it.

I see my educational efforts as a means of supporting BIPOC people, making the world a safer, more just place for them.  

My race education courses should not be the only education white people receive. If my students stop their race education with my work, then I have failed them. White people must continuously educate and learn from not only white educators but attend workshops and classes taught by BIPOC educators. Our work should never be done.

In addition, each year I donate a percentage of my income earned to various BIPOC non-profits, programs, or organizations, led by BIPOC. And I co-lead paid educational opportunities with BIPOC when possible.