An antiracist is an activist who believes racism is prevalent in many aspects of society. Not being racist and being an antiracist are very different. Antiracists believe a person who thinks they are not racist is really a racist in denial. Antiracists are destructive. In fact they work to break down society and believe in equitable outcomes not equal opportunity.
The Momentum Center in Grand Haven holds regular meetings for antiracists. Each month the antiracist leaders host Anti-Racism Town Hall Meetings where they ask interesting questions which work to break down society. Remember they believe in equity, not equality and by asking these questions they hope to inspire additional residents to join their task force and create more activists. This is a compilation of questions from various meetings which can also be read in the emails below.
How have any changes that attempted to make racial tension better in Grand Haven felt to people of color who live here now?
Why is there so little diversity in Grand Haven and Spring Lake?
How do we better allow BIPOC neighbors to tell their own stories?
What advice do you have on how we can educate others about race/racism without triggering a defensive response?
In their professional opinions, does the media do more harm or good in relation to how race is portrayed?
After the passage of the voting rights act, voting was supposed to be abundant for all Americans. We still see that being impeded. How are we called to act to guarantee access to this fundamental act? How can we help?
How do district boundary lines, as well as the lines we draw within districts impact the underlying segregation in our communities?
How do we get employers to give ex-offenders the opportunity to get jobs?
How do you get staff engaged in an anti-racist culture without force?
How does justice reform begin?
How is the Drug War connected to the school-to-prison pipeline?
How on earth can we change the systematic racism in the justice system?
Members of the Anti-Racism Task Force believe these questions will work to reduce racism, however what is actually happening is that people are learning to focus on race and notice race. They are making the bad parts of the past the focal point. They are creating easy ways for bullies to insult anyone that doesn’t look like them. They are creating more racist incidents by constantly focusing on race. To simplify, they are creating racists and racist incidents by focusing on race, and more incidents is a means to an end to give them the excuse to implement more teachings… which are contributing to more racist incidents… which leads to more money spent on reducing racism. (which is actually throwing fuel on the fire.)
The questions above are interesting because they provide insight into how antiracists think. Rather than addressing specific instances of racism, they assume everyone is racist. The antiracists believe it is their job to reduce the racist tendencies of people, while at the same time they believe white people can never be cured. In some cases the antiracists are actually talking about their own beliefs and projecting them onto the community. They believe that people in Grand Haven are obviously racist because there are not many non-white people living in the area. Unfortunately this circular chain of antiracists calling citizens racist is creating racists and racist incidents by focusing on race. It is not helping our community.
The good news is that if you paid close attention to the emails above you would have noticed that the Anti-Racism Task Force rarely has over 100 participants at their meetings. Other emails not pictured, stated they had sign-ups of 89, 77, and 58 participants for three separate town halls. They are spending lots of time and money working to teach the community the correct way to think about racism, but the community at large is not interested.