white folks, let's talk
This message is directed towards the white members of the LL community. For folks of color, this page is for you.
Hi there.
Earlier this week, I was feeling all sorts of agitation and restlessness and frustration: what else do I do? How should I be? What is the most helpful action for me to take?
I muddled around in this for a while until I realized that this discomfort is the point of the protests, education, and justice work being done by black leaders and black folks across the country right now. The discomfort (and the protests) is the chaos magic that creates space for change.
The point is for me, a white person, to deeply reflect on how I can be doing more to promote anti-racism and dismantle white supremacy, within myself and within my community. The point is for me to feel discomfort that I haven't been doing enough, and to use that discomfort to spur me to do more.
Once I realized this, I sat and accepted the discomfort, the chaos. I stopped resisting those feelings. I accepted them wholly.
I promptly realized that it was well past time for me to check in with the Locust Light community about anti-racism and white supremacy.
This is a time for white folks to share resources with each other, to begin conversations about our own privilege, to ask each other how we're dismantling white supremacy.
This is also a time for me to be very open about how I'm working to make Locust Light anti-racist and a safe, welcoming space for people of color. Locust Light may be my business, but it's your community, and it is important that we share this conversation.
Honestly, I have not done nearly enough to ensure that Locust Light is a safe and welcoming space for people of color. So far, my efforts in this direction have taken two forms:
1) Learning from herbalists of color about the intersection of race, healthcare, and herbalism, and taking a class about making truly safe & inclusive herbal spaces.
2) Understanding cultural appropriation and doing my best to ensure that our practices at LL are not appropriative.
This is a start, but it's not enough. Much of my thinking in this area is geared toward my planning for LL Ch. 3 (i.e. when LL has a property that's its forever home and it can vastly expand), but that's not an excuse for ignoring work that LL can do now, in its present state.
My goal is for LL to not only be a safe space for all beings, but to be a force that actively creates safety for all beings through meaningful action.
I'd like to share some of the actions and considerations that have been personally helpful to me.
Before I do that, though, this is an extremely comprehensive list of resources with which you can educate yourself.
Pay Black Educators and Leaders for Their Work
Please, do not ask people of color for suggestions, resources, or ideas. Doing that is asking them to do free work for you.
Please, do not ask them to help you process your emotions about racism or your inner work or what's going on right now. Doing that is asking them to do free work for you.
Purchase books and education from black educators. Pay them with your money.
Support & Learn from Herbalists of Color
Herbalism is the super-niche world that we're a part of. It is our responsibility to do what we can to 1) make herbal spaces welcoming and safe to people of color and 2) support and learn from herbalists of color.
Here are some herbalists of color to follow:
Amanda David
Ayo Ngozi
Resonance Apothecary
Harriet's Apothecary
Justin Robinson
Farai
Remedies Moon Botanicals
Karen M. Rose
Continuously Reflect Upon my Own Privilege
The sneaky thing about white privilege is that having white privilege means that I get to ignore white privilege. It is my choice whether to think about racism, white supremacy, and my own privilege.
One of my personal practices is to constantly reflect upon the ways that white privilege has benefited my life: this is a practice that helps me to hold awareness that it is wrong and unjust that others do not have these privileges -- these rights.
Two of the most important things in my life are my relationship with John and my work -- Locust Light. My and John's white privilege means that John is SAFE. He is safe. How would I feel every day if the person I loved most in the world was a black man? Terrified. I would feel terrified, and at least low-level anxious all the time. I would have higher levels of cortisol, higher blood pressure, and lower sleep quality. What if, on top of that, I was not white, and therefore I was less safe. I imagine that stress. I feel how wrong it is that others experience it.
And as for Locust Light, my unique, weird small business -- every resource that has allowed LL to exist has flowed to me via the channel of my white privilege. It simply has.
Read Fiction by Black Authors
As social beings, we learn most deeply by empathetically connecting with others. Our hearts learn faster than our minds do. Reading stories by black authors doesn't replace intellectual learning, but it can help intellectual understanding to take hold in our hearts in a stronger way.
My favorite novels by black authors:
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor
This is one of the best American novels, period. It is a must-read for anyone into herbs or magic or both. It's considered "magical realism" but to me, its "magical and real."
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
This is a phenomenal Young Adult novel that addresses police violence and race & class disparities. It's available as an audio book, which is also excellent.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This extremely gripping book depicts the experiences of two young Nigerians navigating life in the U.K. and the U.S. This is a book that you'll devour and think about for a long time. Also, parts of the book take place in the Princeton/Trenton area, which is local to LL.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
This book describes the intrusion of European colonizers into Western Africa. It is a masterpiece, and essential reading.
Read Black Poets
Poetry may not be your thing, but it's one of my things. I encourage you to seek out black voices in whatever super-niche communities you participate in. If you're into poetry, here are some of my favorite African American poets:
Jericho Brown
Jericho Brown's work is that mix of exquisite and truth-bearing that is poetry at its highest. I had the honor of seeing him read three years ago, and talking to him afterward -- and he won a Pulitzer Prize this year. He's extraordinary.
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni came to read at Lehigh while I was there... and I didn't go see her. I have since delved into her work, and continue to regret my decision. Don't make the same mistake I did -- read her work!
Chris James
Chris James writes directly and powerfully about his experiences as a black man in America. I had the honor of hearing him read a few years back. His work will go straight to your heart.
Dr. Maya Angelou
Alright, I know this goes without saying. We all know her most famous poems. But have you read the others? Your life will be more full and vast from absorbing her work.
Patricia Smith
Patricia Smith is a prolific, electrifying poet who writes in a variety of forms, exploring the tragic injustices committed toward African Americans in this country.
Donate Money
Racism and white supremacy are perpetuated by deep, historical, and intentional disparities in resources. One of the best things we can do as white people is to intentionally and consistently redistribute *our own* wealth.
I know there are lots of calls to donate right now. Maybe you have, maybe you haven't.
This is the way I think about donating money:
1) Setting up consistent monthly donations to an organization is effective, and systematic. It allows me to make this part of my budget, i.e. part of my life because it aligns with my values.
2) How much money do I spend a month on: coffee + chocolate, crystals + candles, eating lunch, dinner, or treats out? If someone told me that donating that amount of money per month was guaranteed to dismantle racism & white supremacy, would I do it? Would it feel worth it? Hell yes! Then I can do it now, because it is worth it and it is urgent and important.
The link above has great ideas for organizations to donate to. Which one resonates most with you?
On Being Performative
One of my points of agitation this week was feeling like posting about anti-racism work on social media was being performative. This is largely why I haven't used my platform to speak up much in the past.
This is the conclusion I've come to: posting on social media is performative, because social media is inherently performative. Sure, social media can be used to spread news and build community and spur action, but the way I use social media is largely performative.
When I post about herbalism or plant magic, that is me performing herbalism & plant magic. If all I did were to make social media posts, without actually practicing herbalism & plant magic in my life, I would be a fraud. I would be inauthentic, and you'd know it. You'd be able to tell, and you wouldn't feel good about it, or me. You wouldn't choose to be a part of LL.
I imagine that this is how people of color feel when they see white folks only posting about anti-racism work and not doing anything else: they can tell that the posts are inauthentic, and that doesn't feel great.
It's not being performative that's the problem: it's when the performance isn't backed by practice that the problem arises.
And so, it is our job to continuously practice anti-racism and the dismantling of white supremacy, both within ourselves, within our super-niche communities, and within our states and countries.
It's a practice. We're going to mess up. I'm going to mess up. But I'm here for the learning. I'm here for the process.
In solidarity,
Amanda
P.S. I would add a question: What can your Plant Ally teach you about your inner anti-racism work?