Day 13 Theme: Racism hurts everyone

In a speech at the 1985 United Nations Decade for Women conference, Gangulu activist, artist and scholar Dr. Lilla Watson said, “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Although White supremacist attitudes, actions and policies inflict the most harm on individuals and communities of color, ultimately racism harms everyone—even White people who consciously engage in it in order to gain or maintain some type of social advantage. In the words of Fay Givens, Executive Director of American Indian Services, “In Native societies, no one did without, no child was an orphan, all elders were loved and cared for. Material goods were viewed as a burden. Wealth was your grandchildren. There was no incarceration. The United States has created an underclass of people made up of people of color. Instead of taking responsibility for what they have created they disrespect and demean the poor—always fear someone will get something for nothing, never acknowledging their action that created the dysfunction in society.”

We invite you to explore the following 3 resources (linked below) to better understand how racism’s costs radiate beyond its direct targets, with profound implications for public health, community strength, economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, knowledge production and innovation:

Chicago region Metropolitan Planning Council report, The Cost of Segregation

10-minute video on the Asian Model Minority Myth

Conversation with Nishnaabeg activist, scholar and author Leanne Betasamosake Simpson on Indigenous knowledge and climate change

Reflect & Respond:

What thoughts come to your mind? How might our world be different if Indigenous science and economic systems had never been dismissed as inferior to Western models? How much further might we have advanced in terms of knowledge, technology and health if educational and employment opportunities had not been denied to so many people based solely on their race throughout U.S. history? What impact does acknowledgement of the catastrophic costs of racism have on your work/studies/volunteerism?