Here’s a compelling essay about the “subtle linguistics of polite white supremacy.” It reminds me a lot of what constitutes “MN nice” in some circles.

Here’s a set of stunning visualizations via mapping technology of segregation in the US.

Vivian and I have often used the 1935 city planning map of Minneapolis in our dismantling racism work, and now here is the one for St. Paul, as well, along with thoughtful analysis of how transportation planning cut up vibrant and robust African-American neighborhoods.

Those of us who carry white privilege can do more to counter some of the ignorance out there. Here’s a great start!

Here’s a very useful and concise “explainer” concerning the social construction of race in the US.

A great reminder of the ways white privilege can capture a discussion, even with the best intentions.  Austin Channing wonders…

One day I would like to try hosting a workshop where people of color tell their stories, and thats it. Period.

Where people of color talk, vent, laugh, cry and affirm one another’s racial realities.

Where white people don’t talk, don’t justify, don’t question.

Where white people are given different rules that require seeking permission to participate.

Where white people are expected to connect the dots themselves, to own their learning, to manage their emotions.

I wonder if white privilege could be taught by eliminating even the small privileges/rules that typically serve white folks well in a classroom setting.

This is not an exercise intended to be mean or to make white people feel awful. Nor is it an exercise to minimize the stories and experiences of white people. I just want to spend a little more time asking myself what it would be like for the priority to be reversed.

Rather than judging the success of my training on whether or not white people walked away understanding privilege; could I define success based on the emotional energy of people of color after the training is done? Could I so center the experience of people of color that they walk away feeling some measure of healing, of energy, of understanding about themselves and each other? Could they leave more alive then when they came?

Here is writer Jon Greenberg’s list of resources for white people looking to work on dismantling racism.

Here’s a powerful articulation of Lutheran theology by Francisco Herrara, reflecting on the aftermath of Charleston and racism.

I am so moved by Ruby Sales’ witness here:

I am not an icon. I am the continuation and product of generations of Black planting and tilling in an unimaginable and never ending climate of White supremacy, state sanctioned terrorism and psychological warfare.

If we forget this, we raise up grand and egocentric individuals who imagine that they created a people rather than being the handiwork of a people who worked hard to carve out of the sackcloth of systemic oppression a life giving space where individuals could strive to reach their higher selves.

This is the context that must shape our telling and understanding of Movement history. It must be understood as the story of a people who worked and dreamed together to create spiritual and cultural resources that enabled us not to become what White supremacists intended. Right in the glare of systemic soppression, they fertilized and built a movement where they and their children worked toward a common vision even when they differed on the path.

Matthew Cooke is a white documentary producer who has created a number of well regarded films, Deliver Us From Evil (about child sexual abuse in the Catholic church) among them. This week he released a short film he calls “Race Baiting 101” which is a compelling look at US history, and an argument for why white people need to band together with people of color against racism.