George's - Writings

  Witnessing Whiteness — Third Edition — A Must Read For White People Who Care Shelly Tochluk’s Third Edition of: Witnessing Whiteness: The Journey Into Racial Awareness And AntiRacist Action is an incredible, incredible book. White people who care about ending racism should purchase a copy of this book, read it, and save it for its reference value. Note: I must admit my bias here! On August 14, 2022 — Shelly facilitated a great workshop that I co-produced — video link: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/2U7suoejgxQZTkcICRyWbY1vjvoCRAMOh7lkJ1OcvjNft4yltO9iH5IvS33IAIx5bN4tx2Tt8bg5Dlg.UKuueFPeO_TXsA1Q?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=-JIsprobTouFRgyq9hfAFA.1660780012971.003f3754f5623b394bf8c96bf310a331&_x_zm_rhtaid=866 . I’ve been a part of multiple trainings with her and members of AWARE-LA — her “home” group. While it would be a stretch to say that we are friends, I greatly admire both her work, and her wonderful caring heart. This book is a primer for the white anti-ra...

  This book was written primarily for Black People - related to Racism.   I'm white. It's incredible! The study showed that a large percentage of Black professionals with ethnically identifiable names such as Lakeisha Ann Washington - would strategically list their name as L. Ann Washington, for example, rather than Lakeisha A. Washington when it came time to apply for a job. (p.17) Livingston recounted the story of a white women he called: "Kaitlin Wilson" (not her real name) , who had organized a major two day DEI presentation at her company;   He noted that Kaitlin came to him and told him how the "name" issue had related to her own lived experience when she was back in college, years ago. Kaitlin had initially been rejected for admission to her sorority.  After the rejection, she ran into on of the sorority sisters who’d rejected her.   The sister now realized that Kaitlin was white.  Kaitlin was then accepted into the (all white) sororit...

  Today’s avatars of this sort of politics include California governor Gavin Newsom, a former business mogul turned politician … During his tenure as governor, Newsom has continued to burnish his credentials as a blue-state cultural warrior through championing various gender and racial equity initiatives… But behind this progressive pageantry is the fact that California remains one of the most unaffordable and economically unequal states in the country and in recent years has held the highest poverty rate of any state in the union 15 p.15-16 Especially at a time of heightened attention to race, this perhaps explains some progressives’ venom for working-class whites.   But the eagerness to exchange at least part of the working class for a professional-class constituency has been a pet project of Democratic leaders since the Clinton era, when the New Democrats – the ruthless, business-savvy alliance that reoriented the party towards policies like financial deregulation and p...

  (Primarily for)   WHITE  ANTI-RACISM  WORK (options) - Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere   (AWARE-LA – SURJ Affiliate) - Saturday Dialogue - (zoom) - https://www.awarela.org/saturday-dialogue – Looking at Masculinity & Patriarchy (LAMP) -  https://www.awarela.org/affinityspaces affinity space of white, male-presenting folks… - Catalyst Project - https://collectiveliberation.org/ - Anti-Racism for Collective Liberation - builds the anti-racist leadership of white people to support multiracial movements for collective liberation.   (MR-F) - Constructive White Conversations  (CWC)-  https://www.constructivewhiteconversations.org/ a gathering in which those who identify as white speak freely and openly about race, racism, oppression, isolation, and all related issues. - Groundwater Institute   https://groundwaterinstitute.com/ is a social enterprise that equips leaders to drive systemic change. (MR) -...

The passing of Jesse Jackson brings sadness to me this morning! Until a few weeks ago, I knew virtually nothing about Bad Bunny.   I can only imagine how so many people who are under 50 or 60 must think related to Jackson.  Do many of them even know who he was? He was not in the news in recent years, and seemingly irrelevant for so many.   I'm sad thinking of this. Jesse Jackson made mistakes that tarnished his image (at least among white people) at times, was brash, and really spoke his mind.   When one focuses on his mistakes, rather than the great things he accomplished in life, we continue to hold Black Men such as Jesse Jackson to a higher standard because of our racism (or internalized issues related to racism). Those interested can read of Jesse Jackson's accomplishments at sites such as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Jackson . It is important for me to acknowledge a man like Jesse Jackson and appreciate him for what he really was, a trail...