Learning to Applied Practice:

What is Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression?

Anti-Racism (AR): the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices, and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably. - NAC International Perspectives: Women and Global Solidarity

“To be anti-racist is to think nothing is behaviorally wrong or right -- inferior or superior -- with any of the racial groups. Whenever the antiracist sees individuals behaving positively or negatively, the antiracist sees exactly that: individuals behaving positively or negatively, not representatives of whole races. To be anti-racist is to deracialize behavior, to remove the tattooed stereotype from every racialized body. Behavior is something humans do, not races do." - Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, How Ibram X. Kendi’s Definition of Antiracism Applies to Schools

Anti-Oppression (AO): the work of actively challenging and removing oppression perpetuated by power inequalities in society, both systemic oppression and individual expressions of oppression. - Fractured Atlas. Oppression is the use of power to disempower, marginalize, silence, or otherwise subordinate one social group or category, often in order to further empower and/or privilege the oppressor. Social oppression may not require formally established organizational support to achieve its desired effect; it may be applied on a more informal, yet more focused, individual basis. Anti-oppression practices seek to mitigate its effects and eventually equalize the power imbalance in our communities.

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