The Anti-Racist Research Project
Anti-Racism is a personal and societal standpoint that opposes racism in its many forms. Anti-racist social movements fight for the dismantling of systemically racist social and economic policies. Additionally, many anti-racist activists and organizers promote, at a minimum, equal power sharing for people of color within the social and economic systems (e.g. government, business, education, etc.) that control the lives of Americans.
The anti-racist social movement mobilizes social actors across race, class, gender, ability, etc. to dismantle racist systems of oppression with the goal of creating individual, community, and systems level change. This movement has been successful in building empowered citizens capable of leveraging influence over their lives and promoting the self-determination of their communities.
However, in a “post-racial” society, Americans are frequently taught that race is no longer a determining factor in individual and community outcomes. Anti-racist activists and organizers have fundamentally rejected this narrative and actively fight against it. This project, then, seeks to understand how anti-racist activists and organizers find themselves in a place where they actively work against the “post-racial” narrative and take action to dismantle racist systems. For this project, we are talking with anti-racist organizers of color and white organizers to better understand their personal stories and work as anti-racist organizers.
We want to hear the stories of these organizers to understand how their lives have influenced their trajectory. We hope to learn how organizers came to their social justice orientation, how they work to dismantle racism, and how this work has influenced their personal lives and relationships, for example.
The ultimate goal of this research is to help inform the work of anti-racist organizers and continue building the movement. If you are an organizer working against racist structures and are interested in participating in the project, please fill out the contact form, and a team member will follow up with you as soon as possible.