The pain and impact of anti-Black racism or any form of oppression can not be overstated. Dismantling oppression is an on-going process and requires each of us to have an active role.
At the Wayside Equity Training Center, we are invested in the work of antiracism in three main parts:
- A commitment to personal relationships across race, privilege, or places of oppression. “We cannot do this work outside of relationship,” – Meg Holland. No policy, rule, or edict can ensure change. We think the best keeper of change is relationships that matter.
- We recognize that this work involves building trust. Because White Supremacy Culture ideology uplifts power and privilege, it is central to the work for white folx (or those of any privileged status) to do work within themselves to root out systemic oppression, to be open to how they impact those with less privilege and correct such behavior thoroughly and intentionally.
- We train in twos – because we want to practice co-liberation with cross-racial, cross-cultural, and across identities and show how we learn from and with each other, as we all learn together. We commit to taking action both by intentionally modeling our core value of antiracism within our team and internal processes and our actions in our daily lives.
Reparations Statement
We recognize that white people who are being paid to provide antiracism training have a responsibility to donate to BIPOC organizations, work to address the issues impacting those communities and understand the ways their whiteness affects the work. We hold ourselves accountable and donate 15 percent of our income to racial justice organizations led by BIPOC people. In addition to donating a percentage of our income, we offer pro bono work and reduced rates for training that benefit racial justice organizations.