Knowledge is the Path to Anti-(Systemic)-Racism

If you do anything meaningful this weekend, make sure to include reviewing the attached PDF to your to-do list! If you sincerely believe knowledge is power, then that is where you should just put the most weight as you begin to attack systemic racism. Download a packet on Anti-Racism to review for yourself.

Let's begin by defining "systemic racism" and for that we will go to Wikipedia:

Institutional racism (also known as systemic racism) is a form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions. It can lead to such issues as discrimination in criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power and education, among other issues. Wikipedia

A knowledge-based path is like any other path you've followed when you want to learn something new. It involves a large dose of humbleness, in that you must approach the process with the understanding that you have a lot to learn. Once you acknowledge that you aren't an expert or know much about a certain topic, you can begin to chip away at your internal biases, or in other words, the internal feeling we get when we see something or someone. It is this bias or "feeling" that is at the heart of racism.

Don't feel bad for having these biases or "feelings" because our brains are wired to favor biases since birth. It's like a go-to app in our brain that gets used over and over again to help us save time and act quickly. Our brains love this app because it involves less thinking, less energy and 95% of the time, it's very helpful to our survival (think of being attacked by a lion or drinking muddy water---you're going to run from the lion and pass on the muddy water).

Long story short, clear your head of what you think you may know and understand about racism so that there is room for new information that is contrary to older beliefs. Always keep in mind that there's no single book (beside the Quran, of course), article, or in this case, PDF file, that will rid you of racism.

With that said, happy learning!