Day 5: Loving Your Black Neighbor as Yourself with Chanté Griffin
Greetings friends,
The relationships we build across racial lines matter. And the reality is that longstanding histories of racism and racial separation caused by racism have done their work, so lots of us white folks stay on “our” side of those lines.
This is just one reason we are so fortunate to get to hear from Chanté Griffin today.
I got to read an advanced copy of Chanté Griffin’s new book (which just came out this month!) Loving Your Black Neighbor as Yourself: A Guide to Closing the Space Between Us. In the book, Ms. Griffin shares beautiful, concrete, and specific ways of being—practices that those of us who are white can live into when it comes to building relationships with Black people.
One of many reasons this book is such a gift is that Ms. Griffin faces squarely something that is kind of taboo to talk about publicly: white folks too often don’t show up in “neighborly” ways with Black folks we live in proximity to.
Ms. Griffin assumes that many white people do want to better and build meaningful, care-filled with Black people (and I think she’s right). She also understands that—odd as it may sound—many of us aren’t even sure how to do so and our worry that we might do or say the wrong thing, and cause offense or even harm, prevents us from trying. So, we stay away.
In response, Loving Your Black Neighbor as Yourself provides practices for white folks to learn that are informed by Black cultural values, rooted in justice, and framed by love—practices to help close the space between us. It also offers reflection exercises to help us dig into “where” we get stuck and “why.” These invitations help make deeper transformation more possible and transformation that makes authentic interracial relationships more likely.
So, here’s your action for today. Listen to Chanté Griffin’s suggestions and then look at your daily life. Do you have Black neighbors? A co-worker or fellow parent at your kids’ school who is Black or BIPOC? Are there Black people or other people of color who are part of some predominantly white space or organization you are also part of, but who you haven’t taken steps to connect with? Try one of Ms. Griffin’s “tips” as a way of practice interracial relationship-building.
Creating a more just world in which all of us can flourish is about changing the structural conditions we all live in and about changing the interpersonal conditions of our living. In fact the external and internal are connected—because we need to change the world together.
Thank you, Ms. Griffin for pouring out your knowledge, energy and wisdom in support of white growth. Thank you friends, here, for taking a next action step with me and with one another!
Jen
Day 1: Make a list of at least three specific ways you want to grow your lived commitment to antiracism.
Day 2: Talk with two people about what you need to do to interrupt, intervene or challenge a racist dynamic or situation and get their support in envisioning how to do it.
Day 3: Explore through the work of these projects (read about them, watch the videos) Acts of Reparation and the Community Remembrance Project as a way to contemplate generational legacies, learn about current efforts for remembrance and repair, nourish your own moral imagination for where you may be called to plug in.
Day 4: Find one question or one family story and decide to ask it or ask about it, to create “productive instability.”
P.S. Save the date: Join me and others who took part in this experience for a live conversation on Tuesday, July 9th at 5:00 PST/6:00 MST/7:00 CST/8:00 EST as a way to wrap up and reflect on our 12 Days of Action. We’ll follow up with the link shortly.
P.P.S. It’s not too late to sign up for 12 Days of Antiracist Action! Share this sign up link with your friends and we’ll help them get caught up: https://mailchi.mp/10b7b14d2037/murwtz2krf
Meet Chanté Griffin
Chanté Griffin is a journalist and artist who creates socially and soul-conscious art.
She write about wildly popular topics like race and faith, plus less popular subjects like Rihanna’s latest baby news trending on Twitter.
Ms. Griffin is a contributing writer for The Washington Post, Faithfully Magazine, and L.A. Parent; and her articles, essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous other publications.
At my core, Chanté Griffin is an advocate who uses media and the arts to advocate for the issues closest to her heart, particularly loving our Black Neighbors and protecting natural black hair at work and school.
