Why White Women Burn Out on Anti-Racism Work, and John Lewis's Answer

Send us Fan MailKaren brings the topic this week, and it cuts close to home for almost every white woman doing this work: I am tired, my Instagram only has 97 followers, and I am not sure any of this matters. Inspired by John Lewis's book Across That Bridge, Karen walks Jonelle through the eight principles Lewis used to sustain a lifetime of civil rights work, organized as four inner practices and four outer ones. The four inner principles, faith, patience, study, and truth, are the part that white women tend to want to skip, because doing inner work in private feels safer than doing public, imperfect outer work. The four outer principles, community, peace, love, and reconciliation, are the part Lewis insists must be done collectively, never alone. Jonelle pushes back where the framework hits its limits for white women: when privilege keeps your own life so insulated that intuition cannot find anything wrong to act on. They land on a starting place that feels honest. Look at the injustice you can already see inside your own circle, and treat that as the on-ramp. The work is a marathon, and Lewis is offering a map for staying on the road.CALLS TO ACTIONThis week, write your own one-sentence mission statement for the anti-racism work you want to be doing. Not what you think you should write. What is actually true for you right now. Read it out loud, and notice what shifts.Pick one of John Lewis's eight principles and live with it for a week. Faith, patience, study, truth, community, peace, love, or reconciliation. Notice where it shows up easily for you, and where it does not. The friction is the practice.Join us at the Banned Book Club, Tuesday, May 12, at 5:15 PM Pacific on Zoom, with Becky Hope leading. Reading along is welcome but not required. Curiosity is the only entry fee.We would love to hear from you! Contact us at [email protected] the show