My name is Anna. I’ve lived and worked in Northeast PDX for over 30 years, and you might even kind of recognize me because I look like a lot of people in Portland: tattooed, glasses-wearing and white.

Equity, diversity, inclusion, racial justice, anti-racism: These are buzzwords, but they’re still buzz-worthy concepts. And we can’t do anything about them until we can talk honestly with each other about whiteness: what we think it is, what it means to us as individuals, what it means culturally, how — and how recently in history — it came to be a thing that anyone thought about to the extent of protecting it at all costs.

I’m fumbling toward the complicated question of how we build community and resilience, for all of us. Knowing we have each other’s backs when things get hard. And I haven’t been very good at this! I have a stash of bottled water and a tool for shutting off the gas in case of an earthquake; I volunteer; part of my paycheck goes to local nonprofits. But I don’t even know many of my neighbors by name. Mostly I've kept myself to myself. Why? Oh, lots of reasons, some cultural and some personal. (I’ll tell you mine if you’ll tell me yours.) Now, though, post-lockdown, post George Floyd, post that election, community and belonging look even more urgent and overdue.

My city is facing a lot of urgent isues: homelessness, poverty, addiction, gun violence. Why focus on racial equity? Because race is at the heart of so many of these problems. Pull on one thread and the others feel it. I can give up, overwhelmed. Or I can start somewhere. Join me: Let’s start.

The links collected here fall under five broad categories of action. Many are specific to the Portland area. It’s not a comprehensive list; If you have suggestions you think I should add, please get in touch! I’d like to hear from you.

As a white person who wants to help move racial equity forward, I’m interested in questions like these: What community-building projects are organizations led by Black and Indigenous folks already working on locally, and how can white allies/accomplices best support them? How can we put our energy and skills to work in service to our Black and immigrant neighbors, and not in opposition to them? How can we get better at listening to BIPOC organizers without trying to steer the whole ship? How can we keep ourselves and each other accountable to BIPOC-led efforts? How can we develop meaningful support for each other as a habit and not just a feel-good one-off? How can we keep each other motivated? How can we keep each other safe? How in the world can we cool the rage that seems to be everywhere we look anymore?

If questions like these interest you, let’s get together and talk about them. Get in touch. I want to hear your story. Disagree? I’d welcome hearing from you, too.
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