Put plainly, racial justice is a framework for social change grounded in the belief that by identifying, challenging, and holding accountable the social and systemic inequalities that exists based solely on race, we can shift culture and practice toward a sustainable and just world. It is about fighting against the specific, disproportionate ways oppression and marginalization play out when directed towards people of color for simply being people of color. In order to achieve racial justice, we must also work to destroy white supremacy, which is the institutionally perpetuated oppression of peoples of color by white peoples for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of power. (Cortez Wright)
What is anti-racism?
Anti-racism is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably. (NAC International Perspectives: Women and Global Solidarity)
Anti-racism examines the power imbalances between racialized people and non-racialized/white people. These imbalances play out in the form of unearned privileges that white people benefit from and racialized people do not (McIntosh, 1988; See our definition of White Privilege/White-Skin Privilege).
Anti-racism is an active way of seeing and being in the world, in order to transform it. Because racism occurs at all levels and spheres of society (and can function to produce and maintain exclusionary “levels” and “spheres”), anti-racism education/activism is necessary in all aspects of society. In other words, it does not happen exclusively in the workplace, in the classroom, or in selected aspects of our lives. (Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre)