Everybody, let’s talk about it: 🧵 Hi Chamieka, I've been following your work for a while now and I think I'm finally ready to jump in with a question, because honestly I'm not sure what to do and I feel like you would have some good perspective on this. About two years ago my family relocated to Portland for my husband's job. It has been a really wonderful move for us, truly no complaints. I stay home full time with our boys, which is its own kind of work, but about a year in I realized I needed some support. We have four boys- twins who are 6, and then a 9 and a 10 year old. They are the sweetest kids but they have so much energy and I just needed another set of hands. We hired Ellie first. She is what I think is Italian, and she has been wonderful in her own way. She runs a pretty tight ship, which the kids have actually benefited from even if they pushed back at first. She came with a degree in child development and solid references, so when we set her salary we factored all of that in. About four months later we brought on Brittany, who is just Black American. The kids absolutely adore her. Like, they cry when she leaves. There is just something about her, she is so naturally warm and connected with them in a way that is honestly a gift. We love having her and we tell her that. Here is where things have gotten a little complicated. I believe Ellie and Brittany have been talking about their salaries, which I don't think is really appropriate in a household employment situation, but I also don't know that there is much I can do to stop it. Brittany now knows that Ellie makes more, and she has raised it as a concern. The difference in pay was never about anything other than experience and credentials. Ellie has a degree. Brittany dropped out of school. That is just how we calculated it. What I will say is that we do lean on Brittany more for overtime. Ellie is very firm about her schedule and honestly we respect that. Brittany has been more flexible, and because the kids love her so much, it always made sense to call her when we needed extra coverage. There were a couple of times she asked if she could bring her own children for last-minute requests, and we just weren't comfortable with that, so those didn't work out. In her contract it states that there may be last minute requests and she should be prepared for them. Not being prepared leaves us in a bind and that defeats the purpose of hiring her, you know?

Everybody, let’s talk about it: 🧵 I’ve been lurking on your page for a bit because a friend sent me one of your posts, and I never thought I’d be writing in. But I am completely stuck and we have to make a choice by Friday. My husband and I own a burger place. When we opened a few years ago, everyone we knew, our families, our accountant, friends in the industry, told us we were out of our minds for picking this area. They basically thought we’d get wiped out or robbed instantly. But we wanted to do something good here and prove them wrong. We don’t live in the area for a multitude of reasons (our kids really love their school) We didn’t want to just stick to the easy, safe suburbs, and we thought the people here deserved a nice sit-down spot that wasn't just another bulletproof fast food window or a dollar store. It took a long time for the neighborhood to trust us, which I get to a point. People are used to outsiders coming in, making money, and leaving when it gets heavy. But we stayed. We show up every single day. We hired almost entirely local kids, and we have eight employees who we really look out for. We’ve always treated them like family, doing holiday dinners, helping them with bills, making sure they knew we actually cared about them. One girl, T, has been with us four years. Everyone loves her. She’s a younger mom, African American, and I really treated her like a little sister. Which is why this is so difficult. I can’t even count how many times I stayed late after a long shift just to drive her home because she doesn't have a car and I didn't want her walking or waiting on the bus at night. When she told us she was short on rent a while back, we didn't even hesitate. We handed her cash out of our personal account and gave her more hours right away. We just wanted to help her get ahead. Then a few months ago, the numbers just stopped making sense. We were flying through random items like patties, hot dogs, fries, vegetables, bacon, shake mix, way faster than what we were selling. Then it was the back storage, cases of bulk dish soap, toilet paper, industrial cleaner, just gone every week. We didn't want to make it weird or look like we were targeting anyone, so we just did a general meeting about "waste" and figured that would fix it. It didn't.

This article explores sentiment about police actions in Britain that made me examine how police are viewed there From the article... Watson has been called Britain’s “anti-woke” police chief after he instructed officers not to take the knee during Black Lives Matters protests in 2021 because it would undermine impartiality. He said he would “probably kneel before the queen, God and Mrs Watson, that’s it”. Speaking to reporters in Stockport, Watson said forces should not “use the language of being anti-racist” because it implies officers have “some activist role”. Of course we’re fiercely opposed to racism but we’re the police,” he said. “We are not activists. If we overstep … this is what then informs the public perception of two-tier policing. ________________ Full article Top officer says anti-racism guidance has fuelled myth of two-tier policing | Police | The Guardian https://share.google/Bwc7BuE5jXPHKGR9j Reflection questions 1. What does "neutrality" mean to you? Is neutrality the same as fairness? 2. Can institutions be neutral about harm? Why or why not? 3. Is racism a political issue, a social issue, a public safety issue, or something else? What leads you to that conclusion? 4. What's the difference between being anti-racist and being an activist? Are they always the same thing? 5. Have police historically been neutral in matters of race? What examples come to mind? 6. When institutions claim neutrality, who tends to benefit? Who might be overlooked or harmed? 7. Should police be neutral about hate crimes, domestic violence, or discrimination? If not, what makes those issues different? 8. If racism causes measurable harm, what role should public institutions play in addressing it? Where do you think the line should be drawn?

"I need to hear what y’all think about this because I’m sitting here conflicted. This white woman carried a baby to term through IVF, gave birth, and immediately knew something wasn’t right. They pushed for answers, did the testing, and found out the baby isn’t biologically theirs. Not hers, not her partner’s. The fertility clinic is being sued and there could potentially be another person who birthed their own baby. Further, they found the biological parents. And still… they want to keep her. I don’t even know how to process what’s right or wrong in a situation like this. On one hand, she carried that baby, nurtured her, went through the whole pregnancy. On the other hand, that is not their child, and the actual parents want their baby back, but are being told they’ll only get visitation. So now I’m stuck on this part. A white couple is being positioned as more fit, more “prepared,” to raise this Indian child than her own parents?" Important: The biological family will only get visitation. They will have no rights to the child. This isn’t a 50\50 custody dispute.

Activist Tema Okun popularized the concept of White Supremacy Culture (WSC) to refer to a system of characteristics used as cultural norms without being proactively named by society. WSC can be exhibited by individuals of any background in ways that privilege the White dominant culture over other cultural understandings. Okun (2021) states that “White supremacy culture is the water we swim...introduced by the power elite to hoard power and profit and to create disconnection that are grounded in a history.” White people in particular are conditioned to see themselves as raceless and to remain blind as to how race structures social institutions (Bonilla-Silva & Ashe, 2014). Emotional and intellectual resistance against learning about the true history of BIPOC dehumanization is also a common reaction due to guilt, shame, and miseducation around U.S.-American identity (Browne et al., 2008). As a result, WSC continues to sustain social inequity through a range of informal and formal means of control. This dialogue with Tema Okun promotes understanding about the effects of WSC on institutions, communities, and individuals. Importantly, it seeks to shed light on the daily impact of WSC on our well-being and relationships to one another. Webinar moderators: SPSSI Graduate Student Committee Chair Tina R. Lee (Columbia University), Diversity Officer Chelsie Burchett (Stony Brook University), and SURJ organizer Sammie Sachs. This event was organized by the SPSSI Graduate Student Committee as part of its Spring 2022 webinar series. Links shared at the end of the webinar: Divorcing WSC website: https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/ Registration page for SPSSI's next webinar: http://www.spssi.org/dsp_emailhandler... SURJ National website: https://surj.org/