Taking the pledge means making a commitment to talk about your experiences and feelings related to race and listening to others.
We all can become more effective in helping to end racism and at building good relationships with people when we have chances to tell someone (or a group) about the experiences we've had with people who have racial backgrounds that are different from our own and about what's happened to us that is related to race in some way. We all need to talk about (and relaease) the feelings we've had (or have) about these things. We also help move things forward when we listen to other people talk about such relationships, incidents, and feelings.
Talking and Listening can be useful in:
- Listening Exchanges and Support Groups - which provide a structure and safety for experiences and feelings
- Conversations
- (Raising issues of race can sometimes seem difficult. You may want to use the Topics for Listening Exchanges or the italicized questions on the list of Helpful Perspectives about Race and Racism.)
Because of the way racism in our society has given a more powerful status to white people as a group than to people of color, we recommend that white people talk to people of color about their feelings about race and racism only if they have first gotten the permission of their potential listener. Otherwise, white people should talk to other white people about these feelings.
Back to: Action on the Pledge