Aspiring Anti-Racist Reflections

Aspiring Anti-Racist Reflections is a series of essays exploring what it means to move through the world as a white person committed to anti-racism. These reflections center accountability, learning, and the ongoing work of becoming. This series is rooted in story, community, and the belief that anti-racism is a lifelong practice.

But I Didn’t Mean To

One of the newest roles in my life is Auntie. I have a four-year-old nephew and a nearly two-year-old niece, and getting to watch them move through the world has been one of the most unexpected teachers in my life. Children explore everything with curiosity and joy. They run fast, they ask questions about everything, and they learn the rules of being in community in real time. When I’m facilitating conversations about anti-racism, I often start with a story about my nephew on

Rachel Ann

3 days ago4 min read

Once There Was an Us and a Them

The rooms always smelled like coffee. Church basements. Library meeting rooms. Sanctuary spaces after Sunday service. Nonprofit offices with folding chairs stacked in the corner. Fold-out tables pushed together to make long rectangles or big circles. Flip chart paper taped to the walls. Across organizing spaces in my city, we gathered to talk about justice. We talked about housing, transit, mental health, disability rights, education, mass incarceration. Systems that were fai

Rachel Ann

Feb 233 min read