Kwanzaa for White Allies, Day 6: Keys to Effective Persuasion

Creatively Working on the World Means Working on Yourself

Day 6 of Kwanzaa focuses on Kuumba, which roughly translates to “creativity,” but means much more than how Westerners use that term. One of the descriptions of Kuumba on the official Kwanzaa website points to the idea of using creativity in service of creating societal betterment: “As a moral and social vanguard, we must see ourselves in our ultimate agency, as injured physicians, who will heal, repair, renew and remake ourselves in the process and practice of repairing, renewing, and remaking the world.”

Allies would be well served by examining how this multi-layered concept applies to their anti-racism endeavors, especially in regard to the most often neglected aspect of this work: persuading racism skeptics in the ally’s personal network. Too often, allies have an easy time connecting with a vision of themselves as warriors, and partake in the invigorating energy of that role. Frequently though, they forget that anti-racism work is also about healing. A vital aspect of the task of creating racial equity is focusing on the way that there is a part of our collective national psyche that is not merely morally evil, but also that it is morally wounded. Whether we place the cause of this wound in capitalism, white…