Responding to racism
Your sphere of influence refers to the people, organisations, and institutions you encounter daily. When you act differently, it impacts the people and processes around you.
To practise anti-racism, we need to reflect on our privileges. This means understanding how our privileges affect how people view us, and the impact it has when we learn about race and racism.
Being anti-racist means understanding how some voices are often listened to more than others, and lending our support to those whose voices are ignored due to inequality or oppression by making space for people to speak for themselves and promoting their voices, instead of speaking for them.
We need to understand that our experiences of the world are shaped by our individual lived experiences, which may not be shared by others. By reflecting on how our privileges affect our lives, we can better understand how structural barriers impact the experiences of others. We can also understand how to responsibly manage our privilege when supporting people and communities whose rights and freedoms are violated.