QUESTION: Why do I have to financially engage with Lace on Race?
TL;DR: Because it’s white supremacy if you don’t.

paypal.me/LaceonRace Because no matter who you are — as you partake of this community, it is an integral part of your praxis to commit to and sustain financial engagement.

The Long Answer: Financial Engagement is Essential to Antiracism Praxis

by Christina Sonas, fellow walker, history fanatic, & happy-the-sun-is-finally-out gardener

White supremacy shows up in a lot of different ways in the finances of Lace on Race. There are many harms caused and endured. As white people walking in antiracism, reducing and repairing the harms we cause through our white supremacy, how do we handle our financial engagement with this community for coherent praxis?

Now, maybe you’re thinking to yourself, “Why should I listen to what the endowment woman has to say?” First, white supremacy is white supremacy no matter how much money one has. And second, I don’t actually have a lot of money. We’re clearly an upper middle class white family, yes; we are also in debt and struggling, as so many are right now. We didn’t have capital lying around, until we started looking at our money through the lens of racism. Motivated by that perspective, we decided to withdraw money from our 25+ years of retirement savings and growth, and give that capital to the Lace on Race project.

I’m in the same sneakers as all the walkers here when it comes to monthly financial engagement. Antiracism is not a bill of sale; neither is this community arranged hierarchically, but flat and round, no matter who we are. We’re still walking, just like you, every single day, to lessen and mitigate the harm endured by Black and brown people, perpetuated by white people like ourselves and by white supremacy. Including what is endured and perpetuated right here in this community.

Financial engagement with Lace on Race keeps us congruent with key tenets of antiracism praxis:

1. Listen to and follow Black and brown leaders. Lace clearly states that financial engagement is essential. If we ignore or doubt this, we are not listening and following.
2. Compensate Black and brown people for their labor. In this community we are directly consuming the antiracist education and training that Lace has devised, and her mentorship and guidance, too. If we are not paying her fairly for those things, on her sliding scale, then we are exploiting her.
3. Reduce harm endured by Black and brown people. Money is a primary vector for harm in contemporary racism. Money, therefore, has to be a primary vector for reducing harm.
4. Again, reduce harm endured by Black and brown people! The “Ask”, as it’s called here, is harmful to Lace each and every time she does it. We all know — we ALL know — that if the Lace on Race project were commodified, the hours of coaching work alone would provide her a very comfortable six-figure income. Yet every month, her white audience requires a soft-shoe — several of them — in order for her to have an average middle-class life. We absolutely must reject that if we are to reduce harm. If you don’t engage until you’re Asked, ask yourself why that is.
5. Mitigate harm endured by Black and brown people. White people, including antiracist white people, cause harm every day. When we send as much as we possibly can, we may also help ease the harm caused by those who don’t do as they should, especially when we send in extra for the community partners and the mental health fund.
6. Expand our capacity to the truest, maximum extent. Black and brown people are forced to create capacity — for labor, for frugality, for health, for well-being — far beyond what is required of most white people. Antiracism work must also go “far beyond” the false, white supremacy inscribed limits around our capacity, especially financially.

Racism is a fundamentally economic construct. When we submit our financial choices to the scrutiny of these and other precepts, we start to dismantle our white supremacy at its darkest heart.

paypal.me/LaceonRace

The Lace on Race Café discussion for this article can be found in the Bistro!