Introduction to Anti-Racism in Summer Camps
Understanding Definitions
Summer camp, as an industry, is a primarily white institution. There are exceptions but your typical camps, especially residential camps, are overwhelmingly not very diverse. There are a multitude of explanations of how we got to this place, but now is the time to make changes in order to rectify this. In many conversations about race, specifically conversations had by white people in the US and Canada, the issues are intellectualized and theoreticized.
This series will provide actual action steps that camps can take to dismantle racism. The intellectual conversations are important, but it is time to move past that. What can we actually do, today, tomorrow and next season, to make our camps better when it comes to welcoming people of color.
Before we can work together to eliminate the systems that prevent summer camps from being welcoming to all people, we need to get on the same page with vocabulary. These definitions are a framework for the rest of this guide. There is plenty of room to discuss the various definitions, but that is the intellectualizing where the actual anti-racism work often stops. Let’s start at the top. What is racism?
Racism is racial discrimination plus power.
It occurs when:
people (in this case white people) discriminate against people of color, Black, brown, or any other non-white folks, on the basis of race
AND the discriminating race is in a position of power or has the backing of systems of power.
Power is what distinguishes racism from discrimination. People of color can discriminate against white people, and that happens. But it is not racism. “Reverse racism” by definition, cannot exist.
Racism occurs in at least three types - Interpersonal, Institutional, and Systemic. These are the definitions I use and they are based on my own interpretation of a variety of sources, primarily the work of the National Equity Project.
Interpersonal racism occurs between two specific people.
It happens when one person (who is white) treats another person (who is not white) differently because of the color of their skin.
It takes the form of
microaggressions
discrimination
implicit bias
overt negative treatment of a person
Institutional racism is an organization’s policies, procedures, and rules that favor one group over another.
It happens when our implicit biases are baked into the way that an institution conducts business.
It often shows up in
hiring
training of staff
marketing
supervisory structures
The organizational hierarchy of a business is designed to maintain the status quo of people in power. When those systems are not specifically designed to be anti-racist, the default is a system that reinforces racism.
Systemic racism is practices that are embedded in society that discriminate against people of color.
It shows up in
policing
school-to-prison pipeline
prison industrial complex
banking
income inequality
redlining
food deserts
media reporting
healthcare
These are systems that are bigger than one person, one organization, or even a single institution. They reinforce each other and are fed by and feed the other types of racism.
Implicit bias is the automatic association we make between two concepts. We as humans are genetically hardwired to create these associations. Quick, what do cows drink?
It’s not actually milk, but we are so accustomed to associating those two concepts that it comes without thinking. These associations become even stronger when our fight, flight, or freeze response is activated. Automatically knowing that rustling in the bushes is probably dangerous meant that our ancestor didn’t get ambushed by the wolf and was more likely to survive.
So it's easy to make the same association with a Black man walking down the street. Also, that immigrants from Mexico are criminals; Black women are loud and angry; Native Americans are lazy addicts; and Asians are good at math.
It is impossible to rid oneself of all biases, but when we recognize and acknowledge they exist, we can work to overcome them.
Many anti-racism works combine institutional and systemic racism, but there is benefit in separating them for the purpose of this project. This guide will mostly focus on dismantling institutional and systemic racism.
We have the authority and ability to make real change to address the institutional racism that occurs within our own organizations.
Systemic racism is much larger, with societal factors that we have to rely on others’ cooperation to address. We can work towards those changes, but not alone.
Interpersonal racism is highly prevalent in camp. That needs to be fixed. Many folks, especially those new to the idea that they are racist, think that this is the problem. If everyone was just nicer to each other, everything would get better. But racism goes deeper than that. We all have biases and prejudices that we can uncover, but they will never truly go away.
A clarifying note on “Race”:
Race itself does not biologically exist which is why throughout American history, various groups have and have not been considered “white”. Race is a social construct and was invented by Europeans who would become known as white, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining social, economic, and political power. Racism is supported by these power structures that are intended to maintain the status quo, to create a hierarchy of power to keep those at the bottom separated from those at the top.
It’s why separate but equal was not equal. It was never meant to be.
~Leilani Nussman
I am a mixed-race Kanaka maoli (Hawai’i) and white summer camp director. I use she/her pronouns. I live on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish people, past and present. I speak for myself and from my own lived experience. I still have work to do.
Resources
Intro to Race Discussions/White Fragility
So You Want to Talk About Race - Ijeoma Oluo
Stamped from the Beginning - Ibram X. Kendi
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? - Beverly Daniel Tatum
Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Friere
White Fragility - Robin DiAngelo
How to be an Anti-Racist - Ibram X. Kendi
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome - Joy DeGruy
Black Faces, White Spaces - Carolyn Finney
*Amazon affiliate links support the Equal Justice initiative
Articles
Click to see the Other Posts in this Series
A Note From Travis
We are thrilled to be welcoming Leilani Nussman as a writer on the Go Camp Pro blog! Leilani is a Camp Pro from the US Northwest and she has spent her summer as part of our Camp Mavericks discussion on Racism, Privilege and Summer Camp. I was THRILLED when she asked if she could capture her thoughts on Anti Racism and summer camp in this space.
Look for new articles every Tuesday.
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