January 2024: A Spectrum of Accountability

Happy New Year! We are so excited to begin our fourteenth year of CWC gatherings and are thrilled that you are part of the community. If you’ve been to a conversation recently, you know that CWC is continually evolving so that we can each find our sense of purpose and usefulness within the larger anti-racism community. December's topic seemed to be especially meaningful as we explored what, if anything, we've given up as white people to fit into white supremacy culture.

If you haven’t joined a conversation lately, we invite you to come back. It’s always nice to see familiar faces and to be reminded that the CWC community is larger than any one gathering.

And if you’ve never been to a CWC gathering before, let 2024 be the year you check out what it’s all about!

For many of us, the new year is a time to reflect and set intentions for who we want to be. With that in mind, we thought it would be great to dig into what it means to be accountable as an anti-racist; accountable to BIPOC folks, accountable to ourselves, and accountable to our shared humanity. More specifically, we want to explore the ways accountability can sometimes veer into saviorism. To help us explore and deepen our practice of accountability, we will use a few resources. First, Mia Birdsong’s description of accountability:

"(Accountability) is seeing the ways we cause hurt or harm as actions that indicate we are not living in alignment with values that recognize our own humanity or the humanity of others. Itʼs about recognizing when our behavior is out of alignment with our best selves. . .Accountability is also about recognizing and accepting that we are necessary and wanted. Itʼs understanding that when we neglect ourselves, donʼt care for ourselves, or are not working to live as our best selves, we are devaluing the time, energy, and care that our loved ones offer us.”

We will also use Dr. Janice Gassam Asare’s description of saviorism from her article What is White Saviorism and How Does It Show Up In Your Workplace:

"White saviorism can be thought of as the belief that white people are here to save, help, teach, and protect their non-white counterparts. White saviorism operates … through the notion that white people are all-knowing ... that white people are the only authority.”

Lastly, we are excited to share The Accountability Spectrum that was developed by members of the CWC organizing team, Jason (host of Brunch & Late Night) and Melia (host of Southwest), for the online course EMBRACE: Understanding Your Responsibility In Social Change. The spectrum is designed to be a reflection tool that helps us realign our accountability practice with the characteristics listed on the right side of the chart.

To help us focus our thoughts about the topic and these resources, here are a few prompts to consider:

What parts of the definitions and the spectrum resonate with you, if any?
What questions come up for you?
What has saviorism looked like in your anti-racism practice?
How has saviorism been reinforced in institutions and systems, if at all?
How might your accountability practice evolve after this conversation?

As always, CWC does not hold up these definitions and the spectrum as “the way” or “the answer.” They are tools to help us reflect and dig deeper into our own experiences with accountability. If you don’t agree with these frames, come and share that! All perspectives are always welcome.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

“Every time you shift a blame on what you could have taken responsibility for, you deny yourself an opportunity to learn and grow.” - Gift Gugu Mona