Read on Twitter
In the wake of Wednesday's attack on the Capitol, and in light of the Nazi fucker with the Odinist tattoos, Pagan Twitter has (understandably and importantly) been revisiting the rampant white supremacist undercurrent of many #Pagan and #Heathen spaces.
It's important to disavow white supremacy, and to publicly and vocally decry those who would co-opt the guise of Pagan religion in order to further their bigotry. But simply disavowing white supremacy is not enough.
Don't get me wrong, being visibly outspoken about these issues is an important thing, but it's not enough merely to say #NoNazisInValhalla. Beyond just saying there's no room for white supremacy in Paganism, we have to make sure there ACTUALLY IS no room for it.
This means several things. First off, it means BAN NAZIS. Disallow bad actors from Pagan gatherings. Throw people out on their ears if they start blowing white supremacist dog whistles. Don't listen, don't dialogue, don't give them the benefit of the doubt. Ban those fuckers.
Second, support and uplift BIPOC members of our communities. Give them space to speak, and actually listen to what they have to say. Believe BIPOC when they point out racism, and then act on what we're told.
My tradition of Wicca is jarringly white, and part of the reason for that is that BIPOC are often made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. Even among well-intentioned people, there are barriers to entry that make our spaces less friendly to BIPOC practitioners.
This isn't to point a finger at white Wiccans or shame us in any way; it's rather to say that we often don't perceive the ways in which we exclude and marginalize people from different ethnic backgrounds, despite wanting to be inclusive.
Rooting out white supremacy in Paganism means not only disavowing the manifest racism of self-avowed Nazis, but also doing the hard introspective work of considering the ways in which we ourselves unwittingly contribute to racism in our communities.
(Racism is here defined, importantly, as discrimination or marginalization that BIPOC experience--NOT as a mental attitude that individuals have. People can perpetuate racist inequalities without feeling manifest racist hatred, but that doesn't absolve them of responsibility.)
Third (and related): Don't just listen to Pagan BIPOC, amplify their voices. Pay them for their services, recommend them to potential clients, provide newcomers with resources and give them the opportunity to connect with other BIPOC practitioners with shared experiences.
This also means pushing for greater diversity and representation in Pagan publishing. It means actively seeking out BIPOC authors, and particularly looking for #OwnVoices representation in publishing about religious/magical practices that originated in marginalized communities.
There's a chicken-and-egg thing here: When BIPOC feel less welcome in Paganism in the first place, there are fewer people in our communities and therefore fewer BIPOC authors--which further discourages marginalized newcomers from exploring Paganism.
But this is why it's so important to seek out these authors. Pagan publishing is, ultimately, a money-making enterprise: If readers pressure publishers for greater diversity, the publishers will seek authors whose books they think will sell.
Fourthly, we should all be doing the work of anti-racism beyond just the Pagan community. White supremacy in Paganism is directly linked to white supremacy in broader culture, and we cannot fight one without also fighting the other.
There are a variety of ways to do this work, and many more authoritative people than I have already written about those ways. They include going to protests against police violence and donating to bail funds, as well as working on the smaller scale to improve our workplaces, etc.
If you're on Twitter condemning white supremacists in Paganism (as you should be!), please back that talk up by working offline to fight institutionalized white supremacy in our society. Don't settle for hashtag activism. https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory
This thread would be incomplete without pointing to some BIPOC voices I look up to in our community, so here are a few people I'd recommend. This is only an incomplete list, and of course there are many people whose work I'm unfamiliar with; I'd welcome further recommendations.
There's wonderful work being done by @LilithDorsey. They're a Voodoo priestess who identifies as a member of the Pagan community (though not all in Voodoo do). Their book "Orishas, Goddesses and Voodoo Queens" is stellar.
Crystal Blanton has edited three excellent anthology volumes about race and diversity in Pagan practice:
https://bookshop.org/contributors/crystal-blanton
http://crystalblanton.com/
https://bookshop.org/contributors/crystal-blanton
http://crystalblanton.com/
The @dust2onyxtarot by Courtney Alexander is an unmatched deck created by and for Black readers. There is nothing else quite like it. https://dust2onyx.com/
While we're on the subject of Tarot, @Liminal_11 is a Tarot publisher that works hard to include racial diversity in their decks--for which I'm grateful. https://liminal11.com/
. @tarotanalysis is a Taiwanese-American author who has written books about Tarot and esoteric Taoism. She also offers professional Tarot and astrology services, as well as online classes in a number of esoteric subjects.
I'd also recommend @staywoketarot, a Zurich-based Tarot reader and blogger. She's originally from the US, and on top of her Tarot work I've appreciated hearing her share experiences of life as a Black woman in Switzerland. https://www.staywoketarot.com/
And finally, the extraordinary @AsaliEarthwork, who writes about Tarot, Blackness, queerness, and social justice. I've followed Asali's work basically since I started life on the Internet. In particular, you should check out her "Tarot of the QTPOC." https://www.asaliearthwork.com/
