Dear White Women: This is Where the Work Begins

Building Liberation Together: A Call to Collective Action and Community Resilience

This is where the work begins.

You had to feel the grief—raw, unfiltered, unsettling. You had to feel the pull to engage, the urgency that stirs the soul. And yes, for a moment, you need to feel the sheer fear of existing in a world that didn’t promise your safety. It’s that grief, that engagement, that fear that will finally mobilize you.

But let this be clear: awakening to injustice is not the work. The work begins now, with the commitment to dig deeper, to stay present, to show up fully in a world that demands not just awareness but action, humility, and resilience. This is the moment where allyship becomes something real, something tangible. It’s where theory meets praxis, where discomfort gives way to transformation, and where intention turns into liberation for all of us.

In times like these, many of you have begun to feel the weight of awareness, the grief of finally seeing the structures so many of us have lived under for generations. You’ve felt the pull to engage, to mobilize, to confront the deeply embedded systems that privilege some while erasing others. But what you’re feeling is just the beginning.

Our resilience, as Black and Indigenous people, is not simply a byproduct of hardship—it’s an inheritance. Every breath we take, every connection we forge, every act of love we share is an active defiance against a world designed to diminish us. This resilience, this joy, is in our DNA. Our ancestors, those who faced systems that deemed them disposable, passed down not just the will to survive but the strength to thrive. It’s a radical act of joy—a joy that defies oppression and roots itself in love, in laughter, in the unyielding power of community.

For me, this resilience also carries the strength of my Irish heritage. Like so many others, the Irish were once seen as expendable, denied the right to exist by a force that sought to erase them. Yet here we are, still standing. Within me lives the defiance, the reclamation, the silent but potent legacy of my ancestors who resisted, who held on to joy, who survived not by chance but by choice.

So now, I invite each of you—especially those of you in white bodies—to connect with the resilience, the wisdom, and the humanity embedded in your own lineage. Somewhere in your own blood, beyond the grip of supremacy, lies the memory of your people who knew struggle, who found strength, who held onto resilience in the face of adversity. True power doesn’t come from dominion or control; it comes from rootedness, from knowing yourself, from connecting to the strength in your bones.

For generations, whiteness was sold as protection—a safeguard, a shield from harm, a promise of belonging. But in this moment of reckoning, you’re coming to feel the collective grief of that lie. The truth is, whiteness was never protection; it was a construct that demanded the erasure of your own ancestral roots, your own humanity, and in exchange, it upheld a system of dominance at the cost of authentic connection and community.

This grief is real. It’s the grief of realizing that a construct built to give you privilege has also limited your own freedom. To see how whiteness promised power yet isolated you from the wisdom, resilience, and ancestral strength within your own heritage. It’s a grief that reveals the truth: that real safety, real liberation, cannot be built on supremacy, only on solidarity.

Now, as you grapple with this realization, you’re faced with a choice. You can either cling to this hollow promise or step into the work of reclaiming your own humanity, of connecting to a deeper lineage of resilience and liberation that transcends whiteness. This is where the true work of dismantling begins—not only for others but within yourself.

And so I ask you, white women: How can you tap into this? How can you honor your lineage not by clinging to supremacy but by reclaiming the deep humanity, the resilience, and the spirit that lies within your ancestry? Healing begins when you let go of domination and build within yourself a strength that supports, nurtures, and joins with others.

Resilience and joy belong to all of us, but only if we are willing to seek them honestly, to dig deep and recognize that true liberation comes not from holding power over others but from reclaiming the power within. So here is your invitation—to connect, to ground yourself, to find resilience and joy in your blood and in your bones, and to show up in community ready to hold space, to build, to be part of a future where all of us are liberated.

Introducing the LIBERATE Framework from Make Shi(f)t Happen

If you’re ready to step into this work, to move beyond grief and awareness and take meaningful, transformative action, the Make Shi(f)t Happen LIBERATE framework is here to guide you. This framework is a roadmap to dismantling oppression, creating intentional community, and committing to liberation in every part of your life. It’s a call to move from theory to action, and it’s a journey that will require your whole self—mind, body, and spirit.

LIBERATE stands for:

• Learn – Unlearning internalized systems and relearning from a decolonized, liberatory perspective. This is where you challenge what you’ve been taught and open yourself to new ways of seeing the world.

• Integrate – Bringing mind, body, spirit, and relationships into alignment with liberation values. It’s about embodying liberation in every part of your life, not just as an idea but as a lived practice.

• Build – Creating intentional, intersectional communities at home, work, and within yourself. Real change happens through community, where we hold each other accountable and support each other’s growth.

• Empower – Fostering individual and collective empowerment through self-healing and decolonization. Empowerment means moving from guilt to action, using privilege to uplift, not to dominate.

• Reclaim – Reclaiming identity, cultural heritage, and ancestral knowledge that colonization erased. This is your chance to reconnect to your roots, to claim the strength and wisdom that are your birthrights.

• Act – Taking tangible, actionable steps to dismantle supremacy culture and build decolonized systems. True allyship requires consistent, ongoing commitment to breaking down oppressive systems and building new, equitable structures.

• Transform – Engaging in personal and collective transformation through healing and liberation practices. Transformation is about evolving, letting go of old identities, and embracing change for the greater good.

• Envision – Imagining and creating new systems of power rooted in equity, sustainability, and community. Envisioning is about seeing a future where we all belong, where power isn’t hoarded but shared, and where liberation is a lived reality.

Conclusion: Stepping into Community for Collective Liberation

Liberation is not a solo journey; it is a communal path. Real transformation requires us to come together, to lean into the power of community, and to recognize that our lives are woven together in ways that defy the isolating pull of supremacy culture. As we commit to dismantling the systems that harm us all, we must do so in relationship—with humility, accountability, and shared purpose. This work of liberation calls us into a collective space where healing and justice are experienced together.

You are invited into the Intersectionality of Liberation self-guided course to fully understand how interconnected we are, or sign up for the Intersectionality of Liberation Live workshop. This isn’t about checking a box or standing apart; it’s about standing alongside each other. It’s about recognizing that our individual journeys intersect at the root, where our common humanity and our shared vision of a just world come alive. Through the LIBERATE framework, we are called to build resilient, intentional communities, to hold each other up, and to celebrate the joy that comes from shared resistance and collective growth.

Each step of this framework—learning, integrating, building, empowering, reclaiming, acting, transforming, and envisioning—is designed to guide you in showing up fully in community. This is where we move beyond allyship into authentic solidarity, where liberation becomes more than an aspiration but a practice lived in community spaces, workplaces, homes, and within ourselves.

So here’s your invitation: join us on this path, embrace the collective power of community, and let liberation be our shared commitment. Together, we are building a future rooted in justice, equity, and joy—a future where liberation is not just a dream but a lived reality for all. Let’s make the shift happen, side by side.

In solidarity and liberation,

Desireé B Stephens

Educator | Counselor | Community Builder

Make Shi(f)t Happen