Oppressive behavior often reinforces historical hierarchies of power and belittles the experiences, emotions, and thoughts of historically marginalized communities. Oppressive behavior holds us back individually and collectively from reaching our full potential. Oppressive systems breed poverty, and by working to undermine oppressive systems in our daily life, we strengthen our work towards the end of poverty.
Learning about oppression is a life-long personal journey through which we can strive to learn about issues and perspectives we aren’t aware of and ourselves. We all have biases and privileges we aren’t mindful of.
We encourage you to explore the resources below as a start in deepening your knowledge, understanding, and ability to work in solidarity and be a co-conspirator in undoing the oppressive systems that we have inherited.
The anti-oppression resources and guides collected and presented below are the collaborative efforts of the RESULTS Anti-Oppression Learning Community (formerly known as the Anti-Oppression working group), represented by grassroots volunteer advocates and staff.
To learn about oppression, we must first define it and know what it looks like. Below are several types of oppressive practices that lead to oppressive attitudes and behaviors. The list below and the training and resources provided on this page are not limited, and we will strive to share additional anti-oppression resources to support our advocacy.
As we all have a multitude of expressions of our identity, we must look at all areas of oppression as they intersect within the framework of our advocacy.
Intersectionality is the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
RESULTS staff are here to support volunteers in navigating oppressive incidents and interactions. We commit to ensuring we address these incidents as efficiently as possible. RESULTS sees these as opportunities for learning and growth. We know that many oppressive incidents are a result of bias and not malice.
If you experience an incident in a RESULTS environment that does not align with RESULTS values, we encourage you to fill out the Anti-Oppression Incident Reporting Form.
The form helps us stay aware of conflicts within the network and maintain an inclusive culture. The knowledge we gain from every report helps improve the trainings and support RESULTS offers.
You can submit the form anonymously and at any time. If you request follow up when you submit the form, here is what you can expect:
If you do not want to fill out the form or if the form’s character limits are too restrictive, please email [email protected]. A member of the Staff AO Incident Response Team will follow up with you.