Lisa Ranghelli is the Director of Assessment and Capacity Building at the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts.
"Several of my peers in the nonprofit community had recommended Layla F. Saad's book, Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. So when the Women's Fund offered to host a discussion group for the book, I jumped on the opportunity. It held up a mirror into the painful reality of my whiteness -- white fragility, white centering, performative allyship, white saviorism and other ways that we white people are complicit in perpetuating harm despite our passionate commitment to racial equity. This book is about taking action, not navel gazing. So I was grateful to then join the staff of PHIWM, where these conversations are explicit and ongoing. I find it so critical that anti-racism resources are coupled with accountability supports to make sure I don't fall back into complacency."
