What is the Role of Empathy in Anti-racist Work?

Resource: Thread on Empathy

This post on empathy was shared by a friend, and after they told me about the topic of the post, I was curious to learn more. Whenever I think of empathy, I think of this video, (a short, illustrated clip of part of a talk by Brené Brown) which I think is a valuable resource. My initial reaction after reading this post was that it was digging too far into something to search for a meaning that wasn’t there. But then I stopped and reflected on it, and really thought about the role of empathy in equity work, and realized that it often falls short. Where I find the fault in empathy in equity work is not as much in the origin of the word as in the action (or rather lack of action) that stems from empathy.

I see empathy as taking on the perspective of someone else, although according to this definition it is “the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.” Researchers differentiate between two types of empathy: affective empathy which “refers to the sensations and feelings we get in response to others’ emotions” and cognitive empathy (or perspective taking) which “refers to our ability to identify and understand other people’s emotions.” While I think practicing empathy is an important way to connect to people, I wonder about its role in equity work.

I think empathy can be seen as a replacement for doing equity work. I think the idea of seeing something from another person's perspective is necessary, but only the bare minimum in surface-level connection. Working to be anti-racist (or equitable in any way) entails action or something you actively work on. By contrast, empathy is rather passive (something I haven’t thought of much before), as once you imagine yourself and see where they're coming from, it requires nothing more of you. Empathy can spur action within individuals, but being empathetic does not automatically mean that person will take the steps to help the person/group (in the case of racial inquiry, working on removing systems of oppression that they benefit from).

Empathy can be paired with action, but in further reflection, does empathy help or hinder racial equity work? Can I, as a white woman, be truly empathetic towards BIPOC when I have not and will never experience the world as they do? Probably not because there is no way for me to completely put myself in their shoes and feel what they are going through. Taking race out of picture, can I truly empathize with anyone? Even if I go through a similar situation as someone else (like having a dog die or being in a car accident) and can imagine how they feel based on their experience, I don’t think I can ever really know how that other person is feeling (or the intensity of the emotions they are experiencing). I recently had a pretty visceral experience with empathy, in which I was talking to someone and even though I had not been in the situation they were in, I remembered how I felt in similar situations in my life and in that moment experienced those emotions in my body how I did when I was in those situations. I don’t think I can say that was my first true experience with empathy, but it was certainly the most intense, and I think most of the time that I have thought that I have experienced empathy has really been more of perspective-taking without strong emotions (from me) attached. That made me really think about how this sort of genuine empathy (like “punch-in-the-gut”, “I can feel what I think you’re experiencing”) is something I haven’t really experienced in racial equity. I am certainly angry, sad, and frustrated, and maybe I am able to empathize on some level when thinking about intersectionality (some of the things BIPOC women face may be somewhat similar to experiences I face) but I don’t think I can truly empathize with what racism feels, like having the privilege to not experience it.

My same friend who shared this post also brought up the idea of humanity when we were talking about empathy. What does it mean to really listen, take on someone else’s perspective, and work to make sure they feel fully human? Rather than turning to empathy, perhaps we should be doing all we can to honor everyone’s humanity. That means not only trying to understand their perspective and empathize with them as you can, but also taking their experiences as true and changing your actions/behaviors or those of the people around you (and the systems that allow these behaviors/actions to persist) to allow everyone to be and feel truly human and connected to their communities. I imagine my definition around this may change as I learn more.