An Interview with Social Media Influencer Kellie Snider: Waking Up White People from The Spell of Racism (S6 E11)

In the episode, “An Interview with Social Media Influencer Kellie Snider: Waking Up White People from The Spell of Racism (S6 E11),” TikTok and Instagram sensation, Kellie Snider joins the show and shares how white supremacy became so woven throughout American culture. She starts with sharing her personal turning point when she realized she needed to do the work of helping people, especially white people, understand what systemic racism actually is.

She explains how although Jim Crow laws ended on paper in the 1960s, its impact never did. Laws that were implemented to “keep black people down” are a real thing and influenced racial outcomes today. She mentions how Christianity in the south was used to justify who got enslaved, and then later used to keep black people in a racial hierarchy. White churches did not just go along with white supremacy, but helped promote it. We discuss how White Christian Nationalism is on the road to replace Democracy, and now with Trump saying the quiet part out loud, what the consequences are regarding our Civil Rights. Kellie describes the “psychological wage of whiteness” and how we are on the path of continuing to engineer systems that will help racism thrive in our country for generations to come.

In the end, Kellie’s social media message offers hope to our country as she courageously calls for white people to “do better.” She reminds us that compassionate whites can use their privilege to make a difference right now in the fight for American civil and human rights at this very unique time in our American history.

Bio:
Kellie Snider is an artist, author, behavior analyst, and accidental influencer known for her social media series Learning While White. She believes White people have been cheated out of our own history by a racist system that protects White Denial rather than fostering compassionate empowerment. Drawing from her background in behavior analysis, she helps audiences understand how social conditioning shapes defensiveness, how history informs privilege, and how facing the truth can lead to collective healing.

To follow Kellie:
https://Instagram.com/KellieSnider.art
https://tiktok.com/KellieSnider.art
https://Facebook.com/Kelliesnider

https://ko-fi.com/KellieSnider

Kellie Snider Anti-Racism Sources:

Cold War Civil Rights – Mary Dudziak

America Divided – Isserman & Kazin

Storming Caesars Palace – Annelise Orleck

Before the Storm – Rick Perlstein

Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America - Emerson & Smith 

White Evangelical Racism - Anthea Butler 

Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right - Randall Balmer 

White Too Long - Robert P. Jones

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America -Rothstein

Slavery by Another Name -  Blackmon 

Mothers of Massive Resistance: White Women and the Politics of White Supremacy -Elizabeth Gillespie McRae

My Life After Hate - Arno Michaelis

Breaking Hate - Christian Picciolini

White Like Me - Tim Wise

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism - Robin DiAngelo

How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi 

How Fascism Works — Jason Stanley

White Rage — Carol Anderson

The Sum of Us — Heather McGhee

Selma 1965: Marching for the Right to Vote - Jeff Parker

White Allies in the Struggle for Racial Justice - Catherine Fosl

Slavery by Another Name — Douglas A. Blackmon

The Half Has Never Been Told — Edward E. Baptist

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome