The Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites hopes to do as Malcolm X suggested in 1965. CARW was founded in the fall semester of the 2002-03 school year by Joanna Daniel and Shannon Heffernan. The name was taken from a group by the same name in Seattle, where Shannon and Joanna lived together the previous summer. In Seattle, Joanna and Shannon participated in Grinnell College's Alternative Summer program. Joanna interned with an organization called Seattle Young People's Project, which empowers youth to initiate and lead social change projects in their communities. It is a unique organization; truly by and for youth. Shannon worked with an organization called Artworks that empowers youth on probation through art and other forms of expression. (better description of artworks here)

The activist community in Seattle, as experienced by Shannon and Joanna, is very close knit, with extensive cooperation, and overlap in leadership and membership between social change/social justice organizations. At the very forefront of the ills combated by this community is institutional racism ranging from racial profiling, police brutality, and militarism, to Euro-centric curriculum and offensive school mascots. Joanna and Shannon were involved in anti-racist activism and organizing with their individual internships, and together in the wider community. In reflecting on their own experiences of whiteness and privilege, they got very excited about the idea of starting a group at Grinnell. Primarily important is the coexistence of reflection and action and the main goals of the group are to promote white accountability, responsibility, and education. The group promotes dialogue, self educates and improves skills at recognizing and speaking out against racism in out daily lives; racism in institutions, interactions, and within ourselves. We agree with James Baldwin that the biggest privilege of being white is not having to think about race, and hope to relinquish a tiny piece this privilege by naming and challenging whiteness and white privilege.