ALLY RESOURCE GUIDE.
Updated: 6/26/20 @ 9:29 am EDT
This document of call-to-actions and resources is publicly available to anyone with the URL. It will continue to be updated accordingly. Due to constraints on this platform, we will not be offering editing access; however, if you wish to offer any updates, resources, or input, please email allyresourceguide@gmail.com and we will respond to you as soon as we can.
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The list below is split up into different levels of engagement:
Registering to Vote
Ways to Donate (Various Organizations/Funds)
Petitions to Sign
Representatives and Officials to Contact
Anti-Racism Resources to Listen to, Watch, and/or Read
Resources for Teaching Children About Anti-Racism
Other Anti-racism Resource Guides
REGISTER TO VOTE.
We need to keep this momentum going through the election! If you are not registered to vote, now is the time to do it! If you are unable to vote due to a variety of voter suppression tactics, call your representatives and demand they commit to making gerrymandering and other forms of voter suppression illegal.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO VOTE
WAYS TO DONATE.
Support Black Owned Businesses Harmed in the Riots
Donated funds are distributed directly to Black trans women need, who can then purchase private car ride services from companies such as Uber, Lyft, or other alternatives of their choosing that best suit their feelings and needs.
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.
Founded by Colin Kaepernick, their mission is to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders.
Your donations will help us post bail for medically vulnerable people held in New York City jails and provide comprehensive post-release support, such as shelter and food, for these individuals.
The Innocence Project, founded in 1992 by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law, exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
Unicorn Riot is a decentralized, educational 501(c)(3) non-profit media organization of artists and journalists. Their work is dedicated to exposing root causes of dynamic social and environmental issues through amplifying stories and exploring sustainable alternatives in today’s globalized world.
Support George Floyd’s family in their time of grief and need.
Update: 6/8/20 @ 6:57 pm EDT: GoFundMe goal of $1.5M currently at $13.7M+
Support Breonna Taylor’s family in their time of grief and need.
Update: 6/8/20 @ 6:57 pm EDT: GoFundMe goal of $500K currently at $5.4M+
Support Tony McDade’s family in their time of grief and need.
Update: 6/8/20 @ 6:57 pm EDT: GoFundMe goal of $25K currently at $206K+
Support David McAtee’s family in their time of grief and need.
Update: 6/8/20 @ 6:57 pm EDT: GoFundMe goal of $750K currently at $711K+
Support Ahmaud Arbery’s family in their time of grief and need.
Update: 6/8/20 @ 8:35 am EDT: GoFundMe goal of $100K currently at $1.7M
A Directory of Community Bail Funds - Find Your Local One
The National Bail Fund Network is made up of over sixty community bail and bond funds across the country. This is the current list of bail funds specifically supporting protesters during this time.
Update: 6/8/20: Most of these bail funds are overwhelmed with donations and are good to go for the foreseeable future. Please read their individual statements and consider donating to another fund or organization.
PETITIONS TO SIGN.
Please note that Change.org will ask for donations after signing a petition but those funds
will not go to the petitions or organization who put together the petitions.
**UPDATE: 6/2/2020 Many of the petitions on Change.org (and other sites) are not loading due to the servers being overwhelmed. If you run into this issue, first try refreshing and if that doesn’t work, try finding a different petition and checking back later to see if the gateway has been fixed.**
If you are international and aren’t able to sign here are some zip codes to use:
90015 - Los Angeles, CA
10001 - New York City, NY
75001 - Dallas, TX
REPS & OFFICES TO CONTACT.
Phone Directory for House of Representatives
U.S. Capitol Switchboard (to contact your Senator)
+1 (202) 224-3121
George Floyd was killed after being handcuffed by Officer Derek Chauvin who knelt on his neck as two other officers knelt on his back. Call to demand that ALL 4 officers involved be brought to justice and for an independent autopsy to be conducted.
**UPDATE: As of 6/1/2020 @ 12:33 pm EDT, George Floyd's case has been taken from the Minneapolis DA and given to the State of Minnesota Attorney General, Kieth Ellison.**
**UPDATE: As of 6/1/2020 @ 4:53 pm EDT, Hennepin County Medical Examiner released a new autopsy report Monday, ruling George Floyd's death was a homicide. The office said Floyd's heart and lungs stopped functioning "while being restrained" by law enforcement officers.**
Suggested Script for calls/emails:
“Hello,
My name is [Your name] I am a resident of [city, state] and I am calling/emailing today to demand accountability for the racist murder of George Floyd. I demand that charges be pressed against all officers involved in this heinous racist murder, including specifically Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao. They should not be allowed to keep their jobs and should be charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for manslaughter. George Floyd would be alive today if it was not for the gross abuse of power and white supremacy exhibited by the Minneapolis Police Department, all officers involved must face consequences for this murder in order to provide his family with justice and prevent further cops from committing brutal acts of violence against our communities. In addition, I demand that we start providing more support towards community efforts and organizations outside of the police forces in order to prevent police brutality and violence in the future.
Sincerely,
[Your name]”
Text “JUSTICE” To 668366
Text “FLOYD” To 55156
Text “ENOUGH” To 55156
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
+1 (651) 296-3353 (Twin Cities Calling Area)
+1 (800) 657-3787 (Outside the Twin Cities)
(800) 627-3529 (Minnesota Relay)
Minneapolis County District Attorney Michael Freeman
+1 (612) 324-4499
citizeninfo@hennepin.us
Minneapolis Mayor’s Office, Jacob Frey
+1 (612) 673-2100
**As of 2:00 pm EDT, Anonymous has shut down the Minneapolis Mayor’s Office website. Calling by phone is the best way to make contact.**
Minneapolis PD Internal Affairs
+1 (612) 673-3074
police@minneapolismn.gov
minneapolis311@minneapolismn.gov
policereview@minneapolismn.gov
Breonna Taylor was murdered in her house by police who raided the wrong house and was shot 8 times while she was sleeping. Call or email the Louisville Mayor’s office and demand that the chief of police be fired.
DA Tom Wise has officially recused himself from Breonna Taylor’s case. It is currently being investigated, independently, by the FBI.
Suggested Script for calls/emails:
“Hello,
My name is [insert name]. I am a resident of [State/City] and I am calling/emailing today to demand accountability for the racist murder of Breonna Taylor.
I demand that charges be pressed against all officers involved in this heinous killing, including Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and officers Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove. They should all be fired, and should be charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for murder.
Breonna Taylor was an ER technician, working tirelessly to help others during this global pandemic. She should be alive today. She would be alive today if it were not for the gross abuse of power and white supremacy exhibited by the Louisville Police Department. All officers involved must face consequences for this murder in order to provide her family with justice and to deter law enforcement from committing racist and brutal acts of violence against communities of color.
In addition, I demand that we provide more support for community efforts and organizations that work to prevent police brutality and violence.
Sincerely,
[your name]”
Jefferson County District Attorney Tom Wise
+1 (502) 595-2300
Louisville Mayor’s Office, Greg Fischer
+1 (502) 574-2003
Louisville Police Department:
David McAtee was shot and killed by the LMPD and the National Guard just after midnight local time on June 1st at his BBQ stand on the corner of 26th & Broadway in Louisville, Kentucky. He was unarmed when he was shot and his body was left in the street for more than 12 hours after the incident occurred. Body cameras were off so there is no video evidence of his murder.
Suggested Script for calls/emails:
“Hello. I am calling/emailing about the murder of David McAtee by LPD officers. These men were not upholding the law, they were committing murder and terrorizing the community. All officers must be brought to justice and charged with murder. I also demand that the Louisville Police Department conduct a serious review in the recruitment, training, and accountability process of LPD officers.”
Jefferson County District Attorney Tom Wise
+1 (502) 595-2300
Louisville Mayor’s Office, Greg Fischer
+1 (502) 574-2003
Louisville Police Department:
Ahmaud Arbery was shot by two white men in the middle of broad daylight while out on a jog in Brunswick, Georgia. Call to demand that the State of Georgia and Glynn County enact hate crime laws.
The case of Ahmaud Arbery is currently being investigated as a federal hate crime by the U.S. Department of Justice. The two men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery have been charged with murder.
Suggested Script for calls/emails:
“Hello. I am calling/emailing about the murder of Ahmaud Arbery by Gregory and Travis McMichael. While the Department of Justice conducts their investigation, I demand that the State of Georgia and the town of Brunswick enact local hate crime laws that protect POC from lynchings such as this one.”
Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson
+1 (912) 554-7200
Brunswick Mayor’s Office, Cornell Harvey
+1 (912) 571-2218
+1 (912) 267-5529
mayorcharvey@gmail.com
Brunswick Police Department
+1 (912) 267-5559
info@brunswickpolice.org
Tony McDade was a Black, transgender man who was shot and killed by police in Tallahasse, Florida. Call to demand that the officers involved are dismissed, arrested, and charged with murder.
Suggested Script for calls/emails:
“Hello. I am calling/emailing about the murder of Tony McDade by TPD officers. These men were not upholding the law, they were committing murder and targeting a transgender member of the community. All officers must be brought to justice and charged with murder. I also demand that the Tallahassee Police Department conduct a serious review in the recruitment, training, and accountability process of TPD officers.”
Leon County Attorney Chastity O’Steen
+1 (850) 606-2500
osteenC@leoncountyfl.gov
Tallahassee Mayor’s Office, John E. Dailey
+1 (850) 891-2000
mayor@talgov.com
Tallahassee Police Department
+1 (850) 891-0000
contactUs@talgov.com
ANTI-RACISM RESOURCES.
Antiracism Center: Twitter
Audre Lorde Project: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Black Women’s Blueprint: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Center for Policing Equity: Twitter | Facebook
Color Of Change: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Colorlines: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Conscious Kid: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Families Belong Together: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Humanize My Hoodie: Instagram | Vimeo | Website | Online Workshop
The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
MPowerChange: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Muslim Girl: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
NAACP: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
National Black Justice Coalition:Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website
National Domestic Workers Alliance: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
RAICES: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Radicalxchange | Instagram
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
SisterSong: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Great Unlearn | Instagram
United We Dream: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
INDIVIDUALS TO FOLLOW
Adam Jackson | Instagram
Alencia Johnson | Instagram
Allen | Instagram
Alishia McCullough | Instagram
Amanda Seales | Instagram
Andre Henry | Instagram
Angie Thomas | Instagram
Ashtin Berry | Instagram
Ava DuVernay | Instagram
Bilphena | Instagram
Brittany Packett Cunningham | Instagram
Carmen Perez | Instagram
Christina Veira | Instagram
Clint Smith | Instagram
Colin Kaepernick | Instagram
Damaras Obi | Instagram
Eliel Cruz | Instagram
Eric McGriff | Instagram
Ericka Hart | Instagram
Feminista Jones | Instagram
Franchesca Ramsey | Instagram
Hello Rooster | Instagram
Ianne Fields Stewart | Instagram
Ijeoma Oluo | Instagram
Ibram X. Kendi | Instagram
Jen Winston | Instagram
Joey Otang | Instagram
K | Instagram
Kendrick Sampson | Instagram
Latasha Moorison | Instagram
Logan Browning | Instagram
Luvvie Ajayi Jones | Instagram
Magnus Juliano | Instagram
Marc Lamont Hill | Instagram
Mengwe | Instagram
Munroe Bergdorf | Instagram
Nazly | Instagram
Osheta Moore | Instagram
Patrisse Cullors-Brignac | Instagram
Prentis Hemphill | Instagram
Rachel Elizabeth Cargle | Instagram
Raquel Willis | Instagram
Rachel Ricketts | Instagram
Ryan K Russell | Instagram
ShiShi Rose | Instagram
Dr. Shay-Akil McLean | Instagram
Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs | Instagram
(arranged by length)
Y’all Better Quiet Down speech by Sylvia Rivera (1973)
(Estimated 2 minutes of reading)
SURJ Guide to Talking White Supremacy Post-Charlottesville by Showing Up for Racial Justice
(Estimated 3 minutes of reading)
The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House by Audre Lorde
(Estimated 3 minutes of reading)
The Curse of Slavery speech by Gouverner Morris (1787)
(Estimated 3 minutes of reading)
How to Help Demand Justice for George Floyd by Claire Lampen
(Estimated 4 minutes of reading)
Ar’nt I A Woman? speech by Sojourner Truth (1851)
(Estimated 4 minutes of reading)
For Our White Friends Desiring To Be Allies by Courtney Ariel
(Estimated 6 minutes of reading)
White Fragility and the Rules of Engagement by Robin DiAngelo
(Estimated 6 minutes of reading)
What is the role for white people working for racial justice in this current period? (Aug 22, 2017) A Joint Statement from the Organization for Black Struggle and the Anti-Racist Collective
(Estimated 6 minutes of reading)
Men of Niagara speech by W.E.B. Du Bois (1906)
(Estimated 6 minutes of reading)
“The Costs of Racism to White People” by Paul Kivel
(Estimated 7 minutes of reading)
Justice in the Age of Big Data by Cathy O’Neil
(Estimated 8 minutes of reading)
White People, It’s Time To Prioritize Justice Over Civility by Tauriq Moosa
(Estimated 8 minutes of reading)
Lynching Our National Crime speech by Ida B. Wells (1909)
(Estimated 8 minutes of reading)
I Have a Dream speech by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1963)
(Estimated 8 minutes of reading)
“Accountability in a Time of Justice” by Vivette Jeffries-Logan, Michelle Johnson & Tema Okun
(Estimated 9 minutes of reading)
“Origin of the Idea of Race” by Audrey Smedley (1997)
(Estimated 9 minutes of reading)
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism by Dr. Robin DiAngelo
(Estimated 10 minutes of reading)
The Principles of The Universal Negro Improvement Association speech by Marcus Garvey (1922)
(Estimated 10 minutes of reading)
A Call for Moral Courage in America by Darren Walker & Ford Foundation
(Estimated 11 minutes of reading)
The Subtle Linguistics of Polite White Supremacy by Yawo Brown
(Estimated 12 minutes of reading)
“white supremacy culture” by Tema Okun
(Estimated 14 minutes of reading)
Toni Morrison’s 1993 Nobel Prize Speech by Toni Morrison
(Estimated 14 minutes of reading)
How to Deconstruct Racism, One Headline at a Time (TED talk) by Baratunde Thurston
(Estimated 17 minutes of watching/listening)
White Debt by Eula Biss
(Estimated 18 minutes of reading)
The Combahee River Collective Statement (1977)
(Estimated 18 minutes of reading)
“The Work Is Not The Workshop: Talking and Doing, Visibility and Accountability in the White Anti-Racist Community” by Catherine Jones
(Estimated 19 minutes of reading)
Black is Crime: Notes on Blaqillegalism by Dubian Ade
(Estimated 23 minutes of reading)
“Grieving the White Void” by Abraham Lateiner
(Estimated 23 minutes of reading)
A More Perfect Union speech by Barack Obama (2008)
(Estimated 24 minutes of reading)
“From White Racist to White Anti-Racist: the life-long journey” by Tema Okun
(Estimated 30 minutes of reading)
Detour-Spotting for white anti-racists by Jona Olsson
(Estimated 32 minutes of reading)
(Estimated 32 minutes of reading)
What, To the Slave, is the Fourth of July speech by Frederick Doulgass (1852)
(Estimated 52 minutes of reading)
How to Be an Antiracist - a conversation with Ibram X. Kendi (2019)
(55 minutes of viewing)
Specific Episodes
Let's Talk About Whiteness by Eula Biss
(Estimated 52 minutes of listening)
Ongoing Shows
Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
We’ve linked as many books as possible to Bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores and puts money directly into their pockets. If a book is not linked, we invite you to spend a few minutes finding an ideally local and/or POC-owned shop where you can purchase it. Please don’t buy from Amazon.
Black-owned Bookshops
New Beacon Books | Jacaranda | No Ordinary Bookshop | Round Table Books | Books of Africa | Book Love Shop | African Books Collective | Ayebia Publishing
(arranged by year published)
by Layla Saad (2020)
Based on the viral Instagram challenge that captivated participants worldwide, Me and White Supremacy takes readers on a 28-day journey of how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.
(192 pages)
by Jenna Arnold (2020)
Raising Our Hands is the reckoning cry for white women. It asks us to step up and join the new frontlines of the fight against complacency—in our homes, in our behaviors, and in our own minds. In these pages, Arnold peels back the history that’s been kept out of textbooks and the cultural norms that are holding us back, so we can finally start really listening to marginalized voices and doing our part to promote progress.
(250 pages)
by Ibram X Kendi (2019)
Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America—but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to be an Antiracist, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.
(320 pages)
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
by Reni Eddo-Lodge (2019)
Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge and counter racism. It is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today.
(288 pages)
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
This book attempts to spark public discussion by revealing the tainted origins of modern policing as a tool of social control. It shows how the expansion of police authority is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice-- even public safety. Drawing on groundbreaking research from across the world, and covering virtually every area in the increasingly broad range of police work, Alex Vitale demonstrates how law enforcement has come to exacerbate the very problems it is supposed to solve.
(272 pages)
So You Want to Talk About Race
by Ijeoma Oluo (2018)
In So You Want to Talk About Race, Editor at Large of The Establishment Ijeoma Oluo offers a contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, microaggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word. Perfectly positioned to bridge the gap between people of color and white Americans struggling with race complexities, Oluo answers the questions readers don't dare ask, and explains the concepts that continue to elude everyday Americans.
(256 pages)
Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism
by Safiya Noble (2018)
In Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities. Data discrimination is a real social problem; Noble argues that the combination of private interests in promoting certain sites, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of Internet search engines, leads to a biased set of search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color.
(245 pages)
by Robin Diangelo (2018)
*Please note: there are differing opinions among Black educators and activists on whether or not this is a productive resource. You can read more about these valid concerns here. We have chosen to include it as we are not gatekeepers of these resources.*
In this "vital, necessary, and beautiful book" (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and "allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people' (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.
(192 pages)
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
by Resmaa Menakem (2017)
The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze. My Grandmother’s Hands is a call to action for Americans to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body. Author Resmaa Menakem introduces an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.
(300 pages)
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
by Ibram X. Kendi (2017)
Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America--it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit. In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis.
(608 pages)
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race
by Beverly Daniel Tatum (2017)
Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides. These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious. This fully revised edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics of race in America.
(464 pages)
by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
(176 pages)
Dark Matters: On The Surveillance of Blackness
by Simone Browne (2015)
In Dark Matters Simone Browne locates the conditions of blackness as a key site through which surveillance is practiced, narrated, and resisted. She shows how contemporary surveillance technologies and practices are informed by the long history of racial formation and by the methods of policing black life under slavery, such as branding, runaway slave notices, and lantern laws. Placing surveillance studies into conversation with the archive of transatlantic slavery and its afterlife, Browne draws from black feminist theory, sociology, and cultural studies to analyze texts as diverse as the methods of surveilling blackness she discusses.
(224 pages)
by Bryan Stevenson (2015)
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn't commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship--and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer's coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice.
(368 pages)
by Robert Sussman (2014)
Biological races do not exist—and never have. This view is shared by all scientists who study variation in human populations. Yet racial prejudice and intolerance based on the myth of race remain deeply ingrained in Western society. In his powerful examination of a persistent, false, and poisonous idea, Robert Sussman explores how race emerged as a social construct from early biblical justifications to the pseudoscientific studies of today.
(384 pages)
Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do
by Claude M. Steele (2011)
Claude M. Steele, who has been called "one of the few great social psychologists," offers a vivid first-person account of the research that supports his groundbreaking conclusions on stereotypes and identity. He sheds new light on American social phenomena from racial and gender gaps in test scores to the belief in the superior athletic prowess of black men, and lays out a plan for mitigating these "stereotype threats" and reshaping American identities.
(256 pages)
by Michelle Alexander (2010)
In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community and all of us—to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.
(336 pages)
by Danielle L. McGuire (2010)
In this important book, Danielle McGuire writes about the rape in 1944 of a twenty-four-year-old mother and sharecropper, Recy Taylor, who strolled toward home after an evening at church in Abbeville, Alabama. Seven armed white men ordered the young woman into their green Chevrolet, raped her, and left her for dead. The president of the local NAACP branch office sent his best investigator and organizer—Rosa Parks—to Abbeville. In taking on this case, Parks launched a movement that exposed a ritualized history of sexual assault against black women and added fire to the growing call for change.
(416 pages)
by Angela Y. Davis (2003)
Amid rising public concern about the proliferation and privatization of prisons, and their promise of enormous profits, world-renowned author and activist Angela Y. Davis argues for the abolition of the prison system as the dominant way of responding to America's social ills.
(128 pages)
by Karen L Cox (2003)
Even without the right to vote, members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy proved to have enormous social and political influence throughout the South—all in the name of preserving Confederate culture. Karen L. Cox's history of the UDC, an organization founded in 1894 to vindicate the Confederate generation and honor the Lost Cause, shows why myths surrounding the Confederacy continue to endure.
(240 pages)
by Dorothy Roberts (1997)
This is a no-holds-barred response to the liberal and conservative retreat from an assertive, activist, and socially transformative civil rights agenda of recent years—using a black feminist lens and the issue of the impact of recent legislation, social policy, and welfare "reform" on black women's—especially poor black women's—control over their bodies' autonomy and their freedom to bear and raise children with respect and dignity in a society whose white mainstream is determined to demonize, even criminalize their lives. It gives its readers a cogent legal and historical argument for a radically new, and socially transformative, definition of "liberty" and "equality" for the American polity from a black feminist perspective.
(400 pages)
by Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí (1997)
The "woman question," this book asserts, is a Western one, and not a proper lens for viewing African society. A work that rethinks gender as a Western construction, The Invention of Women offers a new way of understanding both Yoruban and Western cultures. Oyěwùmí traces the misapplication of Western, body-oriented concepts of gender through the history of gender discourses in Yoruba studies. Her analysis shows the paradoxical nature of two fundamental assumptions of feminist theory: that gender is socially constructed in old Yoruba society, and that social organization was determined by relative age.
(256 pages)
African American Women’s History and the Metalanguage of Race
by Evelyn Brooks Higgenbotham (1992)
Twenty-five years after the publication of Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham’s 1992 Signs essay, she not only responds to the contributors’ arguments and queries but revisits and apprises her theory of the metalanguage of race and calls for more attention to race as both a liberatory discourse and a discourse of violence and repression.
(24 pages)
by David Roediger (1991)
This study of the formative years of working-class racism in the United States discusses whiteness and the changing face of labour. The author surveys criticisms of his work, accepting many such criticisms while challenging others, especially the view that the study of working-class racism implies a rejection of Marxism and radical politics.
(200 pages)
by Elizabeth Spelman (1990)
Throughout history, Western philosophers have buried women's characters under the category of "men's nature." Feminist theorists, responding to this exclusion, have often been guilty of this exlcusion as well – focusing only on white, middle-class women and treating others as inessential. Inessential Woman is an eloquent argument against white, middle-class bias in feminist theory. It warns against trying to seperate feminist thinking and politics from issues of race and class, and challenges the assumption of homogeneity that underlies much of feminist thought.
(240 pages)
By Assata Shakur (1987)
This intensely personal and political autobiography belies the fearsome image of JoAnne Chesimard long projected by the media and the state. With wit and candor, Black Panther Assata Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and eventual demise of Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government officials.
(274 pages)
by Audre Lorde (1984)
A collection of fifteen essays written between 1976 and 1984 gives clear voice to Audre Lorde's literary and philosophical personae. These essays explore and illuminate the roots of Lorde's intellectual development and her deep-seated and longstanding concerns about ways of increasing empowerment among minority women writers and the absolute necessity to explicate the concept of difference—difference according to sex, race, and economic status.
(192 pages)
When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America
by Paula Giddings (1984)
When and Where I Enter is an eloquent testimonial to the profound influence of African-American women on race and women's movements throughout American history. Drawing on speeches, diaries, letters, and other original documents, Paula Giddings powerfully portrays how black women have transcended racist and sexist attitudes—often confronting white feminists and black male leaders alike—to initiate social and political reform.
(408 pages)
by Angela Davis (1983)
A powerful study of the women's movement in the U.S. from abolitionist days to the present that demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders.
(288 pages)
by Cherrie Moraga (1981)
This groundbreaking collection reflects an uncompromised definition of feminism by women of color. Through personal essays, criticism, interviews, testimonials, poetry, and visual art, the collection explores, as co editor Cherríe Moraga writes, “the complex confluence of identities—race, class, gender, and sexuality—systemic to women of color oppression and liberation.”
(261 pages)
by Toni Morrison (1970)
Set in the author's girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Breedloves' garden do not bloom. Pecola's life does change- in painful, devastating ways. What its vivid evocation of the fear and loneliness at the heart of a child's yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment. The Bluest Eye remains one of Tony Morrisons's most powerful, unforgettable novels, and a significant work of American fiction.
(206 pages)
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou (1969)
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local "powhitetrash." At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors ("I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare") will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
(304 pages)
by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person—no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots.
(219 pages)
TALKING TO KIDS ABOUT RACE
| RACE |
100 Race Conscious Things to Say to Kids
RaceConscious.org
A Parent's Guide to Preventing and Responding to Prejudice
Teaching Tolerance
How white parents can raise anti-racist children
CommonSense Media Blog
How white parents can talk to their kids about race
NPR
How to Talk to Kids About Racism, Racial Violence and Police Brutality
USA Today
Talking to kids about racism - age appropriate conversations
Childrenscolorado.org
Talking to Children About Racial Bias
American Academy of Pediatrics Article
Talking to Children After Racial Incidents
UPenn
Talking to Kids About Racial Violence
NYT
| PROTESTS & NEWS |
How to Talk to your Children About Protests and Racism
CNN Article
Helping Children Cope with Frightening News
Child Mind Institute Article
Racism and Violence: How to Help Kids Handle the News
Child Mind Institute Article
Suggestions for Discussing Violent Events in the News
Morningside Center Article
What to Say to Kids When the News is Scary
NPR Life Kit article and podcast
GUIDES FOR TEACHING
A Teacher's Role When Tragedy Strikes
Child Mind Institute Article
Teaching Tolerance Article
Teaching as Activism, Teaching as Care
Article from Teaching Tolerance
Teaching for Black Lives Handbook
A Washington Post Article about the Text with two free chapters available
Teaching Young Children About Race
TeachingforChange.org
What White Children Need to Know About Race
NAIS Article
RESOURCE LISTS
Scaffolded Anti-Racism Resource List
Authored by Anonymous Anti-Racism Educators
A list of resources scaffolded to move participants through
Helms’ 6 stages of white identity.
*Features childrens resources at the bottom.
Social Justice Resources for Children
Collection of book lists, online resources, etc.
The Radical Maestro’s Resource List
Contains books, book lists, articles, lessons, curriculums and beyond.
Resources for teachers, parents including videos, things to read, etc.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Resources for Talking about Race, Racism
and Racialized Violence with Kids
Compiled by the Center for Racial Justice
BOOK LISTS
List of Books to Help Explain Racism and Protest to Kids
NYT
A MASSIVE digital library of Black History
A Teachers’s PDF Collection of Texts
Organized by Author
book list
List of books to get talking about race and racism with your kids
Twitter thread of children’s books about racism
BOOKS
Clickable infographic list of anti-racist black books
Something Happened in our Own Town
is a story about racial injustice and police brutality.
By Jelani Memory
GEORGE FLOYD AND CURRENT PROTESTS
PDF of a children’s book
ONLINE RESOURCES
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Talking About Race; Resources for Educators
National Museum of African American History and Culture
EmbraceRace.com
SONGS
sung by a 12 year old child.
VIDEOS & FILM
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man
by Jelani Memory, read aloud on video
(This only addresses internalized and interpersonal racism, and is very elementary)
An Animated Film
In this animated film, a student goes back in time to visit Martin Luther King during pivotal moments in his life.
(arranged by year released)
When They See Us (2019)
dir. Ava Duvernay
A dramatized account of the central park five, the instance of five innocent men being convicted and sentenced for the rape and assault of a white jogger. The show follows the corrupt trial that landed each of them in prison.
(Available on Netflix)
American Son (2019)
dir. Kenny Leon
An estranged couple reunite in a Florida police station to help find their missing teenage son.
(Available on Netflix)
See You Yesterday (2019)
dir. Stefon Bristol
Two teenage science prodigies spend every spare minute working on their latest homemade invention: backpacks that enable time travel. When one of their older brothers is killed, they put their unfinished project to the test to save him.
(Available on Netflix)
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
dir. Barry Jenkins
In early 1970s Harlem, daughter and wife-to-be Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny. Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together, but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.
(Available on Hulu, YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
The Hate U Give (2018)
dir. George Tillman Jr.
Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds -- the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is soon shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and decide to stand up for what's right.
(Available on Hulu with Cinemax, YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
Happy Birthday, Marsha! (2018)
dir. Reina Gossett, Sasha Wortzel
Happy Birthday, Marsha! is a fictional short film that imagines gay and transgender rights pioneers Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera in the hours leading to the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)
dir. David France
Everyone should know that Marsha P. Johnson was at the forefront of the Stonewall riots for black trans women in NYC, and consequently sparked the revolution. She was found floating in the Hudson river in 1992.
(Available on Netflix)
Do Not Resist (2016)
dir. Craig Atkinson
An introspection into the militarization of the United States via the police force. a pure visual analysis of the gradual effect this force has had on society, specifically that of the marginalized
(Available on YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
dir. Raoul Peck
Analyzes the life and relationships of James Baldwin and the assassinations of Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Medgar Evers. A Phenomenal effort to bring to life the groundbreaking book that Baldwin never finished.
(Available on YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
13th (2016)
dir. Ava Duvernay
Delves into the deep systematic inequalities and flaws of the industrial prison complex. the most basic understanding of the corrupt and unjust imprisonment system is laid out for any viewer to comprehend.
(Available on Netflix)
Ferguson: A Report From Occupied Territory (2015)
dir. Orlando de Guzman
A first hand conversation with residents of St. Louis county and their experiences in actions during, leading up to, and following the riots
(Available on Youtube)
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015)
dir. Stanley Nelson Jr.
Nelson navigates the emergence of the Panther party in the 60s and its lasting impact on civil rights and american society. incredibly relevant to the current state of revolution today.
(Available on YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
Dear White People (2014)
dir. Justin Simien
A campus culture war between blacks and whites at a predominantly white school comes to a head when the staff of a humour magazine stages an offensive Halloween party.
(Available on YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
Selma (2014)
dir. Ava Duvernay
Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for blacks to register to vote. In 1965, an Alabama city became the battleground in the fight for suffrage. Despite violent opposition, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, and their efforts culminated in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
(Available on YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
Let the Fire Burn (2013)
dir. Jason Osder
Filmmaker Jason Osder illustrates how prejudice, intolerance and fear can lead to unthinkable acts of violence. A collection and presentation of events and situations leading up to and during the 1985 standoff between black radical group, MOVE, and the police.
(Available on iTunes)
Fruitvale Station (2013)
dir. Ryan Coogler
Though he once spent time in San Quentin, 22-year-old black man Oscar Grant is now trying hard to live a clean life and support his girlfriend and young daughter. Flashbacks reveal the last day in Oscar's life, in which he accompanied his family and friends to San Francisco to watch fireworks on New Year's Eve, and, on the way back home, became swept up in an altercation with police that ended in tragedy. Based on a true story.
(Available on Tubi, YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)
dir. Gӧran Olsson
Examines the evolution of the Black Power movement in American society from 1967 to 1975 as viewed through Swedish journalists and filmmakers.
(Available on Sling TV, YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
dir. Spike Lee
Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.
(Available on YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes)
(arranged in alphabetical order)
26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
A Guide to Allyship by Black Lives Matter & All Cops are Bastards
A Guide to Protesting Safely During the COVID-19 Pandemic by Zachary Zane (Men’s Health)
An Antiracist Reading List by Ibram X. Kendi (New York Times)
Anti-Racism Cheat Sheet by @unnff and @lrnsark
Anti-Racism Resources by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein
Dismantling Racism Works Web Workbook
Do The Work Now: Anti-Racism Resources by Sarah Vitti
How to Support the Struggle Against Police Brutality by Claire Lampen (The Cut)
Jenna Arnold’s resources (books and people to follow)
Justice in June: A Calendar Guide For How You Can Dismantle White Supremacy During This Month
Know Your Rights: Protestors’ Rights by American Civil Liberties Union
Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice by Jonathan Osler
Rachel Ricketts’ anti-racism resources
Resource Guide by Ashley Loren
Resources for Accountability and Actions for Black Lives
Resources for White People to Learn and Talk About Race and Racism
Safety During Protest by Amnesty International
Save the Tears: White Woman’s Guide by Tatiana Mac
Showing Up For Racial Justice’s educational toolkits
The Inheritance Project: Online Workbook
White Guyde To The Galaxy by Tataina Mac
“Why is this happening?” — an introduction to police brutality from 100 Year Hoodie