45+ Antiracist Resources To Read, Watch, Listen, and Donate To Right Now
Image credit: The New York Times
It isn't easy to know where to begin. And, perhaps, we shouldn't begin immediately with a tally of "what we've done" or tangible steps to "make it better". Maybe what we should do first is listen and sit with our own discomfort, pain, anger, and history, to reflect and also own where we are responsible. It is shameful what we face in our nation right now—we support public outcry and uprising, but hope that our white allies will also be brave enough to face guilt in accepting our intrinsic biases and thought patterns, intentional or not. For those holding white privilege it may just be our time to follow—follow without speaking, with unwavering support, and protect those who have been doing the work (in both the virtual world and the real world—those protesting in person). Work has been done, credit deserves to be given, so please look to those first before asking again and again for guidance.
We have compiled a list of books, interviews, articles, and organizations worthy of your time and resources. PLEASE: READ, LISTEN, ACT, GIVE, and VOTE!
"If we want to bring about real change, then the choice isn’t between protest and politics. We have to do both. We have to mobilize to raise awareness, and we have to organize and cast our ballots to make sure that we elect candidates who will act on reform." How To Make This Moment The Turning Point For Real Change
"All of a sudden, I became one of the hundreds of black women who have watched a video of a loved one being accosted." Chris Cooper Is My Brother. Here Is Why I Posted His Video
"Covid-19 is disproportionately affecting the black community, but we can hardly take the time to sit with that horror as we are reminded, every single day, that there is no context in which black lives matter." Remember, No One Is Coming To Save Us
"I’m a history guy. I’ve been studying this country’s history pretty much all my life. It’s pretty sordid in some areas. But that history ought to inform us. Everybody’s not going to learn the lessons. The ones who learn, you hope they change the world." James Clyburn On The Role of Race In The Coming Election
"The people who have had the luxury of ignoring this particular issue is the white community, which has had the privilege of not questioning—on a large scale—whether the systems they live in are detrimental to their livelihoods, based on their skin color." Why You Need To Stop Saying "All Lives Matter"
"You learn—or, at least I, a black, cisgender man, learned—that there will be moments, random and unbidden, where to save your life you must convince a stranger that you are in some amorphous way good. And at the same time you learn that it probably will not make a difference." It Does Not Matter If You Are Good
To Donate & Support
Sign petitions here and here demanding justice and protection
Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites
Local Black Lives Matter chapter
Elected Civilian Review Board (to hold police accountable)
How to support Black businesses: WeBuyBlack; The Black Wallet; Official Black Wall Street; list here
To Read
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh (in full)
The New York Times 1619 Project
Where To Begin by Cleo Wade
We Live For the We by Dani McClain
Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendell
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad (and find her anti-racist reading list here)
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (primer here)
Stamped by Kendi and Jason Reynold
A Kids Book About Racism by Jelani Memory
This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell
This booklist is anti-racist and so is this one, and this one is for kids
A good visual booklist
1000 Black girl books resource guide
Resources
75 things white people can do for racial justice
How white parents can talk to their kids about race
Help for parenting and educating through a critical race lens
They're not too young to talk about race
Anti-racist resources compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein
To Follow
A Guide To White Privilege (@courtneyahndesign)
How To Be Actively Antiracist (@goodgoodgoodco)
Black-Owned Small Businesses You Can Support From Anywhere (@roohiamber)
This is an ever-evolving list, so please check back as we will be adding in the coming days.
