“In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” ___ Angela Davis
“One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of “not racist.” The claim of “not racist” neutrality is a mask for racism.”
__ Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist
The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.
__Ijeoma Oluo
more Black bodies fall into the bag of my heart continuous rage
__Tasha K
Anti-racism Resource Guide
Last Updated: Juneteenth 2020
This anti-racist resource guide was crafted amidst the anger of the latest black body turned hashtag #AhmaudArbery. It is consistently being updated to address the current climate of our country and the personal growth needed to sustain this life-long journey. Please note that this document was and will continue to be a group effort. Suggested additions or other feedback can be emailed to me at the address below. I have tried extremely hard to thoroughly comb through these resources before they were listed, but always seeking new material. It took a lot of time and energy, emotional and mental labor to get this document to its current update. Some have asked about financially supporting the continued work of this anti-racism resource guide, that info is also below.
This is just a resource, not a map leading to a destination, but help along the way, a strong start. The tendency to try and get through this list in its entirety and feel accomplished or to get overwhelmed by the ever growing list are real reactions we should leave behind. Again, this IS LIFE-LONG WORK that we choose to enter into, a journey for an anti-racist traveler that will take a lifetime.
Starting Your Journey begins on page three and is based on Ibram X. Kendi’s anti-racism syllabus. There are four steps to guide you into the other resources that begin on page four. If you don’t feel quite ready to begin your journey, you can start below with some suggested pre-reading. Throughout the guide you will notice, White authors are noted, books are alphabetized by author, and podcasts, movie trailers, and organization websites are all linked. It is strongly encouraged that if you choose to purchase a book, you find it on a site that benefits the writer the most.
It is important to start somewhere, even though there is no end point. This is a tool. This does not even brush the surface of anti-racism resources, but it is a start. Learning, re-learning, and decolonizing history are all necessary pieces of this journey, but should coincide with other things like listening, taking action, financially supporting, decentering whiteness, etc.
For those who identify as Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) engagement with these resources may be triggering. These materials are intended to help you further understand oppressive systems, and provide more tools and resources to fight these systems while recognizing how your own bias contributes to your prejudices.
For those of you who are White, engaging with these resources could bring a negative or defensive reaction. I encourage you to challenge your own culture, privilege, and bias while continuing the fight against oppressive systems that you benefit from.
I truly believe that this ongoing work is a journey of empathy and care for humanity, individually and collectively. We must engage if we want to do intentional anti-racism work in our families, our classrooms, our conversations, our meetings, our community, our country, and our world.
Tasha K
Email/Paypal: [email protected]
Venmo: @tatortash
Ca$hApp: $tatortash
SUGGESTED PRE-READING
Blindspot
Mahzarin R. Banaji
Racism Without Racists: Color-blind Racism And The Persistence Of Racial Inequality In America
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Biased
Jennifer L. Ebernhardt, PhD
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
James W. Loewen (white author)
So You Want To Talk About Race
Ijeoma Oluo
STARTING YOUR JOURNEY
1. Define Race
Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, Big Business,Re-create Race In The 21st Century Dorothy Roberts
2. Define Racism & Anti-racism
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas In America
Ibram X. Kendi
How To Be Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi
or
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
Ibram X. Kendi & Jason Reynolds
3. Settle Your Feelings
BIPOC Learners should read:
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment In Black America
James Forman Jr.
or
White Learners should read:
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Race
Robin Di’Angelo (white author)
4. Continue Your Journey
Anti-racism is life-long work for all of us, there is no finish line. May we continue to move forward, instead of backwards. Start somewhere, start anywhere.
Page four begins the evolving list of resources organized by topic, and medium. Feel free to use the outline on the left to navigate the resources.
________________
CONTINUING THE JOURNEY
How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? Being Young And Arab In America
Moustafa Bayoumi
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism For The Twenty-First Century
Grace Lee Boggs
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon To White America
Michael Eric Dyson
Ghosts In The Schoolyard: Racism And School Closings On Chicago’s South Side
Eve L. Ewing
How To Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy And The Racial Divide
Crystal M. Flemming
A Short History Of Reconstruction 1863-1877
Eric Foner (white author)
Tell Me Who You Are
Winona Guo & Priya Vulchi
This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How To Wake Up, Take Action, And Do The Work
Tiffany Jewell & Aurelia Durand
Why We Can’t Wait
Martin Luther King, Jr.
America for Americans: A History Of Xenophobia In The United States
Erica Lee
They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement
Wesley Lowery
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems In Race, Political Economy And Society
Manning Marable
Citizen: An American Lyric
Claudia Rankine
American Lynching
Ashraf H. A. Rushdy
The Politics Of The Veil
Joan Wallach Scott (white author)
The Origins Of The Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality In Postwar Detroit
Thomas Surgue (white author)
A Different Mirror A History Of Multicultural America
Ronald Takaki
A People’s History Of The United States
Howard Zinn (white author)
________________
MEMOIRS
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sing
Maya Angelou
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity In A World Made For Whiteness
Austin Channing Brown
The Best We Could: An Illustrated Memoir
Thi Bui
Between The World And Me
Ta-nehisi Coates
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
Brittney Cooper
Lakota Women
Mary Crow Dog & Richard Erdoes
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
Cathy Park Hong
Good Talk: A Memoir In Conversation (Graphic Novel)
Mira Jacob
When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele
Paper Sons
Dickson Lam
Heavy: An American Memoir
Kiese Laymon
Redefining Realness: My Path To Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
Janet Mock
Citizen 13660 (Graphic Novel)
Miné Okubo
I Love Yous Are For White People: A Memoir
Lac Su
The Auto-Biography Of Malcolm X
Malcolm X
________________
ESSAYS
They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us
Hanif Abdurraqib
Alligator and Other Stories
Dima Alzayat
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
Black Is The Body: Stories From My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, And Mine
Emily Bernard
We Were Eight Years In Power:An American Tragedy
Ta-Nehisi Coates
We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race & Resegregation
Jeff Chang
Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, And The Foundations Of A Movement.
Angela Y. Davis
If They Come In The Morning...Voices Of The Resistance
Edited by Angela Davis
The Souls of Black Folk
W.E.B. Du Bois
Bad Feminist
Roxanne Gay
Sister Outsider: Essays & Speeches
Audre Lorde
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women Of Color
Edited By Cherríe Moraga & Gloria Anzaldúa
Some Of Us Are Very Hungry Now
Andre Perry
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race
Jesymn Ward
________________
FICTION
Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
A Negro And And An Ofay: The Tales of Elliot Caprice
Danny Gardner
Homegoing
Yaa Gyasi
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
Welcome To Braggsville: A Novel
T. Geronimo Johnson
The Ot