Combating Racism and Understanding White Privilege: Here’s Where You Can Start

I will never personally understand the devastating impacts of indoctrinated and systemic racism and I have never intended to center myself in a movement in which I have no authority or experience to speak on. I am a white, cis-gender woman. I am an ever-learning, always improving ally and advocate. But, I am mostly here to listen.

Below is a list of resources I’ve complied ranging from books to podcasts. I fully acknowledge that this is just a list and that long-term, systemic change will be provoked and sustained through action (not lists or black squares on social media) and that providing resources doesn’t eliminate centuries-old, systemic oppression and violence.

Please comment below with any additional resources or comments.

Books:

• So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Olu
• How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty by Dorothy Roberts
• The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
• A Spectacular Secret: Lynching in American Life and Literature by Jacqueline Goldsby
• Biased by Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt
• Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey
• Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla Saad
• Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
• The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy by Andrea Flynn, Dorian T. Warren, Felicia J. Wong, Susan R. Holmberg
• Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundation, Theory, Practice, Critique by Loretta Ross, Lynn Roberts, Erika Derkas, Whitney Peoples, Pamela Bridgewater Toure, Dorothy Roberts
• Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington
• Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do by Claude M. Steele
• My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
• I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
• They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
• Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell
• Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology by Deirdre Cooper Owens
• The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
• Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor 
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
• A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind by Harriet A. Washington
• Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence by Kellie Carter Jackson
• Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century by Barbara Ransby
• From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Film/Television:

• When They See Us (Netflix)
• 13th (Netflix)
• I’m Not Your Negro (Amazon Prime)
• Selma (Amazon Prime)
• Whose Streets (Amazon Prime, Hulu)
• LA 92 (Netflix, Amazon Prime)
• Teach Us All (Netflix)
• Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise (PBS)
• The Talk – Race In America (PBS)
• Every Mother’s Son: Policing And Race in America (PBS POV)

Podcasts:

• Intersectionality Matters! from The African American Policy Forum
• Throughline by NPR (Episodes: American Police, Mass Incarceration, Milliken v. Bradley)
• Still Processing by The New York Times
• Code Switch by NPR
• Lynching in America by The Equal Justice Initiative
• Identity Politics by Ikhlas Saleem and Makkah Ali
• Ear Hustle by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods (Listen to the hosts of Ear Hustle interviewed by Terry Gross via NPR here.)
• Radical Imagination by Angela Glover Blackwell
• About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
• United States of Anxiety by WNYC

Videos:

Black Feminism & the Movement for Black Lives – Barbara Smith, Reina Gossett, Charlene Carruthers:

Let’s Get To the Root of Racial Injustice – Megan Ming Francis, TEDxRainier

Systemic Racism Explained – Act.tv

Sesame Street for Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism, a town hall for kids and families. (CNN)

Race Matters: America in Crisis – PBS NewsHour

Articles/Blog Posts:

• Welcome To The Anti-Racism Movement — Here’s What You’ve Missed – Medium
• Holy Shit, Being an Ally Isn’t About Me! – Medium
• The Subtle Linguistics of Polite White Supremacy – Medium
• A Guide to How You Can Support Marginalized Communities – CNN
• This Is What Black Burnout Feels Like – BuzzFeed
• How To Keep Our Children Safe: A Mother Explains Why We Must Defund Police – Essence
• Black Therapists Directory by Therapy for Black Girls
• How Well-Intentioned White Families Can Perpetuate Racism – The Atlantic
• Harvard EdCast: Putting Diverse Books into Practice – Harvard Graduate School of Education
• How White Parents Can Talk To Their Kids About Race – NPR
• Anti-Racism Books and Resources for Kids – The New York Times
• How To Be Anti-Racist: Speak Out in Your Own Circles -CNN
• How White People Can Support the Movement for Black Lives – UUCSJ
• Column: No, White People. You Can’t Ease Your Guilt Over Racism by Paying Black People via Cash App – Los Angeles Times
• White people are speaking up at protests. How do we know they mean what they say? – Washington Post
• 24 Ways to Donate in Support of the Black Lives Matter Movement Right Now – GQ
• To the White People Who Keep Asking How to ‘Help’ – The Nation
• Black Lives Matter: If You’re White, Pass The Mic – Forbes
• Beyond Protests: 5 More Ways To Channel Anger Into Action To Fight Racism – NPR
• 100 Ways to Support—Not Appropriate From—Native People – Vice
• 10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship – Vogue UK
• Coronavirus FAQs: How To Stay Safe While Protesting, When To Go Out After Recovery – NPR
• I’ve Spent Months Fighting Coronavirus in the ER. Police Violence Is What Really Scares Me – GQ
• Dear Fellow White People: Here’s What to Do When You’re Called Racist – Washington Post
• Want to Support Black People? Stop Talking, Start Listening – Global News, Canada
• What Your Friends of Color Want You to Know – Psychology Today

Resources:

• Implicit Association Test (Race) from Harvard University (There are several IATs to take including: skin tone, Arab-Muslim, religion, Asian, disability, etc…)
• Whiteness and White Privilege (resources and reading) via Racial Equity Tools
• A Toolkit For White People via Black Lives Matter
• Racial Equity Tools Glossary via Racial Equity Tools
• A Guide on How to Unlearn Your Racism and Be Actively Anti-Racist by Jazzmine-Jackson
• 44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in This Country – Self Magazine
• 20 Black Mental Health and Wellness Resources to Follow – Yahoo
• First, Listen. Then, Learn: Anti-Racism Resources For White People – Forbes
• National Resources List (bail funds/legal help by city, mental health resources, etc…)