ABOUT
This Racial Allyship open-source site was designed as an introductory medium for exploring the notion of white privilege, and broader questions of racial justice, particularly of Black issues.
Below, you will find related topics and resources that you can work through at your own pace. If you find yourself with questions or want to discuss any of the material further, you're encouraged to navigate to the FORUM tab, where you can engage with others and find additional resources.
Expanding your individual understanding of the notion of white privilege and racial justice broadly is the core mission of this course. Discussing and re-framing the way that we interact with racial justice is an ongoing process that is underscored by empathy, self-reflection, and community care.
We hope to manifest this process in an actionable way, building out of these resources by offering you a final guiding resource, the racial allyship action plan, wherein you can put your passions and knowledge to work.
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MATERIALS
Introductions & Purpose
Navigate over to the 'Forum' tab and leave what name you preferred to be called (in this online space), what you do currently (work? school?), as well as why you are engaging with this resource. Take a look at other people's posts and make connections, Invite a friend to navigate this road with you. You are all going on a similar journey together!
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Administrators of Racial Allyship retain the right to moderate and remove any posts within the Forum. Read more about this - check out the document below for a statement about moderation and parental guidance.
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(6:56) How to be a Better Ally explores five ways that allies can aid in the fight for racial justice. Ashante overall encourages intersectionality and acceptance within the process of allyship.
Key Terms
Re-Framing & Defining
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Feagin, Joe R. The White Racial Frame: Centuries of Racial Framing and Counter-Framing. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2013.
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Sensoy, Ozlem and Robin D’Angelo. Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education. New York: Teachers College Press. 2012
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Women, Race, & Class, Angela Davis
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Racism Without Racists, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
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(10:59) This Crash Course in Race & Ethnicity is explore through a sociological lens. Terms like minority and minority-majority are explored, and different facets of the sociology of race & ethnicity are explained.
Systemic Racism
What Does it Mean and How Does it Look Today?
The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein @ Brown University
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5 Examples of Institutional Racism In the United States, Nadra Kareem Nittle
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Redefining Institutional Racism, Jenny Williams
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Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, Beverly Daniel Tatum
(21:11) John Oliver delves into the problems bred of facial recognition and how inherent biases in devices with facial recognition perptuate everyday barriers to equitable access of goods/services for margnilized peoples. Further, Oliver details how this technology can be co-opted for violent action.
(21:11) Natalie Wynn delves into alt-right talking points against the presence of racism in America today, and integrates philosophical parallels to create an argument for the case of the presence of racism in America today.
(12:15) Abigail Thorn discusses how white supremacist propoganda permeates the global north, and how to unpack what this rhetoric does today.
Institutional Racism:
Education
(22:26) Laura Mae Lindo explains why curriculum in public schools on race & ethnicity must be more critical in order to promote equity and speak truth to racism.
(28:29) John Oliver details how U.S. history is heavily edited and falsified in public schools, and how that perpetuates racism today.
Institutional Racism:
Housing
The House We Live In, Pt. 3
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Structural Racism, Social Risk Factors, and COVID-19
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The Invisible Hands of Structural Racism in Housing, Palma Joy Strand
(6:37) NPR details the reasoning for the Fair Housing Act, as well as its impacts, and explores why neighborhoods are still very segregated today.
Institutional Racism:
Criminal Justice System
Just Mercy: Race and the Criminal Justice System, Bryan Stevenson
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Are Prisons Obsolete?, Angela Davis
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Policing Is Doing What It Was Mean't To Do. That's The Problem
(2:16) This short video is an introduction into the prison industrial complex, its racist nature, and how its construction profits off of mass incarceration.
(33:33) John Oliver outlines how overpolicing contributes to racist violence in the U.S. and touches on police accountability
Racism in health care: Harvard Health Publishing
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Penner, Louis A., et al. "Aversive racism and medical interactions with Black patients: A field study." Journal of experimental social psychology 46.2 (2010): 436-440.
Institutional Racism:
Healthcare
The House We Live In, Pt. 3
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Structural Racism, Social Risk Factors, and COVID-19
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The Invisible Hands of Structural Racism in Housing, Palma Joy Strand
(39:27) This video on structural racism in medicine exhausts exactly how biases and racist ideals permeate medicine and contribute to a higher rate of death within hospitals and during the process of diagnoses for BIPOC in the U.S.
(6:02) Impactful intro video that outlines how neglecting BIPOC in medical trials and medical studies generally has deadly consequences.
White Privilege & Fragility
How Does My Privilege Impact My Activism?
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo *Recommend entire book if possible!
Deconstructing White Privilege, Robin DiAngelo
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Ain't I a Woman, bell hooks
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How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi
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McIntosh, Peggy. "White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack." (1988).
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Leonardo, Zeus. "The color of supremacy: Beyond the discourse of ‘white privilege’." Educational philosophy and theory 36.2 (2004): 137-152.
(4:00) The Root unpacks how white privilege operates in the U.S. in a variety of ways - from wages, to prisons, to microagressions.
Interpersonal Racism &
Managing Difficult Conversations
(6:40) Concepts of systemic, instituional, interpersonal, and internalized racism interrelate and interact in the U.S.
Getting Called out: How to Apologize
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https://www.cacgrants.org/assets/ce/Documents/2019/FourLevelsOfRacism.pdf
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​https://commonbondz.org/resources-1/interpersonal-racism
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Maluso, Diane. "Shaking hands with a clenched fist: Interpersonal racism." Portions of this chapter were presented in a talk at the Assn for Women in Psychology's 1993 annual conference in Atlanta, GA, and in colloquia at Mt Holyoke Coll, the U of Hawaii, and the East-West Ctr, Honolulu, HI.. Guilford Press, 1995.
Allyship Action Plan
Sitting with the impacts and pervasive systems of racism in our cultures today can leave you feeling confused about how to move forward in a manner that doesn't take away from Black voices while contributing to racial justice efforts. The Racial Allyship Action Plan serves as a guiding medium for your frustrations, concerns, and individual emotions to be translated into positive action. Your personal Allyship action plan shouldn't be dictated entirely by us. What you feel empowered to speak on and your passion for making change, differs from everyone else who navigated through these resources. The Allyship plan only seeks to give you guidance about how to go about making the change you want to see. We encourage you to do that which you can do with your unique and special skills, and challenge you to move beyond your comfort zone. If you are uncomfortable in taking these steps, think how uncomfortable it is for a person of color to face racism every day of their lives.
