Anti-Racism Resources For My White Friends & Readers
This is for my white friends and readers. I could say it is being written and posted in response to recent events, but if the events are free-flowing, and endless, they are not recent. They are constant horrors that are a way of life, and they’re not happening to us. We are removed from them, safe from them, and that is our privilege. Just one privilege of countless others. Another privilege we have is doing nothing. Doing nothing is a racist act. Learning nothing is a racist act. Changing nothing is a racist act. Being a contributing member of a positive, productive society requires more of us than “not being racist.” Active antiracism is what’s required.
Police violence and outright murder of black people is not new. White people calling the police about black people simply because they are black is not new. White silence about these pervasive, deadly, and societally detrimental issues is also not new. These things have been happening forever. And never, ever to us. Racism is a constant. You might see it as “new” “incidents” popping up on your social media every day, but for people of color, racism is a constant. If we avoid discussing racism and educating ourselves on how we help racism exist, we can never be a part of changing racism from a constant to a former truth that no longer plagues the world. Our discomfort in discussing racism or in educating ourselves on how our silence helps racism persist does not matter. Life matters. The experience of being human matters. Let us begin by educating ourselves on how our black friends and communities have experienced being human, and how they have lost their lives.
I understand the feeling of not knowing what to do, but it’s not okay if we do nothing about that feeling, and that fear. It was always our privilege to ignore that fear. There are far greater threats, fears, and realities in our society, they are not happening to us, and our passive observance is helping them happen. Educating ourselves is where we start, and below I’ve shared a few outstanding resources.
Doing nothing because you’re scared of doing something wrong is not an option. Doing nothing because you’re scared of sounding stupid is not an option. Doing nothing in general is not an option. It never was.
1) Anti-Racism Resources For White People: Compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein in May 2020, found via a tweet by Brittany Packnett.
2) Shareable Anti-Racism Resources Guide: by Tasha K. Ryals.
3) Who Gets To Be Afraid In America, by Ibram X. Kendi (additional resources in his bio below this article)
4) Anti-Racism resources compiled by Dr. Therapinay and sent in via a podcast listener. Added 6/1/20.
5) Statement from Ben & Jerry’s calling for four specific changes in effort to dismantle white supremacy. Added 6/3/20.
6) Bob The Drag Queen & Peppermint’s video re: Why You Should Say Black Lives Matter. Added 6/4/20.
7) Reading list via Jess Wilkins aka @notcarriebradshaw’s weekly newsletter. Added 6/7/20.
8) Come Through Podcast with Rebecca Carroll, “15 essential conversations about race in a pivotal year for America.” Added 6/9/20.
9) Schomburg Center Black Liberation Reading List. Added 6/10/20.
10) A massive and very well organized list of anti-racism resources. Added 6/18/20.
11) Resmaa Menakem’s appearance on On Being. Added 7/2/20.
12) Annuity.org on closing financial literacy gaps in Black communities. Added 9/28/22
If there are additional resources you’d like me to add to this list, please email them to shanisilver@gmail.com
