I began collecting these resources in 2017 when, in the face of yet more news about police brutality, I sought information to help me learn how to speak with friends about race. I found so much more. Specifically: incidents that lead to headlines capture our attention, but these events are signposts pointing to ingrained attitudes and unconscious biases that have pervaded our society for hundreds of years. Much as it would be hard for a fish to describe water, so too is it difficult for whites to grasp the pervasive nature of racism. We're steeped in it, yet so easily become defensive and uncomfortable about the subject.
I'm posting here so that others who want to explore this terrain don't have to spend so much time looking for good materials (or expect friends of color to provide them). I provide descriptive notes for context, and free resources are noted whenever found. And while I do include links that offer anti-racist "programs" this page offers a purposefully wide variety of resources from which to choose. Some of us learn from watching, some from listening, or reading, or discussion. Some of us prefer a predetermined path, others (like myself) stumble from discovery to discovery.
That said, the document is loosely organized around three main sections: Racism (the unseen), Context (history), and Action (working for change, doing better). Then come more specific links: excellent collections for teachers, photographers, protestors, parents, etc.
The page is like an onion; keep peeling away. When you see a small triangle pointing to the right, click on it to see more! This is a work in progress, both the page and one's personal journey. Have corrections or suggestions? Let me know. Thanks! Susan Fassberg
PS. Many teachers, school administrators, social justice organizations and kind colleagues have reached out to tell me that they will be using this document in their work or home. If you find these resources valuable, I'd love to know. Just drop a line.
To redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen.
So wrote Peggy McIntosh as she described the process of coming to see her "unearned advantage and conferred dominance". She said: "In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness.... never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth."
McIntosh's Unpacking the Invisible Backpack begins with a list of 50 daily aspects of white privilege. Written in 1988, this list should be required reading. Don't think you are privileged? READ THIS. (You can hear McIntosh explain why it's especially important for teachers to understand all of this by listening to the podcast "Whiteness Visible".)
Lori Lakin Hutcherson, GoodBlacksNews Editor-in-Chief, was asked on Facebook about the existence of white privilege. Her response, What I Said When My White Friend Asked for My Black Opinion on White Privilege, is a direct, heartfelt and clear outlining of her experience. More recently, Genvieve Roth authored "I Thought I Understood What White Privilege Was Until I Married a Black Man". She writes: "To be raised white in America is to be told in countless small ways that how you live is correct. It means having your image and your values reflected back at you .... Over time, this message imbeds itself so deeply in us that we can no longer recognize it as the false narrative that it is. We lose our sense of culpability, misunderstanding racial inequality as something to empathize with instead of something that we created and are uniquely required to solve."
Dr Robin DeAngelo’s 20-min video Deconstructing White Privilege examines what it means to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless. This is a short intro to systemic racism and unconscious bias, not individual mean acts (by someone else). DeAngelo says each of us needs to focus our energy on HOW we've been shaped by the system, not if. ”There were things said better, clearer and more concisely than I've ever heard before. IMHO, every white person should see it!” said one viewer.
Listen to this DeAngleo Spotify podcast, if you want more. Find her book "White Fragility" at most booksellers (including Amazon) or download it as an ebook for $9.99. If you live in Washington DC you're in luck — you can download DeAngelo's book and numerous others for free using your library card. Still can't find it? Tell me.