Antiracism and Injustice Resources

Source: National Museum Of African American History And Culture

Individual racism refers to the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism in conscious and unconscious ways. The U.S. cultural narrative about racism typically focuses on individual racism and fails to recognize systemic racism. Examples include believing in the superiority of white people, not hiring a person of color because “something doesn’t feel right,” or telling a racist joke. 

Interpersonal racism occurs between individuals. These are public expressions of racism, often involving slurs, biases, or hateful words or actions.

Institutional racism occurs in an organization. These are discriminatory treatments, unfair policies, or biased practices based on race that result in inequitable outcomes for whites over people of color and extend considerably beyond prejudice. These institutional policies often never mention any racial group, but the intent is to create advantages. Example: A school system where students of color are more frequently distributed into the most crowded classrooms and underfunded schools and out of the higher-resourced schools.

Structural racism is the overarching system of racial bias across institutions and society. These systems give privileges to white people resulting in disadvantages to people of color. Example: Stereotypes of people of color as criminals in mainstream movies and media.

Source: National Museum Of African American History And Culture, The National Equity Project, Anti Defamation League (AFL), Teaching Tolerance

Bias a conscious or unconscious prejudice against an individual or group based on their identity.

Implicit bias (also referred to as unconscious bias) is the process of associating stereotypes or attitudes towards categories of people without conscious awareness - which can result in actions and decisions that are at odds with one’s intentions or explicit values. This can lead us to make biased and unfair decisions regarding who we hire for a job or select for a promotion, which classes we place students into and who we send out of the classroom for behavior infractions, and which treatment options we make available to patients.

Microaggression is a brief and commonplace verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities—whether intentional or unintentional—which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults to people from marginalized groups.

Source: National Museum Of African American History And Culture

When we choose to be antiracist, we become actively conscious about race and racism and take actions to end racial inequities in our daily lives. Being antiracist is believing that racism is everyone’s problem, and we all have a role to play in stopping it. In The Racial Healing Handbook, Dr. Anneliese A. Singh (2019) reminds us of the importance of being purposeful: “You need the intentional mindset of Yep, this racism thing is everyone’s problem-including mine, and I’m going to do something about it.”

Being antiracist is different for white people than it is for people of color. For white people, being antiracist evolves with their racial identity development. They must acknowledge and understand their privilege, work to change their internalized racism, and interrupt racism when they see it. For people of color, it means recognizing how race and racism have been internalized, and whether it has been applied to other people of color.

All racial groups struggle under white supremacy. People of color groups are not always united in solidarity. People of color can act by challenging internalized white supremacy and interrupting patterns of prejudice against other racial groups. For everyone, it is an ongoing practice and process.

Source: National Museum Of African American History And Culture

A Questioning Frame of Mind

A commitment to being antiracist manifests in our choices. When we encounter interpersonal racism, whether obvious or covert, there are ways to respond and interrupt it. Asking questions is a powerful tool to seek clarity or offer a new perspective. Below are some suggestions to use in conversations when racist behavior occurs:

• Seek clarity: “Tell me more about __________.”
• Offer an alternative perspective: “Have you ever considered __________.”
• Speak your truth: “I don’t see it the way you do. I see it as __________.”
• Find common ground: “We don’t agree on __________ but we can agree on __________.”
• Give yourself the time and space you need: “Could we revisit the conversation about __________ tomorrow.”
• Set boundaries. “Please do not say __________ again to me or around me."

As you practice, take note of your responses and ask: How am I processing the experience? What body sensations do I have? What is my emotional reaction? Notice what triggers your response and how it manifests in your body.

Another practical step is to uncover your own bias. Watch this video, Verna Myers talks about acknowledging your biases in her Ted Talk.

Source: National Museum Of African American History And Culture

Institutional racism is the policies and practices within institutions that benefit white people to the disadvantage of people of color. An example of institutional racism is how children of color are treated within the U.S. education system. On average, children of color are disciplined more harshly than their white peers. They are also less likely to be identified as gifted and have less access to quality teachers. Racism in schools can and does have severe consequences for students and our future.

Antiracist education is a theory of learning and action to help us do the important work of dismantling racism in schools. It explicitly highlights, critiques, and challenges institutional racism. It addresses how racist beliefs and ideologies structure one-on-one interactions and personal relationships. It also examines and challenges how institutions support and maintain disadvantages and advantages along racial lines.

Antiracist education, while considering class, race, and gender inequity, places race at the center of its analysis. Focusing on race exposes direct links to unequal power, a system of oppression and privilege, and institutional practices.

One of the early formulations of antiracist education was developed by social science researchers, Carol Tator and Frances Henry (1994), in Canada. It lists nine key traits.

1. Examining the historical roots and contemporary manifestations of racial prejudice and discrimination in Canada.
2. Exploring the influence of race and culture on one's own personal and professional attitudes and behavior.
3. Identifying and counteracting bias and stereotyping in learning materials.
4. Dealing with racial tensions and conflicts.
5. Identifying appropriate anti-racist resources to incorporate into the curriculum in different subject areas.
6. Developing new approaches to teaching children using varying cognitive approaches to diverse learning styles.
7. Identifying appropriate assessment and placement procedures and practices.
8. Assessing the hidden curriculum and making it more inclusive and reflective of all students' experiences.
9. Ensuring that personnel policies and practices are consistent with equity goals and that they provide managers with the knowledge and skills to implement equity programs.

Reference: OWL Purdue

Source: Teaching Tolerance

White privilege should be viewed as a built-in advantage, separate from one’s level of income or effort.

White privilege is—perhaps most notably in this era of uncivil discourse—a concept that has fallen victim to its own connotations. The two-word term packs a double whammy that inspires pushback. 1) The word white creates discomfort among those who are not used to being defined or described by their race. And 2) the word privilege, especially for poor and rural white people, sounds like a word that doesn’t belong to them—like a word that suggests they have never struggled.

This defensiveness derails the conversation, which means, unfortunately, that defining white privilege must often begin with defining what it’s not. Otherwise, only the choir listens; the people you actually want to reach check out. 

• White privilege is not the suggestion that white people have never struggled. Many white people do not enjoy the privileges that come with relative affluence, such as food security. Many do not experience the privileges that come with access, such as nearby hospitals.
• And white privilege is not the assumption that everything a white person has accomplished is unearned; most white people who have reached a high level of success worked extremely hard to get there.

Source: Teaching Tolerance

Don’t take it personally or use discomfort as an excuse to disengage. 

Feelings of guilt or defensiveness are common responses, but ultimately, they’re counterproductive. Rather than centering your own feelings of discomfort, center the feelings of people of color in evaluating what to do with this information. If your instinct is telling you it’s more comfortable to retreat or reassure yourself that you are not racist, think instead, What actions can I take to help? 

Learn when to listen, when to amplify and when to speak up. 

When people of color speak to their experiences of oppression, it’s important for white people not to dominate the conversation or question those experiences. You can use your privilege to amplify those voices. Share the work and perspectives of people of color on social media. Credit colleagues of color for ideas. This not only helps marginalized people reach that audience but also helps spread their message from the source, rather than through the lens of a white person.

That said, there are also times when white people should speak up. It’s not fair to burden people of color by making them always take the lead on anti-bias work or intervening when something offensive is said or done. If you hear racist remarks, speak up. If you see opportunities to educate fellow white people about race, do so. As an ally, your privilege can be a tool to reach people who may be more likely to listen to you or relate to your journey in understanding your own relationship to race and white privilege.

Educate yourself.

Just as you should not always expect people of color to take the lead on speaking out against racism, you also shouldn’t expect them to educate you on racism. While it’s OK to ask questions of those who have expressed a willingness to answer them, you have the power to educate yourself. Seek out books and articles on the topic written by people of color. Critically evaluate documentaries that surround topics like slavery, race, the U.S. prison system and more. We have more access to information created by people of color than ever before. Take advantage of it, and avoid burdening friends or coworkers of color with constant questions about their experiences. 

Educate fellow white people. 

Share what you’ve learned. Push through discomfort and demand courageous conversations in your circles. Do not let peers get away with problematic remarks without making a serious effort to engage them.

Risk your unearned benefits to benefit others.

You have most likely seen a viral video featuring Joy DeGruy talking about her biracial sister-in-law using her white skin privilege to question why Joy was receiving undue scrutiny from a cashier. She risks her comfort and her easy transactions with the store to point out this unfairness and ultimately receives support from witnesses and management. 

There are other ways to do this in our daily lives. It can be as simple as intervening if you see a boss or fellow educator treating someone differently because of their racial identity. It can mean advocating for a coworker to receive equal pay or opportunities. It can mean being an active witness when you see people of color confronted by law enforcement or harassed by bigots and letting them know you are there to support them and record the interaction if necessary. And it most certainly can mean engaging directly in anti-bias work, such as instilling more inclusive practices at your school or business or working with people committed to allyship and anti-racist activism, such as SURJ. 

*Some of these steps were adapted from suggestions in Emily Chiariello’s “Why Talk About Whiteness?”

Reference: Teaching Tolerance

Source: National Equity Project
Read this article to learn more about how white people can act to dismantle white supremacy.

Source: Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

1. Set Up a Safe and Respectful Classroom Environment

In order to set the stage and tone for productive discussions around race and racism, make sure that you develop ground rules as a class that promote safety, inclusiveness and respect. Help to establish trust in the classroom by doing group building activities and find ways for students to talk and get to know each other in different configurations (pairings, small groups, whole class, etc.). Teach and encourage students to disagree respectfully, ask questions, share their own feelings and listen to the feelings of others. Use ADL’s Creating An Anti-Bias Learning Environment for additional strategies.

2. Consider the Racial Composition of Your Classroom

Be mindful of the racial composition of your classroom and consider who is in the room when engaging in conversations about race. You might think differently about how to approach this topic if there are few, many or no students of color. If you don’t have any students of color in your classroom, find ways to include other voices by using social media, videos, books and articles or organize a Skype panel discussion to get diverse voices in the room. At the same time, do not assume students of color want to share their experiences or are knowledgeable and skilled in talking about race. Further, do not place those students in the position of being the “authority” or main possessor of knowledge about race. 

3. Define Terms

It is important to spend some time defining terms. Students need to be aware of the terminology around race and bias, including the distinctions between certain words. For example, there is a difference between prejudice, bias, stereotypes and discrimination and knowing what makes each of those unique is an important foundation for having constructive conversations on race and racism. Similarly, it is critical to understand how implicit bias manifests itself differently than overt forms of discrimination which were more prevalent in the past. Microaggressions is another term that is used frequently but not necessarily widely understood. Bias and prejudice displayed in interpersonal interactions is different than those which are structural in nature. Use ADL’s glossary of education terms to help guide your work with students to understand the language of bias.

4. Connect the Past to the Present

Racism in the United States has a long and appalling past. From slavery to Jim Crow and segregation, there is a lot to teach about race and racism. When you discuss current incidents of racism and injustice, it is often helpful to ground the discussions in an historical context. Where relevant, provide historical background to connect the past to the present. For example, the murder of nine parishioners at a Charleston church necessitates a history lesson about the Confederate flag because the perpetrator was associated with white supremacy ideology and the Confederate flag; a public conversation about the flag’s meaning and historical connection to slavery took place following the incident. This can provide a positive motivation for reluctant history students to learn about the past as a way to more deeply understand the present.

5. Understand Perspective

Perspective is a person’s individual way of regarding situations and facts, their point of view. Help students understand that one’s perspective is shaped by their own racial background as well as other aspects of their identity, their peers, family, life experiences, what they are exposed to in the media, etc. Understanding that people have different perspectives on incidents and situations is helpful in deconstructing that one person may see the same situation differently than someone else. This is especially important to understand with racial situations because white people and people of color may not see the situation in the same light; within racial groups there will also be diversity of perspective.

6. Think Critically About the Media

Encourage students to be critical viewers of media, including print, television, internet, video, social media and other digital spaces. Assist them in analyzing media portrayals of racial incidents in the news by thinking critically about what they read, hear and see. This includes exposing them to a wide variety of sources that illustrate different perspectives and opinions along the political spectrum. In addition to traditional media, blogs and social media are good sources for this. Encourage students to ask questions that go beyond the surface: How do I know what I know? What is the perspective of the person writing or speaking? What influences their point of view?  What are their biases? What don’t I see?  Use video clips and excerpts in class to show students how media can perpetuate stereotypes and racism. In addition, reflect on the implicit messages you convey to young people about race by what’s on the walls and bulletin boards in your classroom, the books you assign and read together, the people and holidays that you talk about. 

7. Talk About Structural Racism and White Privilege

White privilege, the unearned and often unrecognized advantages, benefits or rights conferred upon people in a dominant group, is an important piece of the puzzle when talking about racism. The flip side of white privilege is structural racism which oppresses and marginalizes people of color through societal institutions like education, law enforcement, voting, employment and other systems. Reflecting upon what white privilege means helps students understand how some people receive unearned privilege while others are disadvantaged based simply by their race. Addressing white privilege and structural racism are advanced skills. Therefore, it is critical that teachers have done their own individual reflection and possess the background and skills to discuss it with students so it doesn’t backfire or lead to defensiveness. Think carefully about your comfort with the topic and do not address it unless you feel comfortable and skilled in doing so. Consider using a new MTV documentary film called White People to facilitate the discussion.

8. Encourage Empathy

Compassion and empathy go a long way in helping students understand race and racism. Provide opportunities for students to hear the thoughts and feelings of people most impacted by racism through in-person conversations/interviews, narratives, videos, photos and recordings. Have students reflect on these experiences and focus especially on the feelings of others. In this way, you help students be sensitive to what people are going through in these situations and promote empathy. Allow and help students express their range of emotions (anger, rage, frustration, sadness, hopelessness) about what’s happening as well as listen with compassion to the feelings of others.

9. Inspire Hope and Activism

When we uncover bias, discrimination and injustice with students, it’s important we don’t leave them with overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and despair. It can easily happen when you consider the monumental task of making the world more equitable and just. At the same time, we don’t want to fill their heads with false or empty hope. It is useful to convey a sense of "critical hope" that sustains positive expectations and inspires action and activism.  One way to do this is by teaching about small and large efforts of social change movements and how they brought about progress throughout history. Provide examples of social justice triumphs won through the blood, sweat and tears of ordinary and extraordinary people. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Help your students exemplify that sentiment.

Source: School Library Journal

Anti-Racist Reading List by Ibram X. Kendi

Understanding and Dismantling Racism: A Booklist for White Readers

Books to Teach White Children and Teens how to Undo Racism and White Supremacy

Black Lives Matter Instructional Library Click on each book to hear a Read-Aloud.

We Are Kid Lit Collective Book recommendations about Indigenous and People of Color voices in children’s literature in order to identify, challenge and dismantle white supremacy and both internalized and systematic racism

Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books

Classroom Library Questionnaire to conduct a diversity audit of your classroom or home library

Diverse Book Finder offers recommendations about how to evaluate “diverse” and “multicultural” children’s books