The resources below have been compiled to help you unpack racism and oppression and to facilitate in aiding a community to do so as well. They will guide you in your own learning about childhood development, media, race, racism and other oppressions, as well as in being a parent, caregiver, or educator. Talking about race is not racist. It’s OK — and important. A lot of the resources below are helping to move us from a color-blind framework to building shared vocabulary around race to move us closer to justice.
“Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.”
― Ella Baker
We need an ecological approach to justice that includes inner work, interpersonal work, and intercultural systemic work—meaning, working within ourselves and between ourselves, and then working to change the systems that we’re living in.
― Rhonda Magee of “The Inner Work of Racial Justice”
Below, you will find resources for facing, feeling, understanding and responding to the suffering of racism. Please consider this a living document…one that will keep evolving!
Congregational Resources for Unitarian Universalist Spaces
- A People So Bold, YouTube Supplement
- Beloved Conversations: A Congregational Program for Racial Justice
- Black Lives of UU
- Commission for Institutional Change Report 2020
- Decentering Whiteness in Worship
- Engaging in Multicultural Ministry
- Faith Development Ministries: Naming Race
- How to Manage when Things Aren’t Okay, and Haven’t Been for Centuries
- Identity Based Resources for Youth
- Study Guides from UU College of Social Justice
- Tapestry of Faith Curricula
- UU Teach In Resources: “TeachIn Resources”
Toolkits and Curricula for Parents and Educators
- Anti-Racism Resources from the Greater Good at UC Berkeley
- Black Lives of UU Blue Box
- Child and Youth Well-Being from University of Washington
- Diversity Toolkit: Guide to Discussing Power and Privilege
- Food Systems and Food Sovereignty
- Growing Anti-Racist UUs
- Growing Young Justice Makers, a UU Resource
- Guide to Inclusive Teaching
- Leadership Skills Toolkit from the Seattle Mountaineers Project
- Learning about Juneteenth
- Racism No Way Activities and Toolkit
- Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
- Rethinking Schools Curricula and Resources
- Talking to Young Kids about Race from PBS
- Teaching Native Histories
- Teaching Tolerance
- Teaching Young Children to Resist Bias
- They’re Not Too Young to Talk About Race
- What White Children Need to Know About Race
- White Ally Toolkit for UU’s: An Online or Paperback Edition
Diversity and Justice in Children and Youth Literature
- 20 Picturebooks for 2020
- Anti-Defamation League Catalogue of Books, Searchable by Subject
- Anti-Racist Books for Elementary Kids
- Books about Whiteness
- Center for Philosophy in Children’s Literature at UW
- Childrens Books as Windows and Mirrors
- Children’s Books for Upstanders
- Childrens Books to Teach about Anti-Racism and Embrace Diversity
- Common Sense Media Books about Racism and Social Justice
- Conscious Kids Book Lists for 0-18
- Corretta Scott King Book Award Books
- Here Wee Read
- MultiCultural Books with LGBTQIA Characters
- No White Saviors: Books for Littles about Black Woman’s History
- Race and Social Justice Books for Children from Seattle Public Library
- Sankofa Read Aloud
- Selecting Anti-Bias Books and Building a Diverse Storybook Collection
- Social Justice Books
- Storybook Collection: Books about Race
- Talking about Protests, Protest History, and the Role of Protests in Society Today, with Kids, and Books to Help
Parenting and Educating for Anti-Racism and Liberation
- Anti-Racism for Kids: How to Start talking About Race with your Kids
- Better than Youtube: Having Difficult Conversations with your Kids
- How White People Got Made
- Parenting as Justice Work
- Tools for Talking about Race with your Kids
- Talking about Race and Cultural Differences with Young Children
- Talking to Kids about Racism and Violence from a Trauma Informed Perspective
- Talking to Your Kids about Race and Other Difficult Things: 5 Direct Steps
- Why you need to Keep Talking to your White Family about Race and 5 Steps to Do So
Videos
- Anti-Racism YouTube Playlist
- 2018 Ware Lecture and Study Guide: Dismantling White Supremacy with Brittney Packnett
- How to raise kids to be anti-racist and talk to them about racism with Ibram X. Kendi on CBS Morning Show
- Music Playlist for Justice
- Race and Identity for Youth YouTube Playlist
- “Race: the Power of an Illusion” (film series), California Newsreel
- Redlining and the Creation of the Suburbs and Segregated Cities
- The Birth of a White Nation
- The Urgency of Intersectionality with Kimberle Crenshaw
Websites
- 21 Day Guided Racial Equity Challenge
- Anti-Racist Resource Guide
- Challenging White Supremacy Workbook: A Post-Katrina Resource for Anti-Racist Organizing and Education
- Dismantiling Racism Workbook
- Fearless Dialogues
- Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus
- Kairos Center Workbook and the Poor People’s Campaign
- Racial Equity Tools
- Ruth King, Helping thought leaders become mindful of their racial conditioning and its impact on cultural wellbeing.
- Scaffolding Resources for Anti-Racism: A Guide to Unpacking Racism No Matter Where You’re Starting
- Showing Up for Racial Justice
- Talking about Race with the National Museum of African American Culture
- Understanding Racism from the Greater Good of UC Berkeley
- Up Your Game: The Activist Class Culture Game
- White Ally Bootcamp (UU orientation, taught by a Black woman)
- White Awake: Waking ourselves for the benefit of all
- White Ally Toolkit
- Whiteness Project
Articles about Race and Racism
- America, This Is Your Chance, Michelle Alexander, New York Times, June 8, 2020
- Black History Month Library
- Black Reparations and the Racial Wealth Gap
- Bryan Stevenson on the Frustration Behind the George Floyd Protests, Isaac Chotine, June 1, 2020
- “Building a Multi-Ethnic, Inclusive, and Anti-Racist Organization”, Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Non-Violence
- The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture
- Confronting Racism is Not About the Needs and Feelings of White People by Ijeoma Oluo
- Decentering Dominant Narratives in Conversations on Religion, Indigenity, and African-American traditions
- Embracing Grief by Sobonfu Somé
- The Era White Anxiety is Just Beginning
- Facing My White Privilege, Tara Brach, Lion’s Roar, June 21, 2016
- For White Friends Desiring to Be Allies
- From White Racist to White Anti-Racist
- Glorifying White Authors like DiAngelo Erases Decades of Black Writing on Whiteness. Anastacia Kārkliņa, Medium, July 2020
- How to Be a Privilege Traitor by Karla McLaren
- How to help your Black friends and your non-Black friends today, Kat Vellos, June 2, 2020
- I Am Racist, And So Are You by Rachel Shadoan
- Racist Ideas in America with Ibram X. Kendi
- Shared Folder with Articles on Whiteness, Black Power, and Race
- What I Said When My White Friend Asked for My Black Opinion on White Privilege by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
- What Your Body Has to Do With Social Change by Adrienne Maree Brown
- White Supremacy as a Trauma Response by Resmaa Menakem
- White Supremacists Exists, Here’s What White Parents Can Do About It, Caroline Bologna, Huffingting Post, August 2017
- Your Liberation Is on the Line, Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Lion’s Roar, February 2, 2020
Books about Race and Racism
- A Reading List from Harvard
- Abolition and Restorative Justice Book List
- Adaptive Leadership, Ronald A. Heifitz
- An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community, Yang, Larry.
- Between the World and Me, Coates, Ta-Nehisi
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist ― One Woman’s Spiritual Journey, Willis, Jan.
- Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, adrienne maree brown
- Evicted by Matthew Desmond
- A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage, and Wisdom in Any Moment, Washam, Spring.
- Fumbling Towards Repair: A Workbook for Change
- How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi, Ibram X.
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Stevenson, Bryan.
- Liberating Structures Menu
- Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger, Lama Rod Owens
- The Making of Asian America by Erica Lee
- Mindful of Race – A Stimulus for Social Healing & Leadership, King, Ruth.
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Alexander, Michelle
- Orientalism by Edward Said
- Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, adrienne maree brown
- The Power Manual, Cyndi Suarez
- Racing to Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society, Powell, John a.
- Reel Bad Arabs by Jack Shaheen
- Revolutionary Mothering, edited by Mai’a Williams, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and China Martens
- Silent Racism: How Well-Meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial Divide, Trepagnier, Barbara.
- Turn this World Inside Out, Nora Samaran
- The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality, and Gender, Manuel, Zenju Earthlyn
- We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multiracial Schools (Multicultural Education Series), Howard, Gary R.
- Pax Christi Anti-Racist Team, Building Accountable Relationships with Communities of Color (online resource)
- Williams, Rev. angel Kyodo and Lama Rod Owens with Jasmine Syedullah, Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation
Resources for Mindfulness around Race and Oppression
- Sustaining Our Caring
- All transformation arises out of love; it is the energy of caring about life that moves us toward inner,…
- Meditation: Meeting Anger with Awareness (15:16 min.)
- When anger is held in mindfulness, it can energize us to respond wisely to challenging situations. This meditation guides…
- Anger and Transformation
- The purpose of anger is to let us know there’s an obstacle to our wellbeing, and to energize us…
- A Courageous Presence with Racism
- Anti-Black racism is the core wound of American culture, and we each have a role to play in fighting…
- “Play a Greater Part” – Part 2 – Bodhisattva for Our Times
- During scary and uncertain times, the habitual reflex is to try to find ground by creating stories about what’s…
- “Play a Greater Part” – Part 1 – Bodhisattva for Our Times
- During scary and uncertain times, the habitual reflex is to try to find ground by creating stories about what’s…
- Beloved Community
- Martin Luther King’s term, “Beloved Community,” points to our potential for living together with love, justice and respect. This…
Podcasts and Apps
- Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence, Resmaa Menakem, On Being with Krista Tippett, June 4, 2020
- How to be an Anti-racist, Ibram X. Kendi, listen to Ibram’s interview with Brené Brown, June 3, 2020
- Meditation. For Us, By Us, Liberate Meditation app for the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community