LibGuides: Racial Justice in the U.S.: Anti-Racism Work

Books

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: Cowles Library New Arrivals E184.A1 K344 2019
Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America by George Yancy
Call Number: Law Library Stacks E185.61 .Y36 2018
Race and Social Change? A Quest for Insight; a Call to Action by Max Klau
Call Number: Cowles Library Stacks HM671 .K58 2017
Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice by Paul Kivel
Call Number: Ebook available to current Drake faculty, staff, and students through the above link
How to Be Less Stupid about Race by Crystal M. Fleming
Call Number: Cowles Library Stacks E184.A1 F576 2018

Collected, Developing Resources

There are several crowd sourced lists of anti-racism resources available through Google Docs.

Scaffolded Anti-Racism Resources
Suggests resources for white people who want to become better allies, organized around the stage of white identity development.
Anti-Racism Resources
Articles, books, podcasts, and more intended to serve as a resource for white people and parents to deepen anti-racism work.

Background: Systemic Racism, Implicit Bias and White Privilege

What is Systemic Racism?
This 8-part video series considers how racism shows up in our lives across institutions and society: Wealth Gap, Employment, Housing Discrimination, Government Surveillance, Incarceration, Drug Arrests, Immigration Arrests, Infant Mortality. From Race Forward, an organization that "brings systemic analysis and an innovative approach to complex race issues to help people take effective action toward racial equity."
Explainer: what is systemic racism and institutional racism?
A brief explanation of these concepts.
Implicit Bias: Institute for Justice Reform & Innovation (IJRI)
Drake University Law School’s IJRI provides a host of resources on implicit bias in the law under its criminal and civil justice repository. See additional resources on Afrocentric facial feature and skin tone bias under the criminal justice repository.
Test Yourself for Hidden Bias
"This page defines the terms stereotype, prejudice and discrimination and includes a link to Project Implicit's Hidden Bias Tests. It also provides suggestions for ensuring that implicit biases don't manifest in biased actions." From Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Racial Equity Tools: Whiteness and White Privilege
Resources for understanding what white privilege means - and what it does not mean.
"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
This article introduced the idea that societal systems provide white people with certain advantages, which are often invisible to them. Author Peggy McIntosh writes that she considers it, "an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious."
You are a white, heterosexual, cisgender man. A letter to myself.
Building off Peggy McIntosh's White Privilege essay, this author writes to himself, noting all the ways that being a white, heterosexual, cisgender, privileged, non-disabled man erases certain barriers he might otherwise face.The author also includes an array of resources to help educate yourself on issues of race, class, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation and more.

Specifically for Lawyers and Law Schools

Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project
Resources to help law schools engage as antiracists, including listening, leading by example, auditing for progress, influencing policy, and iterating a commitment to the fight for racial equality.
Building an Antiracist Law School
1 hour session presented by Kim Mutcherson (Dean and Professor of Law), David Lopez (Dean and Professor of Law), Katie Eyer (Professor of Law), Adil Haque (Professor of Law), Adnan Zulfiqar (Professor of Law), Elise Boddie (Professor of Law), Norrinda Hyatt (Professor of Law) | Rutgers Law
Becoming an Antiracist Lawyer
One hour session presented by Presented by Angela Onwuachi-Willig (Dean and Professor of Law), Karen Pita Loor (Associate Dean for Experiential Education and Clinical Associate Professor of Law), Jasmine Gonzales Rose (Professor of Law) | Boston University School of Law.

Taking Action

21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge ©
The challenge asks individuals or groups to commit to doing “one action to further your understanding of power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity” for 21 days. It provides resources to help participants meet accomplish this.
AntiRacist Table 30 Day Challenge
Sign up for free and you will receive daily lessons in your email designed to help you "cultivate mindfulness and daily practices centered around equality, justice, and humanity." Read more about the Ten Keys to Everyday Anti-Racism embedded in the challenge.
Social Justice Toolkit
Specific tips and resources compiled by Drake Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
11 Things To Do Besides Say ‘This Has To Stop’ In The Wake Of Police Brutality
Collected advice from Black community activists and their allies on "how to turn your empathy into action in the wake of police brutality."
Beyond the Hashtag: How to Take Anti-Racist Action in Your Life
Zyahna Bryant, a Charlottesville-based activist, "offers insight into how people can take anti-racist action."
How to Show Up
Advice on "how white people can best show up for racial justice." From Showing up for Racial Justice.
Racial Equity Tools
This site offers a variety of resources to help plan, implement, and evaluate actions taken to improve racial equity. The site also includes some background information.
Ten Lessons for Taking Leadership on Racial Equality
Lessons from the Aspen Institute's Racial Equity Leadership Development Program. "They are especially for those who want to play more of a role in promoting racial equity but aren’t sure about where or exactly how to begin."
Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT)
TRHT "is a comprehensive, national and community-based process to plan for and bring about transformational and sustainable change, and to address the historic and contemporary effects of racism."
Des Moines chapter Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
"SURJ is a national network of local organizations and individuals committed to organizing white people for racial justice as part of a multi-racial justice movement being led by people of color."
Confronting Prejudice: How to Protect Yourself and Help Others
This brief piece introduces some key terminology and impacts of prejudice then provides tips for helping yourself or others in the face of prejudice.

Introduction to Microaggressions

As Charisse C. Levchak notes in her book Microaggressions and Modern Racism Endurance and Evolution, “The term microaggression was introduced by psychiatrist Chester Pierce in 1970 to describe covert forms of racist aggression that are ‘subtle and stunning’ yet unimaginably harmful.“

In 2007, Derald Sue categorized microaggressions into three groups: microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations. While the first category is intentional, the latter two may not be. Many microaggressions come from ignorance and insensitivity rather than overt hatred. Due to the subtlety of microaggressions, recipients may question whether their discomfort merely reflects that they are overly sensitive, essentially doubling the negative impact of the experience. It is important to remember that intent is not required for injury to occur; if this were not the case, someone accidentally stepping on your toe would always be a pain-free experience.

Although prefaced “micro,” the harms these microaggressions inflict can be quite damaging, particularly due to their frequency. The oft-used “death by one thousand paper cuts” analogy explains how something that might seem relatively minor in isolation can cause a tremendous cumulative burden.

Because they can be invisible to those outside of the marginalized group, it can be eye-opening to listen to personal stories from those who’ve experienced microaggressions.