Anti-Racism Resources

As an organization whose core mission statement promotes diversity, it is our responsibility to denounce injustice wherever we encounter it and we stand with the Black Lives Matter movement to call for justice for the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Philando Castile and the other 99% of black victims of police brutality whose perpetrators have not been held accountable by the justice system.

It is also our duty to learn and listen to black voices, and to continue to make strides towards a more anti-racist society. It is up to all of us to do the work, and not the responsibility of our black colleagues to educate us and challenge our biases. As such, we have compiled a list of Anti-Racism Resources below which we encourage you to visit:

Books: An Anti-Racism Reading List. Books marked with ** have been recommended for our 2020-2021 GWISE Book Club — vote here if you’d like to read them! Books marked with * have been read for past book clubs and are in the GWISE library. Email us (gwise@bu.edu) for a copy.

• Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin Banaji, Anthony Greenwald
• **I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
• Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? by Mumia Abu-Jamal
• *Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins
• **White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
• Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla Saad
• The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
• Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
• Driven toward Madness: The Fugitive Slave Margaret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio by Nikki M. Taylor
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth by Richard Wright
• Native Son by Richard Wright
• Yes I Can by Sammy Davis Jr.
• An African American & Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
• From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
• Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women & Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie
• Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis
• Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler
• Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittany Cooper
• **How to be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism & You by Ibram X. Kendi, Jason Reynolds
• Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
• Silent Racism: How Well-Meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial Divide by Barbara Trepagnier
• Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding & Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race by Derald Wing Sue
• Microagressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation by Derald Wing Sue
• Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
• Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
• Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out by Ruth King
• When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullers, Asha Bandele
• A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison by Dwayne Betts
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Ways to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell
• Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
• Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
• Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• *Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
• The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward
• The Radical King by Martin Luther King Jr.
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century by Grace Lee Boggs
• *Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
• Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• This Bridge Called My Back, Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherrie Moraga
• *Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality & Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil

• America’s Racist Contract is Killing Us— The Atlantic
• The 1619 Project— NYT
• A Timeline of Events Leading to the 2020 Fed Up-Rising — The Root
• Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?— Dr. Ibram X. Kendi for The Atlantic
• The American Nightmare — Dr. Ibram X. Kendi for The Atlantic
• Database: Mapping Police Violence
• Code Switch — NPR
• Natal Stories
• Intersectionality Matters! — AAPF
• Momentum: A Race Forward
• Pod for the Cause— The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights
• Pod Save the People— Crooked Media
• How to Survive the End of the World— The Brown Sisters
• Seeing White — Scene on Radio
• Antiracism Meditation
• Black Americans are Twice as Likely to Die from COVID as White Americans — NurseFly
• Black Men Matter – Examining Mental Health Issues Among Black Men
• Guidance for Reporting and Writing About Racism — Syracuse University
• Addiction in BIPOC Community

Videos/Lectures/Webinars

• What is Systemic Racism? — Race Forward
• Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence — Derald Wing Sue
• Black Feminism & the Movement for Black Lives — Barbara Smith, Reina Gossett, and Charlene Carruthers
• Allyship at All Levels: How Organizations can Support Black Employees Right Now — Oona King, Dr. Evelyn Carter, and Natalie Johnson
• BU Day of Collective Engagement (June 24th)

• 13th (Netflix)
• American Son (Netflix)
• Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 (YouTube)
• Dear White People (Netflix)
• I am not your Negro (Youtube)
• If Beale Street Could Talk (Hulu)
• The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
• Just Mercy(Amazon Prime)
• King in the Wilderness (HBO)
• The Hate U Give (Hulu)
• When They See Us (Netflix)
• See You Yesterday (Netflix)
• Whose Streets? (Hulu)
• Harriet (Amazon Prime)

Black Artistry:

• Castle of our Skins
• Project STEP
• Community Music Center of Boston
• The Sphinx
• Classical Music by Black Composers
• Institute for Composer Diversity

• BU PDPA 21 Day Anti-Racism Learning & Unlearning Initiative — starting June 24th! Choose from different time commitment levels each day.
• Black in Neuro Events
• How to Provide a Multicultural Education – Tips for Educators from Baylor University
• Anti-Racism Meditation
• 30 Day Anti-Racism Challenge from the West End House
• Justice in June: Choose your time commitment to educate yourself daily and follow the provided schedule
• White Supremacy in the Age of Trump — Smith College Public Course taught by Professor Loretta J. Ross
• Anti Racist Allyship Starter Pack
• Unlearning Racial Bias
• Unlearning Racism
• Compilation of Black Lives Matter Resources
• #shutdownSTEM Resources and Take Action Plan
• Stories and experiences from Black academics at #BlackintheIvory
• “Confronting Prejudice: How to Protect Yourself and Help Others” — Pepperdine
• 135 Racial Equity Resources For Education, Professional & Community Development, Health, And Civil Rights — College Consensus

Finally, we urge you to use your voices to bring about change. The resources below span various initiatives seeking to demand justice and equality, as well as resources on how to register to vote in your community.

• Boston University Student Orgs for Social Justice
• George Floyd Memorial Fund
• Equal Justice Initiative
• Color of Change
• Minnesota Freedom Fund–*requesting that you donate to other organizations
• NAACP Boston
• Massachusetts ACLU
• Black Visions Collective
• Black Lives Matter
• Reclaim the Block
• Campaign Zero
• Mapping Police Violence
• Bail Funds by City/Region
• Black Mamas Matter Alliance

• Boston Black Owned Restaurants
• Boston Black Owned Restaurants Open for Takeout/Delivery
• Boston Black Owned Businesses
• More Boston Black Owned Businesses
• Black Nation: find Black Owned businesses near you
• EatOkra: find Black Owned restaurants near you

• Petition for BU to match Student Org Donations
• Email Template for Justice for George Floyd
• Email Template for Justice for Breonna Taylor
• Resources for Accountability & Action for Black Lives
• Justice for Breonna Taylor
• Justice for Ahmaud Arbery
• Justice for George Floyd
• Black Lives Matter Petitions

GWISE is here for you. Please take care of yourselves and if you need, refer to our Crisis & Mental Health Resources. In addition, please reach out if GWISE can help in any way or if you would like to contribute to our Anti-Racism resources — we will be updating this website regularly.