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Antiracism Resources

This guide contextualizes racism and antiracism within the United States and aims to provide the Merrimack Community with an introduction to resources on understanding and confronting racial injustice.

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Websites/Resource Pages

Podcasts

Description: Almost from the start, the US Census has been a site of controversy. In this episode, librarian Gabby Womack shares her research with host/producer Dr. Debra Michals and graduate student Tiana Lawrence about 1930s changes in Census categories that had an impact on how people of color were counted, as well as the complicated history of "passing" and the experience of being black in the US.

Do The Work | Indigenous Visibility: Sherenté Mishitashin Harris

The Ringer with Bakari Sellers | The Quest for a More Perfect Democracy With Baratunde Thurston

Websites

Books

Permissions

This guide is used and has been adapted with the permission of Simmons University Library. For information about reusing the guide, please contact library@simmons.edu.

Note: When copying this guide, please retain this box.

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Introduction

The purpose of this Antiracism Resources guide is to provide faculty, staff, and students with a primer for understanding racism, antiracism, white privilege, allyship, and antiracist pedagogy. This guide also offers starting material on racism and antiracism in each field of study offered at Merrimack College, divided by schools. Some of the sections have been combined or are shorter than others due to the scarcity of sources in that field of study. We have also included a section dedicated to support materials for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

Disclaimer:

In no way does this guide summarize the resources available related to all oppressed identities. We welcome feedback and suggestions for this research guide. Please email your suggestions to Gabby Womack at womackg@merrimack.edu.

Please note that the majority of the resources in this guide are electronic to provide as much access as possible. For more information on accessing our E-book collections, please visit the E-books Research Guide.

Events - *New*

Racelighting Webinar

Description Recently, Drs. Frank Harris III and J. Luke Wood had an article published in Diverse Issues in Higher Education on Racelighting. They discussed “racelighting” as a unique type of gaslighting experienced in the daily, normalized realities of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Racelighting refers to the process whereby People of Color question their own thoughts and actions due to systematically delivered racialized messages that make them second guess their own lived experiences with racism. This webinar will be an informal discussion between Drs. Harris III and Wood on how Racelighting manifests in schools, community colleges, and universities.

Announcement!

Go beyond your reading list and hear from your community about what has helped them learn and commit to antiracist values.

Watch more on YouTube here.

Kate Slater's Website:  http://kateaslater.com
Mira Stern's website: https://www.mirastern.com/

In-Depth on Inclusion - Ending Polite Silence | University of New Hampshire

Description "There are so many rules that were not created by or for women; nevertheless, we often comply without asking questions. It is time we break the cycle, create guidelines, identify core values and end the silence about injustice. Funmi Oyekunle '12 will moderate a panel of UNH alumnae including Carol Tonge Mack '97G, '99G, Jacquesline Walker ’10, and Susan Yen '15 as they discuss the structural “-isms” that show up for Black women every day in the workplace and other settings. Cultural competency strategies to support Black women colleagues and gain a better understanding of diversity and inclusion in the workplace will be shared. We must End Polite Silence™ to begin the healing process before moving forward."

Racism and Antiracism

Racism is prejudice plus power based on race. In the United States, racism is the result of white supremacy. It is a system of power and oppression/advantage and disadvantage based on race and it takes several forms:

  • Individual racism 
  • Interpersonal racism 
  • Institutional racism 
  • Structural racism 

All of these forms are explained in the following link:

Talking about Race: What is Racism and Antiracism? - Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture

Antiracism is actively fighting against racism in all of its forms.

Microaggressions

"Racial Microaggressions are commonplace verbal or behavioral indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults in relation to race. They are structurally based and invoke oppressive systems of racial hierarchy. Racial Microinvalidations, Microinsults, Microassaults are specific types of microaggressions.

Note: The prefix “micro” is used because these are invocations of racial hierarchy at the individual level (person to person), where as the "macro" level refers to aggressions committed by structures as a whole (e.g. an organizational policy). "Micro" in no way minimalizes or otherwise evaluates the impact or seriousness of the aggressions." - Simmons University, Anti-Racism Guide

Eliminating Microaggressions: The Next Level of Inclusion | Tiffany Alvoid | TEDxOakland

TEDTalks: Kimberlé Crenshaw: The Urgency of Intersectionality

Now more than ever, it's important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias -- and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term "intersectionality" to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.

So You Want To Talk About Race

Ijeoma Oluo: "So You Want to Talk About Race" | Talks at Google

Conversations About Race

A Conversation With Native Americans on Race | Op-Docs | New York Times

A Conversation With Black Women on Race | Op-Docs

A Conversation With White People On Race | Op-Docs | The New York Times

ASIAN | How You See Me

A Conversation About Growing Up Black | Op-Docs | The New York Times

A Conversation With Latinos on Race | Op-Docs | New York Times

Colorism in the Latinx Community! Ft. Lee Chin | Decoded | MTV

Confronting Racism and Bigotry: 2020 National Book Festival | Library of Congress

Description: From Ibram X. Kendi, the National Book Award-winning author of "How to Be an Antiracist" (One World), comes a groundbreaking approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality. From Saeed Jones, winner of the 2019 Kirkus Prize in nonfiction, comes "How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir" (Simon & Schuster), a devastating memoir about power (who has it, how and why we deploy it) and frailty. Moderated by NPR correspondent Michel Martin.

Racism in Academia

Book displays

E-book Collections on Libby and OverDrive

Understanding Racism
Learn more about the past and present of racism through these books compiled from recommendations by librarians and authors!

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Black Narratives

In creating racial justice we must also read the stories of black folks that are diverse in content, perspectives, and emotions. There is no one black narrative. Read about black people falling in love, traveling, queer experiences, going to school, growing up, writing poems, being superheroes, and so much more.