07/21/2021
The killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement have reawakened and reinvigorated the conversation around a need for systemic change in America. As more people show up wanting to help, activists and scholars are pointing out that it’s not enough to say, “I’m not racist.” Allies need to actively commit to adopting anti-racism, which means fighting the beliefs and actions of racism in the world and ourselves.
Rather than turn to Black friends and peers to do the educational work, allies should begin by looking to books about racism to understand its permeating realities in our past and present. These 10 recommended books cover the history of racism, the experience of racism, the nature of white privilege, and the intersection of racism and misogyny. This content has been gathered from our resources page. If you want to learn more about our anti-racism resources you can visit the page here.
Kendi is the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. How to Be an Antiracist challenges readers to rethink deeply rooted ideas about race and offers detailed instructions on how and why to put anti-racism into practice. Kendi believes that at its core, racism is a system that creates false hierarchies of human value and a warped logic that extends beyond race to the way we regard all “others.”
Academic and author Diangelo explores the counterproductive defense mechanisms — anger, fear, guilt, silence — white people often employ when challenged on their assumptions about race. DiAngelo believes these mechanisms play a part in maintaining racial inequality. This book examines how these mechanisms develop and how we can engage more constructively in tough conversations.
Oluo offers people of all races practical language — phrases and questions — to facilitate difficult conversations about racism within their own social networks. She tackles subjects from microaggressions to affirmative action to “model minorities” to help anyone who wants to be more honest, knowledgeable, and empathetic about matters of race.
Alexander is a legal scholar who believes “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation and inequality in the early 1900s. Alexander illustrates how and why the recent “war on crime” may be just another trickier version of Jim Crow. This book has been cited in judicial decisions and spawned a new generation of criminal justice reform activists in the 10 years since its original publication.
In this book, Kendi explains why he believes racist thought is alive and more insidious than ever in America. Racist ideas have a long history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit, and Kendi uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to illustrate this history. According to Kendi, racist ideas did not arise, and do not persist, from ignorance or hatred, but rather to protect and justify entrenched discriminatory practices.
Saad brings her unique perspective as an East African, British, Muslim, Black woman to this book — a workbook that walks the reader step-by-step through the work of examining their own white privilege; understanding cultural appropriation and racial stereotypes; changing the way they view race and becoming a real ally. It includes historical contexts, stories, and examples to help in the understanding of racism.
A manifesto from the early days of the civil rights movement (1962), this memoir of life in Harlem remains a vibrant revelation of the consequences of racial injustice to the individual and society.
Mock writes about her experiences of growing up multiracial, poor, and trans in America, illustrating the unique challenges not only of marginalized and underrepresented populations but also of individuals who cross too many lines to be easily accepted anywhere. This account of one woman’s quest challenges us to accept each other and ourselves — whoever we are — without prejudice or apology.
Addressed to the largest voting and purchasing bloc in America, this book addresses historical and cultural issues that commonly keep white women from becoming more engaged as citizens. It offers them motivation and a plan to step up, listen to marginalized voices, and do their part to correct complacency and injustice in our society.
Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, Safiya Umoja Noble
Challenging the idea that modern search engines offer an equal playing field, Noble’s research has led her to argue that a biased set of search algorithms in play on the Internet privileges whiteness and discriminates against people of color, specifically women of color. It reveals how racist practices can still arise and persist, generally unrecognized, in our modern technology-based culture.
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