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LEARN

AAPI COMMUNITY SUPPORT

"Minor Feelings: An Asian American Rekoning"

Read this autobiographical book written by Korean American author Cathy Park Hong.

TAAF Rapid Response Toolkit

The Asian American Foundation Rapid Response Toolkit was created as a landing page for Asian American, Native American & Pacific Islander Communities and allies to mobilize. 

"Dear Asian Americans"

Listen to this podcast hosted by Jerry Won focusing on authentic storytelling rooted in origin, identity, and legacy.

"The Making Of Asian America"

Read this book that tells the little-known history of Asian Americans and their role in American life, by Erika Lee

"The Next American Revolution"

Black History Month Reading List For Asian Americans. Book by Grace Lee Boggs

Hollaback and Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Hollaback! and AAAJI offer free online trainings for bystander intervention, conflict deescalation, and responding to anti-asian violence and harassment. Register now!

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance

Learn how to protect working AAPIs with these tips

Report A Hate Incident

Head to standingagainsthatrid.org and lavshate.org to report a hate incident.

#WeKeepUsSafe: APALA's Resource Guide On Anti-Asian Violence

APALA created this great toolkit for finding information and volunteer opportunities for anyone doing advocacy, with a list of policy recommendations 

SEEK HELP

API Healer Network And Therapy Resources List

THANK YOU TO HARNESS FOR THE INSPIRATION

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“Love isnʻt about what we did yesterday; itʻs about what we do today and tomorrow and the day after.” 

 

Grace Lee Boggs

FOLLOW

Photo by Robin Holland

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"“There must exist a paradigm, a practical model for social change that includes an understanding of ways to transform consciousness that are linked to efforts to transform structures.” 

Bell Hooks, Killing Rage: Ending Racism

LISTEN

LISTEN

12 GREAT PODCASTS THAT DISCUSS RACE AND RACISM IN AMERICA

Oprah Magazine offers 12 podcasts ranging from comedy and culture to news and history—all  reflecting on whiteness, diversity, identity, and race. 

 

A Decade Of Watching Black People Die

NPR’s Code Switch recounts and honors a list of names of black folks killed by the police since Eric Garner's death in 2014.

 

A Weekend of Pain and Protest 

The Times has reporters on the ground in dozens of cities across the country. Here is a chronicle of what they saw in the 72 hours following George Floyd’s death.

 

About Race

 

BLACK HISTORY IN TWO MINUTES

Created by "Be Woke Presents…", this podcast series provides brief and concise historical episodes of the African American experience.

 

NPR’s Code Switch

A multi-racial, multi-generational team of journalists fascinated by the overlapping themes of race, ethnicity and culture, how they play out in our lives and communities, and how all of this is shifting

 

Fare of the Free Child podcast

A weekly-published podcast community centering Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color in liberatory living and learning practices

 

Good Ancestor Podcast

Layla F. Saad’s conversations with change-makers & culture-shapers

 

Hope Is a Discipline

Beyond Prisons hosts catch up with activist, writer, and educator Mariame Kaba as she shares her experiences advocating on behalf of Bresha Meadows, a teenage girl who killed her abusive father and was detained while facing the possibility of trial as an adult and a lifetime of incarceration.

 

Intersectionality Matters!

AAPF and Kimberle Crenshaw present the podcast that brings intersectionality to life

 

Justice in America

Hosted by Josie Duffy Rice, president of The Appeal, along with guest hosts Darnell Moore, Donovan X. Ramsey, Derecka Purnell, and Zak Cheney Rice, each episode explains a new criminal justice issue and features conversations with experts and advocates.

 

Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast

Featuring movement voices, stories, and strategies for racial justice. 

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Nice White Parents

Serial and The New York Times look at the 60-year relationship between white parents and the public school down the block. 

 

Pod For The Cause

Created for those who want to effect change, who understand the importance of restoring our democracy and want to engage in deep conversation around the issues.

 

Pod Save the People

DeRay Mckesson, Sam Sinyangwe, Kaya Henderson and De’Ara Balenger explore news, culture, social justice, and politics with a special focus on overlooked stories and topics that often impact people of color.

 

Racism Cont'd

What A Day discuss George Floyd’s murder, along with the incident in Central Park where a white woman threatened Christian Cooper, a black man, distorting the facts in an apparent attempt to evoke an aggressive law enforcement response.

 

RAISING WHITE KIDS' AUTHOR ON HOW WHITE PARENTS CAN TALK ABOUT RACE

NPR's Michel Martin talks to Jennifer Harvey, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America, about how to talk with white kids about racially charged events.

 

Seeing White

Through a series of 14 episodes, John Biewen looks at the racial structures of America, focusing on dissecting the oppressors rather than the oppressed.

 

TED TALKS TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND RACISM IN AMERICA

Featuring passionate pleas for reform to poetic turns of phrase, these talks take an honest look at everyday realities of Black Americans and illuminate the way forward.

 

The Abolition Suite: Mariame Kaba

A series of AirGo episodes exploring the concepts and practices of policing and prison abolition with the thought leaders who have been pushing an abolitionist future forward for decades.

 

THE DOPE BLACK PODCASTS I DISCOVERED THIS WEEK

Essence list of Black podcasts covering topics ranging from health and history to pop culture.

 

The Negro In American Culture

James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, Emile Capouya, Alfred Kazin talk together in 1961

 

The Systems That Protect the Police

The Daily discusses the Minneapolis police officer whose tactics led to George Floyd’s death, the long record of complaints against him, and why he was still on patrol.

 

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race

The Guardian talks of how racism has been defined by the violence of far-right extremists and how a more insidious kind of prejudice can be found where many least expect it – at the heart of respectable society.

 

Why The Coronavirus Is Hitting Black Communities Hardest

Slate's "What Next" podcast talks about the many reasons why black Americans account for a disproportionate number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S.

LISTEN

WATCH

WATCH

All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50 - Chinaka Hodge Poem​

 

How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion

 

Systemic Racism Explained

Systemic racism affects every area of life in the US. From incarceration rates to predatory loans, and trying to solve these problems requires changes in major parts of our system. Here's a closer look at what systemic racism is, and how we can solve it.

 

TALKING TO CHILDREN AUTHENTICALLY ABOUT RACE AND RACISM

PBS special event between parents, educators, and child development and trauma experts for an important conversation about how you can talk with young children about racial injustice and violence against Black people.

 

YOUTUBE PLAYLIST: RACE FORWARD

Race Forward brings systemic analysis and an innovative approach to complex race issues to help people take effective action toward racial equity.

 

The Pieces I Am

An artful and intimate meditation on the legendary Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison that examines her life, her works and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career.

 

I Am Not Your Negro - Future of America by James Baldwin

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film I Am Not Your Negro, writer James Baldwin speaks on the landmark 1963 WGBH program “The Negro and The American Promise” about the “the future of the Negro in this country,” which is “precisely as bright or as dark as the future of the country.”

A Call To Men by Tony Porter

A vision is to shift social norms that define manhood and create a world where women and girls are valued and safe.

13th

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.

 

Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975

A 2011 documentary film that examines the evolution of the Black Power movement in American society from 1967 to 1975 as viewed through Swedish journalists and filmmakers.

 

Clemency

After years of carrying out death row executions, a prison warden must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates.

 

Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee's unforgettable film about an explosion of racial violence on a hot summer day in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

 

Fruitvale Station

This Sundance award-winner follows the true events of a 22-year-old loving father and beloved son on the last day of his life before being fatally shot by police on New Year's Day 2009.

 

I Am Not Your Negro

Based on James Baldwin's unfinished book, this visual essay explores racism through the stories of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

If Beale Street Could Talk

Based on the novel by James Baldwin, "If Beale Street Could Talk" is a soulful drama about a young couple fighting for justice in the name of love and the promise of the American dream.

 

Moonlight

In this acclaimed coming-of-age drama, a young man who grows up poor, Black and gay in a rough Miami neighborhood tries to find his place in the world.

 

Selma

Ava DuVernay's powerful drama Selma tells the incredible story of how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led the epic march from Selma to Montgomery to secure equal voting rights in an event that forever altered history.

 

The Hate U Give

Based on the best-selling novel, The Hate U Give tells the story of Starr Carter, who lives in two worlds: the poor, black neighborhood where she resides and the mostly white prep school she attends. 

 

To Kill a Mockingbird

Told through the eyes of "Scout," a feisty six-year-old tomboy To Kill A Mockingbird carries us on an odyssey through the fires of prejudice and injustice in 1932 Alabama.

 

KID-FRIENDLY MOVIES TO HELP BUILD A CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE AND RACISM

Woman's Day list of 15 kid-friendly movies to start a dialogue about racial prejudice.

Just Mercy

Just Mercy tells the true story of Walter McMillian, who, with the help of young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson, appeals his murder conviction. Adapted by the 2014 book by Bryan Stevenson.

WATCH

Atlanta

Two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families.

 

Blackish

Andre 'Dre' Johnson has a great job, a beautiful wife, Rainbow, five kids, and a colonial home in the 'burbs. But has success brought too much assimilation for this black family?

 

Dear White People

Students of color navigate the daily slights and slippery politics of life at an Ivy League college that's not nearly as "post-racial" as it thinks.

 

Insecure

Modern-day black women deal with their real-life flaws and their insecurities come to the fore as together they cope with an endless series of uncomfortable everyday experiences.

When They See Us

Based on events of the 1989 Central Park jogger case and explores the lives and families of the five male suspects who were falsely accused then prosecuted on charges related to the rape and assault of a woman in Central Park, New York City.

Watchmen 

Set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws, Watchmen embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name while attempting to break new ground of its own.

“If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you recognize that your liberation and mine are bound up together, we can walk together.”

 

– Lila Watson

READ

READ

Beloved

Set after the American Civil War, this Toni Morrison novel is inspired by the life of Margaret Garner, an African American who escaped slavery in Kentucky in late January 1856 by crossing the Ohio River to Ohio, a free state. 

 

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME

In this nonfiction book, Ta-Nehisi Coates pens a letter to his teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being Black in the United States.

 

How To Be An Antiracist

Ibram X. Kendi discusses concepts of racism and his proposals for anti-racist individual actions and systemic changes. 

 

Me and White Supremacy

Layla F. Saad leads readers through a journey of understanding their white privilege and participation in white supremacy, so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on Black, Indigenous and People of Color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.

 

Pleasure Activism

Author and editor Adrienne Maree Brown finds the answer in something she calls “pleasure activism,” a politics of healing and happiness that explodes the dour myth that changing the world is just another form of work. 

 

So You Want to Talk About Race

Ijeoma Oluo titles each chapter on a question about race in contemporary America and outlines her opinions on the topics as well as advice about how to talk about the issues.

 

The Fire Next Time

At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document consisting of two “letters,” written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism.

 

THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson writes about the decades-long migration of Black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.

 

The Weary Blues

Beginning with the opening “Proem”—“I am a Negro: / Black as the night is black, / Black like the depths of my Africa”—Langston Hughes speeks directly, intimately, and powerfully of the experiences of African Americans at a time when their voices were newly being heard in our literature.

 

TWO NATIONS: BLACK AND WHITE, SEPARATE, HOSTILE, UNEQUAL

An analysis of the conditions that keep blacks and whites far apart in their ability to participate in the American dream, by Andrew Hacker.

WHITE FRAGILITY: WHY IT'S SO HARD FOR WHITE PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT RACISM

Best-selling author Robin DiAngelo explores the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged.

Parable of the Sower 

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is the Butlerian odyssey of one woman who is twice as feeling in a world that has become doubly dehumanized.

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity In A World Made For Whiteness
Austin Chaning Brown details her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice, in stories that bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric.

Just Mercy 

A powerful true story by Bryan Stevenson  about the Equal Justice Initiative, the people we represent, and the importance of confronting injustice, Just Mercy is a bestselling book by Bryan Stevenson that has been adapted into a feature film.

The Purpose of Power

An essential guide to building transformative movements to address the challenges of our time, from one of the country’s leading organizers and a co-creator of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza.

"Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible."

-Maya Angelou

READ

The Black Book 

A new edition of the classic New York Times bestseller by by Middleton A. Harrs and edited by Toni Morrison, offering an encyclopedic look at the black experience in America from 1619 through the 1940s with the original cover restored. 


WHY ARE ALL THE BLACK KIDS SITTING TOGETHER IN THE CAFETERIA?

How school leaders should embrace conversations about race and other insights from best-selling author Beverly Daniel Tatum.

 

Women, Race and Class 

Angela Davis’s powerful study of the women's movement in the U.S. from abolitionist days to the present (or 1983, when this edition was published), which demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders.

 

Your Silence Will Not Protect You 

A posthumous collection of essays, speeches, and poems by African American author and poet Audre Lorde.

10 THINGS WE KNOW ABOUT RACE AND POLICING

Pew Research Center survey findings about the intersection of race and law enforcement.

 

CORPORATE AMERICA HAS FAILED BLACK AMERICA

A perspective on the lack of diversity among corporate executives and how corporations have failed to advance Black executives.

 

How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change

President Barack Obama reacts to the question of how we can sustain momentum to bring about real change in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

 

Lammy Review

An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the criminal justice system.

 

LANDMARK 1968 RACISM STUDY

A study finds institutional and systemic racism at the root of demonstrations that took place in 1967, and NPR finds relevance to today's current events.

 

MINNEAPOLIS UPRISING IN CONTEXT

The Boston Review explains why past and current racial equality demonstrations should be viewed as political movements.

 

THE 1619 PROJECT

The 1619 Project is an ongoing project developed by The New York Times Magazine in 2019 with the goal of re-examining the legacy of slavery in the United States. Includes a comprehensive overlook on the racial tensions baked into our music industry. 

 

How Did We Get Here?

163 years of The Atlantic’s writing on race and racism in America

 

WHAT IS JUNETEENTH?

Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. writes a history of Juneteenth for The Root.

 

WHEN FEMINISM IS WHITE SUPREMACY IN HEELS

A perspective on how white feminism dilutes race issues and how to cultivate real allyship in Harper's Bazaar.

 

WHO GETS TO BE AFRAID IN AMERICA?

The Atlantic reacts to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery and contemplates what it means to fear for your life.

The Racism Is A Virus Toolkit 

Strategies on how to stand against bullying, racism & xenophobia in the face of COVID-19 from Act To Change.

 

The Uses Of The Erotic 

Uses of the Erotic shines among Audre Lorde's powerful legacy of speeches and essays, and has influenced feminist thinking for more than 15 years. 


We Gon' Be Alright:

Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang

ORGANIZATIONS

ORGANIZATIONS

Black Futures Lab

Black Futures Lab works with Black people to transform our communities, building Black political power and changing the way that power operates—locally, statewide, and nationally. 

 

BOLD: Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity 

BOLD is a national training intermediary focused on strengthening Black social justice infrastructure in the U.S. They do this by transforming the practice of Black organizers to increase their alignment, impact and sustainability to win progressive change.

 

Black Visions Collective

Black Visions Collective believes in a future where all Black people have autonomy, safety is community-led, and we are in the right relationship within our ecosystems

 

Black Women’s Blueprint 

Black Women's Blueprint works to place Black women and girls’ lives, as well as their particular struggles, squarely within the context of the larger racial justice concerns of Black communities. They are committed to building movements where gender matters in broader social justice organizing so that all members of our communities gain social, political and economic equity, and they engage in progressive research, historical documentation, policy advocacy and organizing steeped in the struggles of Black women within their diverse communities and within dominant culture.

 

Black Youth Project 100 

BYP100 is National, member-based organization of Black 18-35 year old activists and organizers, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. They do this through building a network focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and political education using a Black queer feminist lens.

 

Color of Change

Color of Change leads campaigns that build real power for Black communities. They challenge injustice, hold corporate and political leaders accountable, commission game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advance solutions for racial justice that can transform our world.

CURB: Californias United for a Responsible Budget

Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) is a statewide coalition of 70 grassroots organizations that is reducing the number of people in prisons and jails, shrinking the imprisonment system, and shifting public spending from corrections and policing to human services.

 

Detention Watch Network

Detention Watch Network (DWN) is a national coalition building power through collective advocacy, grassroots organizing, and strategic communications to abolish immigration detention in the United States.

 

Dignity and Power Now

Dignity and Power Now (DPN) is a Los Angeles based grassroots organization founded in 2012 that fights for the dignity and power of all incarcerated people, their families, and communities. Their mission is to build a Black and Brown led abolitionist movement rooted in community power towards the goal of achieving transformative justice and healing justice for all incarcerated people, their families, and communities.

“Without community, there is no liberation.”

 

― Audre Lorde

ORGANIZATIONS

Global Indigenous Council

Founded by a resolution of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association, the Global Indigenous Council (GIC) has members from the Americas to Australasia. Their goal is to bring unity, reestablish ancient relationships, develop new alliances, exchange knowledge, and find commonality in our shared purpose of vision and strength for our future generations.

House of Tulip 

House of Tulip is working to provide zero-barrier housing to trans and gender nonconforming people in need of a safe place to stay while growing the supply of affordable housing in New Orleans.

 

Mothers Against Police Brutality

Mothers Against Police Brutality (MAPB) is the voice for justice for victims of police brutality and deadly force. They are a multi-racial, multi-ethnic coalition uniting mothers nationwide to fight for civil rights, police accountability, and policy reform.

 

Kentucky Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression

The Kentucky Alliance work to inform the public and provide a channel for public debate and discussion the human and Constitutional rights of all peoples, to bring together diverse group of people to support those repressed for racial or political reasons, and to work to end racist practices in the community and government. 

 

LIFE CAMP 

LIFE Camp provides youth and families that have been impacted by violence the valuable tools they need to stay in school and out of the criminal justice system. We provide programs and other holistic approaches to reinforce self-esteem and respect for life among one another and also connect and mobilize youth to prevent and heal from violence in New York City’s most underserved communities.

 

Loveland Foundation

The Loveland Foundation worked to bring opportunity and healing to communities of color, and especially to Black women and girls. Through fellowships, residency programs, listening tours, and more, they hope to contribute to both the empowerment and the liberation of the communities they serve.

 

Movement for Black Lives

The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) was created as a space for Black organizations across the country to debate and discuss the current political conditions, develop shared assessments of what political interventions were necessary in order to achieve key policy, cultural and political wins, convene organizational leadership in order to debate and co-create a shared movement wide strategy. 


National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls

National Council for Incarcerated & Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls is committed to abolishing incarceration for women and girls. As formerly incarcerated women, they believe a prison will never be the place for a woman or girl to heal and advance her life. 

 

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights 

The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) works to defend and expand the rights of all immigrants and refugees, regardless of immigration status. As part of a global movement for social and economic justice, NNIRR is committed to human rights as essential to securing healthy, safe and peaceful lives for all.

ORGANIZATIONS

Native Organizers Alliance 

The Native Organizers Alliance is a training and organizing network dedicated to building the capacity of Native tribes, traditional societies, and community groups to make transformational change. It also provides a forum for Native leaders and organizers to work in collaboration with each other and promote their work with non-Native national allies.

People’s Advocacy Institute

The People's Advocacy Institute is a community resource and training incubator for transformation justice in the global south. Through community lead initiatives they inspire self-determination and community-driven solutions to crime creating a more just system and a more effective way to prevent, respond and heal from physical and systematic harm.  

Sista Fire

SISTA FIRE aims to connect the patterns and practices of community strength from the past, building on the present, and–with great intentions–planting the seeds for the future. They take lessons from their grandmas holding it down in Black Lives Matter, their Indigenous aunties fighting for their own homelands here, their trans sisters who fight for their rights to be who they are, and their immigrant and refugee mommas demonstrating their strength with unrelenting love and profound sacrifices. 

 

The Center of Policing Equity

As a research and action think tank, Center for Policing Equity (CPE) produce analyses identifying and reducing the causes of racial disparities in law enforcement. Using evidence-based approaches to social justice, CPE uses data to create levers for social, cultural and policy change, to aid police departments in realizing their own equity goals, and to advance the scientific understanding of issues of equity within organizations and policing. 

 

Transgender Law Center 

Led by a multi-racial, cross-class, cross-disability advisory board of transgender and gender nonconforming people, the Disability Project embeds disability, Deafness, and anti-ableism politics and expertise into LGBTQ movement work. The Project breaks isolation, grows connection, and builds leadership within trans disability/Deaf/chronically ill communities.

If you feel we are missing a meaningful resource, please email us and share your thoughts, ideas and recommendations.

Thank you to veteran community organizers  Makani Themba and Marianne Manilov for advising us along our journey. We are so grateful

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