Educational Resources
Listed below are resources to educate yourself about (anti-Black) racism and the systems that perpetuate it. If you have any additions or concerns please email the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center at office@whatcompjc.org or contact us on social media (insta, facebook).
It is important to have a wide variety of educational material to read, and although the readings are based in pro-Black, anti-Police, anti-Prison, anti-Racist ideas, the proposals and author ideologies range from across the political spectrum. We included such a range as the material listed below all have value even if they differ from your own personal beliefs.
It is also imperative to stress that although educating yourself (and others) is the foundation of activism, it is not the only action, and to truly cause change one must not just educate themself but also participate with the community in more tangible and sustained ways.
It is important to have a wide variety of educational material to read, and although the readings are based in pro-Black, anti-Police, anti-Prison, anti-Racist ideas, the proposals and author ideologies range from across the political spectrum. We included such a range as the material listed below all have value even if they differ from your own personal beliefs.
It is also imperative to stress that although educating yourself (and others) is the foundation of activism, it is not the only action, and to truly cause change one must not just educate themself but also participate with the community in more tangible and sustained ways.
Becoming Anti-Racist Graphic by Dr. Andrew M. Ibrahim
Compilations created by other people:
Black History Month Library, google drive comp
Anti-Racism Resources, google doc
Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources, google doc comp
Prison Abolition:
Are Prisons Obsolete?, book by Angela Y. Davis, free pdf
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, book by Michelle Alexander
Police Defunding and Police Abolition:
Police: A Field Guide, book by David Correia and Tyler Wall
The End of Policing, book by Alex S. Vitale
Building a Police-Free Future: Frequently Asked Questions, instagram post
Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop, article by Officer A. Cab (Anonymous)
The other side of the COIN: counterinsurgency and community policing, academic article by Kristian Williams
The FBI Has Quietly Investigated White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement, article by Alice Speri
Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America, by Kristian Williams, free pdf
The answer to police violence is not 'reform'. It's defunding. Here's why, article by Alex S. Vitale
How a Right-Wing Network Mobilized Sheriffs’ Departments, article by Cloee Cooper
Covert Racism, "Subtle" Everyday Racism:
UNDERSTANDING IMPLICIT BIAS, article by the Kirwan Institute
The White Internet’s Love Affair With Digital Blackface, a video by Amanda Hess and Shane O'Neill
Dismantling Whiteness as the Beauty Standard, article by Sasha Turner
I don’t care if you’re ‘fascinated’ by my afro, stop touching it, article by Stephanie Yeboah
I Don’t Feel Your Pain: A failure of empathy perpetuates racial disparities, article by Jason Silverstein
Some medical students still think black patients feel less pain than whites, article by Ike Swetlitz
THE DANGEROUS DELUSION OF THE BIG, SCARY BLACK MAN, article by Tom Jacobs
The Racial Politics of Speaking Well, article by Lynette Clemetson
Let’s End The ‘Strong Black Woman’ Stereotype. Can’t We Be Vulnerable And Emotional Too?, article by Shirley McLellan
Fetishizing people of color isn’t a compliment, so don’t act like it is, article by Leta McWilliams
Hyper-Sexualization of Black Women in the Media, article by Annalycia D. Matthews
Multi-topic, specific topic, misc:
Black people are not here to teach you: What so many white Americans just can't grasp, article by Kali Holloway
Is This How Discrimination Ends?, article by Jessica Nordell
Anger Benefits Some Americans Much More Than Others, article by Davin Phoenix
Racial Profiling and the Loss of Black Boyhood, article by Hussain Abdulhaqq
What "Misogynoir" Means . . . and Why It Has to End, video by POPSUGAR entertainment
- A more thorough video: The HATE black women face.
Research by Black Female Professor Reveals Startling Truth That White Women Made Up 40% of Slaveowners, article by Kiersten Willis
- Books on the same topic:
- They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South, book by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, book by Edward Baptist
So You Want to Talk About Race, book by Ijeoma Oluo
How To Be An Antiracist, book by Ibram X. Kendi
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor, book by Layla F. Saad
My People Are Rising: Memoir of a Black Panther Party Captain, book by Aaron Dixon
The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley, by el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X), Alex Haley, & Attallah Shabazz
Protests/Riots:
Looter to Who? James Baldwin on Racism in America, article posted by Aaron Gilbreath
Damnatio Memoriae: Why Mobs Pull Down Statues, article by David Freedberg
Beyond the Streets: 26 Ways to Be In the Struggle, Accessible Version
Organised Vengeance Called “Justice”, by Pëtr Kropotkin, read aloud version
The Protest Psychosis, book, by Jonathan Metzl