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Readings
- About People of Color's Experience -
by Jenée Desmond-Harris
Desmond-Harris describes her experience of being a biracial woman, and six things she would like everyone to know about people who identify as biracial (e.g. there is no one biracial experience). This article is particularly relevant given America’s growing biracial population.
by Leah Sinclair
In this piece, Sinclair highlights the fundamental problems with the “angry black girl” stereotype, including that it delegitimizes the grievances of black women and keeps society from truly sympathizing with their emotions.
by Derrick Clifton
Clifton addresses the media’s failure to report on the staggering number of black women killed by police. This article explains the need for the “Say Her Name” campaign that helps raise awareness of the reality of black women’s dangerous interactions with the police.
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
In this piece, Coates, author of Between the World and Me, argues for reparations for black people based on their history of being enslaved and discriminated against in America. Coates discusses what reparations could look like and emphasizes the positive contribution this type of “national reckoning” could make toward dismantling racism.
by Brent Staples
In this personal essay, Staples reflects on people’s perception of him as dangerous based on the fact that he is a black man, and then shares his discovery that whistling classical music enabled him to counter this stereotype.
by AJ Vicens
In this article, Vicens looks at the astounding rate of police shootings of Native Americans, a statistic often overlooked by the mass media.
by Adia Harvey Wingfield
Wingfield discusses the ‘model minority’ myth, which casts the success of Asian-Americans as “proof that American meritocracy works as intended.” Wingfield explains that although stereotypes of Asian-Americans as hardworking and responsible might seem positive, in reality they have harmful effects.
by Daniel Burke
Burke’s article features Aleena Khan, a 17-year-old Muslim-American who wrote a letter to President Obama describing her struggle navigating her religion and her American identity in the current climate of Islamophobia. Burke discusses the experiences of American Muslims, the effects of political discourse on Islamophobia, and the phenomenon of homegrown radicalization.
by Lilly Workneh
This article features a striking photo series published by O, The Oprah Magazine that turns racial stereotypes on their head. There are three photos, each showing the relationship between women of color and white women in a role reversal where they portray the opposite stereotypes.
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
In this article, Hutcherson responds to her white friend’s Facebook post asking for a black person’s perspective on and experiences with white privilege and institutional racism.
- About White Identity -
by Raising Race Conscious Children
For their 100th post, the Raising Race Conscious Children blog compiled a list of their 100 top recommended things to say to your child to advance racial justice.
by Sam Dylan Finch
As Finch puts it, “real talk: No one likes being called out.” This piece provides nine useful responses for white people who hold the best intentions, but find themselves getting defensive when called out on certain offensive behaviors.
by Robin DiAngelo
In this piece, racial and social justice educator DiAngelo discusses why it is important to use the phrase “white supremacy.” As a white woman, DiAngelo finds this term especially powerful in the fight against racism because “it shifts the problem to white people, where it belongs.”
by Allan G. Johnson
Johnson examines the social construction of difference and explains how privilege works with respect to race, gender, and sexual orientation.
by Rachel Laser
In this Yom Kippur sermon delivered at George Washington University’s Hillel, Laser shares her personal journey of uncovering and understanding white privilege.
by Robin DiAngelo
In her piece, racial and social justice educator DiAngelo explains the concept and origins of white fragility, a phenomenon where “white people have extremely low thresholds for enduring any discomfort associated with challenges to our racial world-views.”
by Peggy McIntosh
McIntosh’s 1989 article is considered a foundational piece in naming white privilege. Using her understanding of male privilege, McIntosh identifies a list of the daily effects of white privilege in her life.
by Rachel Laser
This piece, originally a lecture given at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple, asks whether Jews should atone for racism on Yom Kippur. The answer: yes.
by Lisa Noel Seiwert
Seiwert, a mother of a white teenage boy, reflects on why she does not worry in all of the the same ways about her son as her black friends do about their sons.