This section indicates which episodes of the podcast Seeing White we listened to as well as the supplemental readings and information from our curriculum.
LISTEN: Seeing White – episode 4, “On Crazy We Built A Nation”
JOURNAL & REFLECT:
How did you get to the U.S./Canada?
What policies and laws were in place?
LISTEN: Seeing White – episode 5, “Little War on the Prairie”
LISTEN: Seeing White – episode 6, “That’s Not Us, So We’re Clean”
JOURNAL & REFLECT:
Individual Research – Whose Land Are We On? - go down the rabbit hole!
POC:
White Folks:
READ: Why I Speak Up for Black Women - Megan Thee Stallion
*If the New York Times article doesn't work please try this LINK
READ: Dr. Bettina L. Love, “There is Nothing Fragile About Racism"
RESEARCH & JOURNAL: Think about your people - where and how have you seen them (historically and currently) show up against white supremacy? Been part of multi-racial coalitions?
JOURNAL: Again, what are you willing to risk, and what does it look like? Get specific! (for example, if you are willing to risk your comfort, in what ways? with family? at your job? at the school's PTA meeting? in challenging your own biases?)
READ: Deepa Iyer’s Mapping Our Roles, meditate on it, and fill out pages 5-6
With the understanding that as facilitators we are also on this journey of Healing, (Un)learning, and Growing together with participants we wanted to share a few things that touched us in a personal way as we go through this work. This is not a check box list, this is a jumping off point because this is a life long work we are doing and reflecting on.
I see these three books as guiding me through a process of understanding how white supremacy is within me, how to turn that awareness into action, and then how to bring my ever-changing, reaching-healing, always-full self to my communities. I often return to these three thinkers when I feel lost and need to be reminded of the (nonlinear) direction I am going, alongside my people, towards imagining and creating the world we can all thrive in.
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
A big part of my personal journey has been to try and understand how to support Black liberation in a way that doesn't center myself as an East Asian bodied person. I am a queer Korean adoptee so severed connections to my motherland and my proximity to my white family creates a different lens for me than many other immigrant narratives and leaves gaps in my knowledge about Asian American history and the history of multi-racial solidarity.
I was introduced to adrienne maree brown's Emergent Strategy at just the right time. I became enthralled by the ideas of organization and movement-building, so much so that Ho Etsu developed an entire 90-minute concert based on the concepts of the book. If you pick up ES, please also reference brown's references: writings by Octavia Butler and Grace Lee Boggs. Another great book that was instrumental to me is Ibram X. Kendi's "How To Be An Anti-Racist". Kendi's focus on policies as either in support of racism or in support of anti-racism helped me understand my own complicity in supporting inequity.
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Back in the early 2000’s, Janelle Monáe’s music began my journey of examining racism in the United States. Both her work and the work of Octavia E. Butler have been influential to me as they examine white supremacy through a Science Fiction lens. However, it has been Layla Saad’s book that brought me to HUG. It is her work and her process of holding up a mirror that will continue to propel me through the work of dismantling and rebuilding from the inside out.
The music and poetry of Janelle Monáe (singer-songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer)
The words of Octavia E. Butler (science fiction author)
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
We all need to heal from the trauma caused by white supremacy. When I think of the work of anti-racism, when I think of healing from racism, all of the listed resources actually lead me to the same direction. To seek healing and liberation; these are the two words that keep coming up.
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation by Angel Kyodo Williams, Lama Rod Owens, Jasmine Syedullah
I have heard many people of all ages express concern with their self-perceived lack of knowledge about what we should do. What are the steps? What are the answers? When faced with these questions, we must find and cherish what heals us, rejuvenates us, inspires us and grounds us in our values. I look to the artists, writers and activists that have come before me and the work they have already done to answer these questions.
As someone who learns best through story, my journey has been shaped by fiction more than non-fiction, and I love the way Okorafor weaves anti-racism into magical realism. The Book of the Phoenix made me think deeply about colonialism and non-consensual medical experimentation while zipping through an exciting afro-futurist story. The Akata Series was a lighter window into understanding identity development, particularly among minoritized populations. Bonus: Akata was a great substitute when I stopped engaging with the Boy Who Lived because of the Author Who's Transphobic.
The Book of the Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor
The Akata Series by Nnedi Okorafor (Akata Witch and Akata Warrior) (YA Fiction)
There are a lot of bell hooks lectures that I could list here. This one I found especially insightful as I found the dialogue between two different generational points of view quite illuminating. As a child of the 70s I found my generation's point of view well represented in Melissa Harris-Perry in this dialogue and found that bell hooks' interrogation of that position gave me a lot to explore and investigate further.
Black Female Voice: Who is Listening - A public dialogue between bell hooks + Melissa Harris-Perry
Layla Saad- Good Ancestor Podcast and Good Ancestor Academy
This book helped me unravel the knot of white privilege by looking frankly at what it means to be white in America, and all the ways we white people are allowed (and encouraged!) to stay ignorant of racism, and the ways this fear keeps us from healing ourselves and developing a more healthy racial identity.
Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It by Shelly Tochluk
The documentary helped me learn the power of youth leadership, how to support them, and the impact community organizing has on larger society. Adeyemi’s books gave me a more accessible way (yay magic!) to think about what I am willing to risk for justice and humanity. Plus, they are action-packed and serious page-turners! Dr. Takaki’s work gave me much needed context of the histories of my people in the U.S. and how our narratives relate to other BIPOC.
“Precious Knowledge” directed by Ari Luis Palos
Children of Blood and Bone & Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
History of Asian Americans: Strangers from a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki
The African American community has experienced and continues to experience generational trauma. It is reinforced by white supremacy and institutionalized racism. These books are all about the Black experience in America. They are academically based works backed up with thorough research and grounded in history. There is more to Black history than the slave trade.
Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing by Joy DeGruy
They came before Columbus by Ivan Van Sertima
"Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Please note that this is not by any means an exhaustive list - just a starting point - these resource categories have sprung up from our HUG journey and we encourage you to go down the rabbit hole!
These are the two groups that we donated to for the first round of HUG.
[NONPROFIT]: Poor People's Campaign
[NONPROFIT]: PushBlack
[WEBSITE]: Whose Land Are We On?
[ARTICLE]: 7 Young Indigenous Activists Standing Up for Their Communities
[WEBSITE/ART MOVEMENT]: The Jingle Dress Project
[WEBSITE/BOOKS]: Black and Asian-American Feminist Solidarities: A Reading List
[WEBSITE]: Tsuru for Solidarity
[WEBSITE]: Nikkei Progressives
[WEBSITE]: Black Panthers 10 Point Program
[WEBSITE]: Young Lords 13 Point Program
[WEBSITE]: I Wor Kuen 12 Point Program
[PDF]: Young Patriots 11 Point Program
[WEBSITE]: Third World Liberation Front
[WEBSITE]: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
[WEBSITE]: Southern Student Organizing Committee
[NON-PROFIT ORG]: Decolonize the Music Room
[VIDEO]: Music Theory and White Supremacy
[VIDEO]: TaikoIN' Together Webinar Series 2 of 4 : INspiring (Fractals in Musical Practice)
[PODCAST]: Afropop Worldwide
[VIDEO STREAMING]: Qwest TV
[VIDEO]: The Case for Prison Abolition, from Ruth Wilson Gilmore
[WEBSITE]: Dr. Bettina Love [and others'] work on Abolitionist Teaching & Education
[ARTICLE]: Yes, We Literally Mean Abolish the Police from Mariame
[BOOK]: Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis
[VIDEO] for Black people: Brave New Voices:Philadelphia Team - Glory
[VIDEO] for Indigenous and Non-Black POC: The Price of Keeping Our Head Down - HoodiniDidIt
[VIDEO] for White people: Letter to White Queers, Letter to Myself - Andrea Gibson