Here is a work book to accompany the reading of White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo, developed by DeAngelo and Ozlem Sensoy. It was created so that groups can read and reflect on the book together, working through each chapter with questions for consideration.
Read MoreIn this video, University of Washington professor Dr. Robin DiAngelo reads from her book "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism," explains the phenomenon, and discusses how white people can develop their capacity to engage more constructively across race.
Read MoreTrauma therapist and author of My Grandmother's Hands, Resmaa Menakem talks honestly and directly about the historical and current traumatic impacts of racism in the U.S., and the necessity for us all to recognize this trauma, metabolize it, work through it, and grow up out of it. Only in this way will we at last heal our bodies, our families, and the social body of our nation. Though he speaks from an American viewpoint, his observations and solutions are not confined to any country but have world wide applications.
Somatic Abolitionism is not a human invention. It is the resourcing of energies that are always present in your body, in the collective body, and in the world. Somatic Abolitionism is an emergent process.
Read MoreIt has become clear that in regards to anti-racism, the best laws and diversity training have not gotten us anywhere near where we want to go. Therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem is working with old wisdom and very new science about our bodies and nervous systems, and all we condense into the word “race.” Resmaa Menakem’s practices offer us the beginning to change at a cellular level. He offers free of charge a course you can take to learn these practices.
Read MoreThe Canadian Ecumenical Anti-Racism Network has taken up the challenge of resourcing and accompanying communities of faith in their journey toward truth and reconciliation. This resource zeros in on White privilege as an essential aspect of anti-racism work. Racism is one expression of the White privilege and supremacy that is present in day-to-day interactions and built into systems and church structures. It is impossible to do anti-racism work without examining White identity and the unearned power and privilege that flows from that identity.
Read MoreAuthor Robyn Maynard delves behind Canada’s veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, Policing Black Lives traces the violent realities of anti-blackness from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms and beyond. Robyn Maynard provides readers with the first comprehensive account of over four hundred years of state-sanctioned surveillance, criminalization and punishment of Black lives in Canada.
Read MoreAdele Halliday, writing in Broadview Magazine, expresses her dismay at the events taking place in the summer of 2020. “I write as a Black Canadian. The events of the past few weeks have been deeply traumatizing. I have been cycling through three main emotions – intense anger, immense exhaustion and deep pain. These emotions are not new to me – they are part of what it means to live in a Black body with the reality of racial injustice.
Read MoreLayla Saad’s book challenges you to do the essential work of unpacking your biases, and helps white people take action and dismantle the privilege within themselves so that you can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too. It takes readers on a 28-day journey, complete with journal prompts, to do the necessary and vital work that can ultimately lead to improving race relations.
Read MoreTrailblazers is a disruptive children’s book that introduces readers to Canada’s Black history through the under-told stories of over forty incredible Black change makers. With each short story carefully written in poetic form and accompanied by beautiful illustrations, this tribute brings complex topics and historical facts to life. Engaged readers will finish Trailblazers feeling enlightened, inspired, and ready to blaze their own trails.
Read MoreIf you are new to anti-racism, you may feel either overwhelmed with the amount of material there is to assimilate, and/or unsure where to begin. Just begin somewhere, anywhere. Look over the lists and click at something that catches your eye - read, listen, watch. And then do something, however small, even if that something is just more reading, listening, watching and reflecting. Being anti-racist involves action.
Read MoreFrom Sojourners, comes this steady advice to white people about how to be good allies to BIPOC people., written by Courtney Ariel. Based in the Christian tradition and a person of colour, Ariel responds to white friends asking, ‘how can we become better allies?" Her advice is clear, steady, and accessible. Read what she writes. Do what she does. White people need to be part of the solution.
Read MoreHow to be a good ally? It's about actively being inclusive of diversity across the spectrum - from lgbt+ folks, black and brown folks, disabled and neurodiverse folks, and people from other marginalized groups. But here are a few ways that we can work to unlearn our natural prejudice, recognize our privilege, and work to make the world more equitable in spite of them.
Read More‘To Ally’ is to take intentional action, like listening, learning and uplifting those around you to ensure all voices are heard and respected. Chescaleigh offers 5 Tips for Being An Ally delivered with wit and humour. We can all be allies, whoever we are. Ally is a noun and a verb.
Read MoreAs America marks 400 years since people of African descent were first brought to our shores in chains, some politicians, academic institutions, communities of faith, and individuals are beginning to wrestle with the atoning possibility of reparations. The institution of the church is uniquely positioned to shape this movement of reckoning.
Read MoreYou can’t think about something if you can’t talk about it, says Eula Biss. The writer helpfully opens up lived words and ideas like complacence, guilt, andopportunity hoarding for an urgent reckoning with whiteness. This conversation was inspired by her 2015 essay in The New York Times, White Debt. This podcast is from On Being with Krista Tippett, in Conversation with Eula Biss, 'Talking about Whiteness'.
Read MoreSpoken word artist Matthew Strange shares a powerful spoken word poem about his experiences as a white man with a black wife and mixed children. Strange uses his platform and privilege to write a wake-up call to white people in Dear Caucasia. The piece he wrote in 2016 is as real and relevant as ever.
Read MoreWhat if white people led the charge to end racism? Diversity fatigue is real: people of color are tired of leading the fight. White allies are tired of being told they're doing it wrong. No wonder we don't have equity yet! In this inspiring talk, Nita Mosby-Tyler explains why we need "unlikely allies" in the fight for justice, and why people who are experiencing inequality first hand must be willing to accept the help.
Read MoreThroughout history people with privilege have stood up and fought back alongside marginalized groups. We call these people allies. When athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos performed the Black Power salute during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, they sent out a powerful message that resounded around the world. But there was another man standing with them that day. This is the story of Peter Norman.
Read MoreFresh Start at Kingsway-Lambton welcomed Rev. Michael Blair with his sermon "Why Our Lives Matter" on John 4:1-26. Rev. Blair's sermon explores the question, "Can saying Black lives matter be a theological statement, or is it limited to a statement of solidarity with the BLM movement?" Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and his affirmation of her particular life, calling those who follow Jesus to affirm particular lives as well.
Read MoreSome people cling desperately to the myth that we are living in a post-racial society, that the election of the first Black president spelled the doom of racism. In fact, racist thought is alive and well in America - more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues in Stamped from the Beginning, if we have any hope of grappling with this stark reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society.
Read More
