Here is a list of resources related to Racism and Anti-racism that I have found interesting, educational and helpful. I will update this list as I discover more helpful resources myself, but I am only going to recommend resources here that I have read or watched personally. Feel free to leave a comment with suggestions.
Last Updated: 28th June, 2021
Documentaries:
This episode of Netflix Explained explains why there is such a large wealth gap between communities of different races in America and why this will not solve itself without intervention.
13th (2016) & 13th: A Conversation with Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay (2017)
In this documentary created by Ava DuVernay, scholars, activists and politicians discuss the current American justice system and explain why it impacts BAME people dis-proportionally and why this is wrong. The particular focus is on the 13th amendment which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime and how therefore the incarceration of BAME people has been used to continue the legacy of slavery.
Non-Fiction Books:
This book presents a very well laid out argument for why and how prisons should be abolished. It explains that prisons in their current form do not promote rehabilitation and instead exist to incarcerate people, especially of minority groups, for the profit of private prisons and to remove them from the streets. This book is focused on American prisons but since most prisons around the world follow a similar form, there is plenty to be gathered about the flaws in the justice system at large. This was one of those books that I read and thought was good but not 5 star worthy and then haven't stopped thinking about since.
Fiction Books:
Although this book is aimed at young teens, I think it a strong enough YA book that it can appeal to older people as well. This book is set in a fictional universe in which racism is reversed and uses events based on true historical events to challenge racism. Although this sounds like it could be very shallow and cliché I think the book does a very good job of including depth. The BBC Adaptation is also great, I though the costume and set design was award-worthy as they ask the question of what fashion would look like in this world. My only criticism of this series is that I struggled to read the rest of the books, in my opinion this book was stronger as a stand alone.
This book feels like mockingbird revisited in a modern context with a particular focus on race instead of prejudice as a whole. Jodi Picoult's genius was to write from the point of view of three characters: a black woman, a white supremacist man, and a white woman who is not necessarily racist but who still benefits from a racist culture. I don't think it would have been possible to gain so much from this story if we had not been able to get inside the heads of all of these characters. There are also many clever descriptors of images and feelings in the beginning and that was what captured me, it felt so very human, but by the end of the book I was focused on the morals.
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