Anti-Racism Education List

Want to take some action in understanding anti-black racism and its legacies? Check out this education list provided to us by our CUPE local 1858 from the Nanaimo/Ladysmith Spoke of the Resilience BC Anti-Racism Network. Thank you CUPE! Also, follow the CUPE 1858 Facebook page for weekly posts on Black History Month.

Books 

So You Want to Talk About Race (2019) by Ijeoma Oluo

Guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life. 

How to be an Anti-Racist (2019) by Ibram X Kendi

Takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.

The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power (2020) by Desmond Cole

Puncturing once and for all the bubble of Canadian smugness and naïve assumptions of a post-racial nation, Cole chronicles just one year—2017—in the struggle against racism in this country. In a month-by-month chronicle, Cole locates the deep cultural, historical and political roots of each event so that what emerges is a personal, painful and comprehensive picture of entrenched, systemic inequality.

Documentaries and Series

The Skin We’re In (Director: Charles Officer, 2017)

An urgent exploration of race relations, this documentary follows award-winning journalist and activist Desmond Cole as he pulls back the curtain on anti-Black racism in Canada, inviting all Canadians to understand the experience of being in his skin.

When They See Us (Director: Ava DuVernay, 2019)

Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they’re falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on the true story.

13th (Director: Ava DuVernay, 2016)

Premised as a historical survey that maps the genetic link between slavery and today’s prison-industrial complex, 13th explodes the “mythology of black criminality”, explaining the successive and successful measures undertaken by political authorities to disempower African Americans over the last three centuries.

Education

Anti-Racism I (University of Colorado Boulder)

An introduction to the topic of race and racism in the United States, the course defines Whiteness and other relevant terms; identifies the impacts of race, racism, and anti-racism; and applies the terms and concepts in relation to overlapping oppressions and possibilities for anti-racism work.