Anti-Racism Reading List August 2022

“Why should any of us pretend that Jefferson was heroic just because he wrote down some words he wasn't willing to live by? Americans trying to live by those values are the real heroes, not Jefferson, who lived his life oppressing others.”

“A quick Google search brings up other instances of blatant theft. Of course, there’s the recent “Juneteenth ice cream” debacle, in which critics accused Walmart of stealing a flavor from Creamalicious, a company founded and led by a Black woman. Then, there are entire books that writers have based off the original research and ideas of Black women. If that’s not enough to convince you there’s a pattern here, consider this collective that centers around citing Black women.”

“How many millions of white people did Africans, Asians, Indians, Mexicans, or Native Americans steal from Europe to enslave for centuries? How many countries did people of color build using the free labor of white people?”

“A new twist on an "old favorite" is inviting Black candidates to interview in order to only satisfy “diversity interview quotas” without any intention of hiring us. Wells Fargo turned this “game” into an art form because.....well.....Wells Fargo. That's how they roll. I should also mention that Wells Fargo's CEO had previously made a statement in 2020 about there being a "limited pool of Black talent," for which he later apologized. Isn't it funny though how they just kept on "finding" Black talent for their fake interview scheme? Just saying.”

“One technique that researchers have used to reduce implicit racial biases is vivid counterstereotypicality. This is just a fancy term for flipping the script on stereotypes—for example, making Black people be seen as heroes rather than villains.”

“White people, and white institutions, have long centered their experiences, imagining them to be universal. Universalising their experiences, in turn, has permitted white people to speak of themselves as individuals, who are unmarked by race and racism.

This stands in contrast to the way in which non-white and Black people are collectively othered and racialised. And it continues to have tangible, and often terrible, daily consequences.”

“In 2022, we still have people engaging in overt and covert racist behavior. On your recruitment. On your human resources. In your meetings. In your 1:1s. This is what the bias training missed. Solely focusing on bias is a missed opportunity to address a silent root cause - racism.”

“White supremacy persists, in part, because denying privileges means White people never have to address societal inequalities. Implicit and explicit biases become weapons in our workplaces. Disney’s checklist, and those like it, aim to make employees consider their privileges compared to other groups before interacting with them. This time of self-evaluation has potential.”

“The presiding concentration on confronting anti-Blackness often requires that Black staff define, defend, and solve their own experiences of oppression within organizations. Using pro-Black power as a frame draws in white staff and staff of color to interrogate their own anti-Black bias, as well as drawing the organization into challenging the systems, processes, policies, and practices, not just interpersonal behaviors or attitudes.”

“Black people are still talking and doing all the things. We have all these initiatives, programs and services, access to grants, but what’s not happening is collective and ongoing outrage of non-Black communities …That’s what needs to happen.”