CAPT’s Anti-Racism Self-Education Guide

The process of increasing your awareness and understanding is a difficult one. It can bring up grief for the world you thought you lived in, defensiveness about the privilege you have and circumstances you have benefited from and anger about the ways in which systemic injustice has affected you and others. 

In short, this is unlikely to feel easy or comfortable. That’s kind of the point. Without discomfort, how can we grow?

With recent tragic events in mind and following the discussions in yesterday’s reflective practice, we have put together a compilation of resources to start the process of self-education with regards to anti-racism and anti-blackness. 

There is a lot here (although it can also be seen as “just” a start), so dip your toe in wherever feels easier. This is not a race. Injustice has predated us so you can take your time. But it also has a head-start so let's get going now. 

Find people you can discuss these ideas with. We always welcome discussion on the CAPT Slack forum but start wherever feels slightly more comfortable. The below resources are available on the shared google drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=19ve4In69I0dF8fW0Fhggv3tlkSF3a1Mo. Do feel free to add to it.  

Keep yourself safe even while you accept the discomfort of thinking about these issues. 

We are so thankful to those who have put together lists of resources and/or spent their careers thinking about these issues, that we may learn from them. 

Thank you for taking the time. 

Maria, Lisha and Sheeva
Co-Founders of CAPT
 

Start here...

• Start thinking about your privilege by looking through this non-exhaustive checklist. Class, ethnicity, citizenship, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability…
  https://sites.google.com/a/u.boisestate.edu/social-justice-training/about-us/our-training/privilege-checklist 
  
  Remember, our identities are intersectional. That means that you may benefit from privilege in some areas, and experience oppression in others. The latter does not diminish the former - they just co-exist. 

• Remind yourself of the things that you may be able to do, that others have been killed for:
  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vBHM-6QpIANfXZqshkfGdgPTz9PZyAK-p_yx-NoKf2Q/edit?usp=sharing

Get educated on what this experience may feel like for our Black brothers and sisters:

• A letter to my son: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/tanehisi-coates-between-the-world-and-me/397619/
   

• What it’s like to be black right now: https://medium.com/@lanise/what-is-it-like-to-be-black-right-now-cf6505ff147d
   

• Being a black man in the UK (Southbank Centre panel hosted by Akala): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDQiFfx5EfU

About historical and systemic factors (generally and in the UK specifically)

• (Very good) books by non-white people:

• Join the anti-racist book club for psychologists co-facilitated by Libby Nugent and Roberta Babb: https://www.facebook.com/groups/359848274683464/?multi_permalinks=557892588212364

• A glossary - 11 Terms You Should Know to Better Understand Structural Racism https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/structural-racism-definition/

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jjn9 - A BBC documentary tracing the inhabitants in a house in Bristol, starting from a runaway slave.

• Watch “13th”, “When They See Us”, “Dear White People”, “See You Yesterday”, “American Son” on Netflix.

• Listen to “1619”, “About Race”, “Code Switch”, “The Diversity Gap”, “Intersectionality Matters with Kimberle Crenshaw”, “A Pod for a Cause”, “Pod Save the People”, “We Need to Talk about the British Empire” and “Yo Is This Racist” wherever you get your podcasts.

About how Asian people can benefit from and fight against anti-black racism

• 30 ways Asian people perpetuate anti-blackness: https://medium.com/awaken-blog/30-ways-asians-perpetuate-anti-black-racism-everyday-32886c9b3075
   

• An acknowledgment of how it can feel hard to know what to say, as an Asian person in the face of anti-blackness, and a list of 20+ things you can do to stand up as an ally nonetheless: https://medium.com/awaken-blog/20-allyship-actions-for-asians-to-show-up-for-the-black-community-right-now-464e5689cf3e
   

• How to have difficult conversations about anti-blackness with your family and friends: https://everydayfeminism.com/2016/01/asian-americans-tackle-anti-black-racism/
   

• A letter to the East Asian diaspora: https://notyourasian.com/writing/2020/5/31/an-open-letter-to-my-fellow-east-asian-diaspora
   

• A thread by Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan about how we as South Asians uphold anti-blackness: https://twitter.com/thebrownhijabi/status/1265923940045766657
   

• A thread by Aina J Khan on anti-black racism in Pakistani community: https://twitter.com/ainajkhan/status/1266422290989924353?s=19
   

• As if the B in “BAME” is silent: on the appointing of Sajid Javid and Priti Patel in the most “ethnically diverse cabinet in history”
  https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/javid-and-patel-face-bame-community-backlash_uk_5d39d188e4b0419fd339692e?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHFp5x4T0Cd-K8K5ZolmN4SK5s1OtECHpwtWb2o6EdJrzVBJ9EJX_SqeF5RUJYHE0xlU42TrXuo2J1F8JDwuZPSXac3aZB3X0KC2AkYKBsexXHgP4mwCXyd5Zy6AHfNaXuYKw6fwZd35QPt56G_h8LzOsCIEpdYTx6adSeQT2Ui1
   

• https://twitter.com/BurntRotiMag - look out for their next issue on anti-blackness in the south asian community.

“Ultimate Guides” to being anti-racist: 

What does it mean to be anti-racist? Imagine a travelator, one of those flat escalators in an airport, moving inexorably towards racism. It moves towards racism, because racism and systemic oppression are the status quo.

There are people on the travelator. Some of them walk forwards, towards racism: there are the active racists, those who hold fear and hatred in their hearts for non-white people. 
 

There are people standing on the travelator - they may tell you they are not racist, for they do not act in an actively racist manner. However, they are still moving in the direction of racism, and are doing nothing to counteract its unjust and violent effects. They are, in fact, still racist. 
 

Finally, there are people walking the wrong way on the travelator. They have to walk pretty fast, to counter the travelator’s movement, which takes both energy and effort. These are the anti-racists. 

 

 Anti-racism is an active, ongoing process. It is a verb: it is something you have to try and do, every moment of every day. Yes, it’s pretty tiring. Yes, it’s uncomfortable. Yes, it would be easier to stop and rest a while. But it’s a privilege to be able to do so, and to let the travelator keep moving forward at the cost of people’s lives. 
 

You will have racist thoughts - we all do. We are all on the travelator, and we’ve been on it for a long time. It was bound to sink into our minds. You may act in racist ways - clutching your purse, moving seats on the tube. You may even have experienced trauma which has contributed to your racism - this is painful but again, you must consider the impact of holding all people of colour accountable. 

 
All any of us can do is try to be more self-aware and do the hard work to be effective allies. This begins with calling ourselves and our peers out when we have racist thoughts, or make racist statements, or act in a racist way. This will happen to us, more often than we’d like to admit, and we should all try to do better. 

The creator of the travelator analogy is Camara Jones. You can watch her TED talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNhcY6fTyBM.

• Anti-Racism Resources for White People by White People (a lot of this will be helpful to anyone who identifies as non-black): bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES
   

• An Anti-Racism Guide, touching upon racism against many ethnic minorities in the USA: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hpub-jkm9cLzJWqZSsETqbE6tZ13Q0UbQz--vQ2avEc/edit
   

• Anti-Oppression Spreadsheet, with plenty of ideas on how to organise and create meaningful change: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RkJ-uqKzyhRc6ZxRh2mtcBG5vmGM3hi5aiAvQXPGPR0/edit#gid=0
   

• Plenty more resources compiled by the Accidental Book Club: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10pf6i75i1Zr4O3gTU9SvCOiOHpIbAqymFBaD9I79d3o/edit

Diversify Your Entertainment:

• Watch Noughts and Crosses on BBC iPlayer.
  Yes, it’s deeply uncomfortable - it made us flinch, cry and rage. But it is hugely topical - down to the oppressor instigating violence during peaceful protests.
   

• A list of plays by Black and Brown people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PpIw9Hem5klkPBuN0rqfliaTxhOUKs8l/view
   

• A list of YA novels by Black Authors: https://afomaumesi.com/black-young-adult-novels/
  An equivalent list by Asian authors: https://afomaumesi.com/asian-ya-novels/.
   

• Check out the books short-listed for the Jhalak Prize, which seeks to celebrate books written by British / British-resident writers of colour: https://www.jhalakprize.com/
   

How to promote anti-racism in your parenting:

• “Show racism the red card” - resources created for a UK audience: https://www.theredcard.org/resources-and-activities
   

• A really well thought-out guide working through different ways to talk to and model anti-racism: https://www.parenttoolkit.com/social-and-emotional-development/advice/social-awareness/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-race-and-racism
   

• A short video about racism aimed at schoolchildren in the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zqvnvcw
   

• Lists of Children's books featuring Black characters: https://www.readbrightly.com/picture-books-featuring-black-male-protagonists/ and https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/21-childrens-books-every-black-kid-should-read_n_565f176be4b072e9d1c43b0a?ri18n=true

If you can, donate:

• Liberty Human Rights - an organisation challenging injustice in the UK: https://liberty.netdonor.net/page/57463/donate/1
   

• A list of donation funds by Black Lives Matter (international payments accepted): https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#international
   

• The Stephen Lawrence Fund: https://www.stephenlawrence.org.uk/support-us/donate/
   

• Minnesota Freedom Fund: https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate
  An article outlining other freedom funds to donate to: https://www.vogue.com/article/how-to-help-bail-out-george-floyd-protestors
   

• George Floyd Memorial Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
   

• Belly Mujinga Memorial Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rip-belly-mujinga

If you can't donate (and even if you can), sign things:

• Look for ways you can contribute to government consultations about police power or BME issues: https://www.gov.uk/search/policy-papers-and-consultations?content_store_document_type=open_consultations&page=1
   

• Justice for George Floyd: https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd
   

• A list of petitions put together by Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#petitions