Anti-Racism Resources
It is 2020 and in the midst of a global pandemic reaction some of us have been additionally shocked, re-traumatized, mortified, agrieved and/or galvanized to further action by the horrific midday murders of Ahmaud Arbery by white civilians and George Floyd by US law enforcement. In some way each of us has been affected either by outrage, frustration, despair, terror, numbness or confusion. As such, we can begin to view systemic racism as a blight that we’ve all inherited from from our ancestors. It is a collective affliction that’s reaching a critical mass we can no longer tolerate.
So what can we envision together for our world in 2030? Can we dedicate time, space, and energy to reflect, be accountable for, and learn from our own past mistakes and our collective history? Can we be intimately aware of racism and remedy its disastrous effects, while still transcending the idea of racial categories, which don’t even actually biologically exist? How do we discuss racism and systemic oppression without reaffirming the illogical existence of “race” as a human identity concept? What steps can we take as individuals to create a better world that is just, that is equal, and that does not degrade humankind, but instead nourishes its infinite potential in Mind Body and Soul?
Below you will find a growing list of resources to encourage vulnerability, knowledge, self reflection, understanding, healing and change. This is a living list that will blossom with time. If you would like to make a suggestion or submission to this page, contact us at info@mindbodysoulretreats.org.
Also, there is no need to suffer, or to suffer alone. Contact us for support and competent stress and trauma healing sessions. We can work together in online healing sessions for recovery from secondary/vicarious trauma, ancestral trauma, racial trauma, collective trauma and social/cultural trauma. Remember that when we take time to heal ourselves, we send rippling healing effects out into our communities and the rest of the world.
Essays and Articles
Belgian Princess Condemns Her Family’s Brutal Colonial History in Congo & Calls for Reparations. Democracy Now Independent Global News. 9 July 2020.
The Aesthetics of Solidarity: How Racism Persists in Denmark. Scandinavian Standard. 18 June 2020.
Whose Lives Matter, by Maya Michelle, Mind Body Soul Retreats. Medium. 9 June 2020.
Confessions from a Former Bastard Cop, by Officer A. Cab. Medium. 7 June 2020.
Germany: Thousands Take to the Streets to Call for Justice. Time Magazine. World Edition: Germany. 11 June 2020.
Non-Black People of Color Need to Start Having Conversations About Racism in Our Communities, by Sharon . DoSomething.org.
Why Systemic Racism Is Not Just an American Problem, World Economic Forum & Thompson Reuters Foundation. June 2020.
Berlin Parliament Passes Anti-Discrimination Law Targeting Public Authorities. EURACTIV Independent Network News. 5 June 2020.
The American Nightmare, by Ibram X. Kendi, The Atlantic. 1 June 2020.
Ten Habits of Someone Who Doesnt Know They Are Anti-Black, Cicely Blain, Strategem Blog. 1 June 2020.
20+ Allyship Actions for Asians to Show Up for the Black Community Right Now, by Michelle Kim. Medium. May 2020.
Black Troops Were Welcome in Britain, but Jim Crow Wasn’t: The Race Riot of One Night in June 1943. The Conversation. 22 June 2018
The Case for Reparations. Ta-Nehisi Coates. The Atlantic Magazine. June 2014.
Videos and Podcasts
How to be Antiracist. Brené Brown interviews Ibram X. Kendi. 3 June 2020.
We Cannot Stay Silent About George Floyd. Patriot Act with Hassan Minaj. Season 6 Episode 4. Netflix. June 2020.
Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzl. NBC News Podcast. 27 May 2019.
An Interview with the Founders of Black Lives Matter. TEDWomen. 29 November 2016.
Slavery to Mass Incarceration. Equal Justice Initiative. 7 July 2015.
Racial Terror Lynching in America. Equal Justice Initiative. 11 October 2016.
James Baldwin Discusses Racism. The Dick Cavett Show. May 1968.
Books and References
My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem.
Waking Up White: Finding Myself in the Story of Race, by Debbie Irving
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Ibram X. Kendi.
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Ibram X. Kendi co-authored with Jason Reynolds.
Dying of Whiteness: How The Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland, by Jonathan Metzl.
Oney Judge. Gradual Abolition and Presidential Households. Wikipedia.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley by Malcolm X.