How to Stop the Racist in You

Read the entire article here:  How to Stop the Racist in You

By Jeremy Adam Smith, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton | July 27, 2016 | 

The new science of bias suggests that we all carry prejudices within ourselves—and we all have the tools to keep them in check.

"...For many people, the very possibility that they too might get caught saying one thing but doing another is extremely threatening and aversive. That threat, in fact, has a name: aversive racism. It refers to the type of racism in which a person’s implicit biases are so out of line with their conscious values that social situations where they experience this conflict—such as interracial interactions—are something to fear and avoid..."

"...So what are the tricks that you can use to stop the racist in you? There are many, of course, but here are six to consider that follow from the scientific insights we describe.

• Consciously commit yourself to egalitarianism.
• But recognize that unconscious bias is no more “the real you” than your conscious values. You are both the unconscious and the conscious.
• Acknowledge differences, rather than pretend that you are ignoring them.
• Seek out friendship with people from different groups, in order to increase your brain’s familiarity with different people and expand your point of view.
• It’s natural to focus on how people are different from you, but try to consciously identify what qualities and goals you might have in common.
• When you encounter examples of unambiguous bias, speak out against them. Why? Because that helps create and reinforce a standard for yourself and the people around you, in addition to providing some help to those who are the targets of explicit and implicit prejudice.

Those are steps you can take right now, without waiting for the world to change..."

Books as Mirrors

On the Importance of Mirrors

"... the curriculum is a structure that ideally provides “windows out into the experiences of others, as well as mirrors of the student’s own reality.” In other words, schools should be spaces where kids explore the unfamiliar, but also see their own lived experiences validated and valued. For students whose racial, cultural, linguistic, or economic backgrounds differ significantly from that of the mainstream, the “mirrors” part of the metaphor can be particularly powerful..." Gregory Michie

Publishing Statistics on Children's Books about People of Color and First/Native Nations and by People of Color and First/Native Nations Authors and Illustrators

CCBC's Choices 2016 List
CCBC Choices is the annual best-of-the-year list of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. This is a listing of titles that have been chosen for CCBC Choices 2016. The final CCBC Choices 2016 publication will include additional books (one or two might be removed) and include annotations and recommended ages for all of the books selected for final inclusion, as well as an author/title/subject index, and a commentary on the publishing year. The CCBC Choices 2016 booklet will be available at the CCBC after March 5, 2016. 

Cooperative Children's Book Center
CCBC's history statement:
In 1985 the Cooperative Children's Book Center began to document the numbers of books we received each year that were written and/or illustrated by African Americans. Then CCBC Director Ginny Moore Kruse was serving as a member of the Coretta Scott King Award Committee that year, and we were appalled to learn that, of the approximately 2,500 trade books that were published in 1985, only 18 were created by African Americans, and thus eligible for the Coretta Scott King Award.

As a statewide book examination center serving Wisconsin, the CCBC receives the majority of new U.S. trade books published for children and teens each year. In the early years of gathering these statistics, we used the CCBC's collections and worked in conjunction with the Coretta Scott King Award Task Force of the American Library Association, to document the number of books by and about African Americans published annually.
Starting in 1994 we began also keeping track of the numbers of books by Asian/Pacific and Asian/Pacific American, First/Native Nation and Latino book creators as well. We also began documenting not only the number of books created by people of color and First/Native Nations authors and illustrators, but the number of books about people of color and First/Native Nations, including the many titles that have been created by white authors and/or illustrators.

What I Said When My White Friend Asked for My Black Opinion on White Privilege by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Read the article here: What I Said When My White Friend Asked for My Black Opinion on White Privilege by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Lori Lakin Hutcherson is a Los Angeles native, Harvard graduate, former film studio executive, film and television writer/producer, and founder/editor-in-chief of the award-winning website Good Black News. She is also a wife, mother, vegetarian, crossword puzzle enthusiast, nerd, and avid music lover.



On Being

Reading While White

RWW's Mission Statement:

We are White librarians organizing to confront racism in the field of children’s and young adult literature.  We are allies in the ongoing struggle for authenticity and visibility in books; for opportunities for people of color and First/Native Nations people in all aspects of the children’s and young adult book world; and for accountability among publishers, book creators, reviewers, librarians, teachers, and others.  We are learning, and hold ourselves responsible for understanding how our whiteness impacts our perspectives and our behavior.

We know that we lack the expertise that non-white have on marginalized racial experiences.  We resolve to listen and learn from people of color and First/Native Nations people willing to speak about those experiences.  We resolve to examine our own White racial experiences without expecting people of color and First/Native Nations people to educate us. As White people, we have the responsibility to change the balance of White privilege.

Reading While White

Black Lives Matter Booklists and Resources

Teens are naturally curious about current events and their roles as emerging citizens. Including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry titles, this list offers a great starting point for discussions of race, justice, and privilege.

HCL List

Whether you're a parent, a student, a community organizer or a concerned neighbor, this Resource Series offers books, articles and videos to prompt discussion and action. This is a blog resource from the Oakland (California) Public Library.

Listen, Learn, Participate: A #BlackLivesMatter Resource Series

Black Lives Matter: Resource/Reading List Master Post

Basically, a list of ‘required readings’ to become acquainted not just with the movement, but with said movement’s philosophical, intellectual, and scholarly/academic underpinnings and foundations. And the results, yielded by the kind individuals in that group, were quite helpful. I’ve decided to compile the results here, in one single source, so as to create a better and wider access of information. This list will be updated as I come across more resource guides and the like. 
- Malcolm Teller/Malcolm Teller's Writing Space