White People Need to Stop Snickering at Black Names by Steven M. Singer

"...Make no mistake. This is racist behavior. We are emphasizing the otherness of an entire group of people to put ourselves over and above them.

It’s bigoted, discriminatory, prejudicial and just plain dumb.

What’s wrong with black names anyway? What about them is so unacceptable?

We act as if only European and Anglicized names are reasonable. But I don’t have to go far down my rosters to find white kids with names like Braelyn, Declyn, Jaydon, Jaxon, Gunner or Hunter. I’ve never heard white folks yucking it up over those names..."

Read the entire essay here:

White People Need to Stop Snickering at Black Names

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

Why Talk About Whiteness?

Why Talk About Whiteness?

Toolkit for Why Talk About Whiteness

Don’t take it personally—it’s not about you! 

White people have come to expect a level of racial comfort. When that expectation is met with racial stress, DiAngelo explains the result can be White Fragility: “White Fragility is a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence and leaving the stress-inducing situation. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium.”

No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning by Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom

No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning 

by Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom

352 pages, Simon & Schuster, 2004

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The racial gap in academic performance between whites and Asians, on the one hand, and Latinos and blacks, on the other hand, is America's most urgent educational problem. It is also the central civil rights issue of our time, say Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom. Unequal skills and knowledge are the main sources of ongoing racial inequality, and racial inequality is America's great unfinished business. 
A wide and tragic gap in learning is evident in affluent suburbs as well as inner cities. But great schools are scattered across the country, as described in inspiring detail by the Thernstroms. These schools are putting even the most highly disadvantaged children on the American ladder of economic opportunity. 
There are no good excuses for the perpetuation of long-standing inequalities, the Thernstroms argue eloquently. The problem can be solved, but conventional strategies will not work. Fundamental educational reform is needed. Carefully researched, accessibly written, and powerfully persuasive, this book offers both a close analysis of the current landscape and a blueprint for essential and overdue change.

Look inside.
Must Schools Fail? A review from the New York Review of Books here.
Comments and Reviews here.

When Whites Just Don't Get It OP-ED Series by Nicholas Kristof, New York Times

Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist?

When Whites Just Don't Get It, Part 2

When Whites Just Don't Get It, Part 3

When Whites Just Don't Get It, Part 4

When Whites Just Don't Get It, Part 5

When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 6 

"...So if we’re going to address systemic disadvantage of black children, we have to broaden the conversation to unequal education. There’s a lot of loose talk among whites about black boys making bad decisions, but we fail these kids before they fail us. That’s unconscionable when increasingly we have robust evidence about the kinds of initiatives (like home visitation, prekindergarten and “career academies”) that reduce disparities...

New York Times, A Conversation on Race 

A series of short films about identity in America.

The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism by Debra Van Ausdale, Joe R. Feagin

The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism 

by Debra Van Ausdale and Joe R. Feagin

•  240 pages Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (December 11, 2001)
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Writers since Piaget have questioned when and how children assimilate racist attitudes-or simply become aware of racial differences. This remarkable book offers stirring evidence that the answers may be more surprising than we ever imagined. The rich accounts of children's behavior around race are drawn from Van Ausdale's ethnographies, conducted in several multi-ethnic day-care centers. When she persistently divested herself of any authoritative role, children as young as 3 years gradually revealed to her a surprising array of racial attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors--most of which they normally withhold from parents and adult companions. The careful ethnographic analysis, conducted over many months, lead the authors to question many of our long-held assumptions about the nature of race and racial learning in American society.

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• Read inside here.

White Privilege

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh

Teaching Tolerance: On Racism and White Privilege

Tim Wise on Racism

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (Download and Read)

4 Ways to Push Back Against Your Privilege by Mia McKenzie

White Debt - Reckoning with what is owed — and what can never be repaid — for racial privilege. By EULA BISS

Some Aspects and Assumptions of White Culture in the United States by Judith H. Katz

Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences That Make a Difference by Howard C. Stevenson

Promoting Racial Literacy in Schools: Differences That Make a Difference 

by Howard C. Stevenson 

240 pages Publisher: Teachers College Press (December 20, 2013)

Based on extensive research, this provocative volume explores how schools are places where racial conflicts often remain hidden at the expense of a healthy school climate and the well-being of students of color. Most schools fail to act on racial micro-aggressions because the stress of negotiating such conflicts is extremely high due to fears of incompetence, public exposure, and accusation. Instead of facing these conflicts head on, schools perpetuate a set of avoidance or coping strategies. The author of this much-needed book uncovers how racial stress undermines student achievement. Students, educators, and social service support staff will find workable strategies to improve their racial literacy skills to read, recast, and resolve racially stressful encounters when they happen.
Book Features:
* A model that applies culturally relevant behavioral stress management strategies to problem-solve racial stress in schools.
* Examples demonstrating workable solutions relevant within predominantly White schools for students, parents, teachers, and administrators.
* Measurable outcomes and strategies for developing racial literacy skills that can be integrated into the K-12 curriculum and teacher professional development.
Teaching and leadership skills that will create a more tolerant and supportive school environment for all students.

See inside here.

Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice: 15 Stories by Eddie Moore (Editor), Marguerite W. Penick-Parks (Editor), Ali Michael (Editor), Paul C. Gorski (Foreword)

Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice: 15 Stories

 206 pages Publisher: Stylus Publishing, (March 6 2015)

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While we are all familiar with the lives of prominent Black civil rights leaders, few of us have a sense of what is entailed in developing a White anti-racist identity. Few of us can name the White activists who joined the struggle against discrimination, let alone understand the complexities, stresses and contradictions of doing this work while benefiting from the privileges they enjoyed as Whites. 

This book fills that gap by vividly presenting – in their own words – the personal stories, experiences and reflections of fifteen prominent White anti-racists. They recount the circumstances that led them to undertake this work, describe key moments and insights along their journeys, and frankly admit their continuing lapses and mistakes. They make it clear that confronting oppression (including their own prejudices) – whether about race, sexual orientation, ability or other differences – is a lifelong process of learning. 

The chapters in this book are full of inspirational and lesson-rich stories about the expanding awareness of White social justice advocates and activists who grappled with their White privilege and their early socialization and decided to work against structural injustice and personal prejudice. The authors are also self-critical, questioning their motivations and commitments, and acknowledging that – as Whites and possessors of other privileged identities – they continue to benefit from White privilege even as they work against it.

This is an eye-opening book for anyone who wants to understand what it means to be White and the reality of what is involved in becoming a White anti-racist and social justice advocate; is interested in the paths taken by those who have gone before; and wants to engage reflectively and critically in this difficult and important work.

Look inside here.

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum

 Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: 

And Other Conversations About Race 

294 pages Publisher: Basic Books; Revised edition (January 17, 2003) $16.95

Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see black youth seated together in the cafeteria. Of course, it's not just the black kids sitting together-the white, Latino, Asian Pacific, and, in some regions, American Indian youth are clustered in their own groups, too. The same phenomenon can be observed in college dining halls, faculty lounges, and corporate cafeterias. What is going on here? Is this self-segregation a problem we should try to fix, or a coping strategy we should support? How can we get past our reluctance to talk about racial issues to even discuss it? And what about all the other questions we and our children have about race? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, asserts that we do not know how to talk about our racial differences: Whites are afraid of using the wrong words and being perceived as "racist" while parents of color are afraid of exposing their children to painful racial realities too soon. Using real-life examples and the latest research, Tatum presents strong evidence that straight talk about our racial identities-whatever they may be-is essential if we are serious about facilitating communication across racial and ethnic divides. We have waited far too long to begin our conversations about race. This remarkable book, infused with great wisdom and humanity, has already helped hundreds of thousands of readers figure out where to start.

            Read an Interview with Beverly Daniel Tatum here.

Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement among African-American Students by Claude Steele, Theresa Perry and Asa Hilliard

        Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High 

Achievement among African-American Students

            192 pages Publisher: Beacon Press (February 2, 2004) $16.00   

Young, Gifted, and Black is a unique joint effort by three leading African-American scholars to radically reframe the debates swirling around the achievement of African-American students in school.
In three separate but allied essays, Theresa Perry, Claude Steele, and Asa Hilliard place students' social identity as African-Americans at the very center of the discussion. They all argue that the unique social and cultural position Black students occupy, in a society which often devalues and stereotypes African American identity, fundamentally shapes students' experience of school and sets up unique obstacles. And they all argue that a proper understanding of the forces at work can lead to practical, powerful methods for promoting high achievement at all levels.
Theresa Perry argues that African-American students face dilemmas, founded in the experience of race and ethnicity in America, that make the task of achievement distinctive and difficult. (For instance: "How do I commit myself to achieve, to work hard over time in school, if I cannot predict when or under what circumstances this hard work will be acknowledged and recognized?") She uncovers a rich and powerful African- American philosophy of education, historically forged against such obstacles and capable of addressing them, by reading African-American narratives from Frederick Douglass to Maya Angelou. She carefully critiques the most popular theoretical explanations for group differences in achievement. And she lays out how educators today-in a post-civil rights era-can draw on theory and on the historical power of the African-American philosophy and tradition of education to reorganize the school experience of African-American students. 
Claude Steele reports stunningly clear empirical psychological evidence that when Black students believe they are being judged as members of a stereotyped group rather than as individuals, they do worse on tests. He finds the mechanism, which he calls "stereotype threat," to be a quite general one, affecting women's performance in mathematics, for instance, where stereotypes about gender operate. He analyzes the subtle psychology of stereotype threat and reflects on the broad implications of his research for education, suggesting techniques-based again on evidence from controlled psychological experiments - that teachers and mentors and schools can use to counter stereotype threat's powerful effect. 
Asa Hilliard's ends essay, against a variety of false theories and misguided views of African American achievement, and focuses on actual schools and programs and teachers around the country that allow African-American students achieve at high levels, describing what they are like and what makes them work. 
Young, Gifted, and Black will change the way we think and talk about African American student achievement and will be necessary reading on this topic for years to come.

          Preview here.

Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools by Glenn Singleton

 Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for 

Achieving Equity in Schools 

312 pages Publisher: Corwin; Second Edition (October 21, 2014) $36.95

Create a system wide plan for transforming the district office, schools, and classrooms into places that truly support ALL students achieving their highest levels!

This updated edition of the bestseller continues to explain the need for candid, courageous conversations about race so that educators may understand why achievement inequality persists and learn how they can develop a curriculum that promotes true educational equity and excellence.

·    Revised Courageous Conversation Compass

·    Racial autobiographies

·    Case study on St. Paul Public Schools, which has stayed on track with the Courageous Conversation protocol and framework

·    Links to video segments of the author describing the work

·    Activities and checklists for school and district leaders

·    Action and implementation steps

Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom by Lisa Delpit

                Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom 

223 pages Publisher: The New Press; 1 edition (August 1, 2006) $17.95

Winner of an American Educational Studies Association Critics’ Choice Award and Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Book Award, and voted one of Teacher Magazine’s “great books,” Other People’s Children has sold over 150,000 copies since its original hardcover publication. This anniversary paperback edition features a new introduction by Delpit as well as new framing essays by Herbert Kohl and Charles Payne.
In a radical analysis of contemporary classrooms, MacArthur Award–winning author Lisa Delpit develops ideas about ways teachers can be better “cultural transmitters” in the classroom, where prejudice, stereotypes, and cultural assumptions breed ineffective education. Delpit suggests that many academic problems attributed to children of color are actually the result of miscommunication, as primarily white teachers and “other people’s children” struggle with the imbalance of power and the dynamics plaguing our system.A new classic among educators, Other People’s Children is a must-read for teachers, administrators, and parents striving to improve the quality of America’s education system.

          

See inside here.