I’ve Got Work To Do
by Sami Lea Konczewski (with support from Kyle Morgan)
I have nothing to say that isn’t any more eloquent, profound, or appropriate than what others are saying. I want to say I’m affected, but the truth is that in many ways I know that I’m not. My sadness does not even approach the pain that the victims of racism and persecution in our country may feel on a daily basis. I, like many others, am considering what to do and scared of doing or saying the wrong thing. But I understand that the worst thing to do is sit back and watch, because that is doing nothing. Like many of those around me, I am listening, learning, and supporting. I am doing so with my eyes, my wallet, my voice, my fingers, my vote, and my prayers.
I don’t know if I’m the right author for a blog on this subject. As a white woman, teacher, manager, influencer in the whitewashed wellness industry, I am a glaring part of this systemic problem. Consider the idea that we are all the right authors. By no means are we, or anyone, an authority, but a participant in both dialogue and action. I own the responsibility to do the work, the research, and not simply support change, but to be a part of the change. But enough about me, because this is not about me.
In an effort to educate myself I reached out and searched beyond my normal circle, visiting new websites, engaging with Black voices, and speaking with trusted allies – through these actions I compiled a non-exhaustive list of ways to participate, learn, engage, support, and take action. I felt this may be useful to other people and felt inclined to share.
Change is cultivated through a process of overcoming the resistance. This generation is called to bring light to the unknown and to deepen our awareness of a system that has suppressed the voices of so many. Now is the time to re-examine the power of the privileged and to atone to the members of the oppressed communities. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us that we are bound together in unity by the simple notion of humanity, and furthermore, "the injustice of one is the injustice of us all." May our collaboration mobilize one voice, a voice of an embodied spirit that cultivates only love, truth, and peace.
—Kyle Morgan, Student Care Manager
FOLLOW
LISTEN
Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
PARTICIPATE
Diversity and Inclusion 101 Course with Chrissy King
Anti-Racism for Wellness Professionals: How to Show up Better with Chrissy King
The Great Unlearn Course with Rachel Cargle
Take a course with @ckyourprivilege
Trauma of Racism with Dr. Gentry through Udemy’s AZ Trauma Institute
BOOKS TO READ
Love and Rage by Lama Rod Owens
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
The Color of Compromise by Jamar Tisby
Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga
When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD
Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America’
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Black Lives, Black Words: 32 Short Plays, edited by Reginald Edmund
Crazy like us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters
A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King Jr.
Consider purchasing through Frugal Books, a black-owned bookstore in Roxbury
ARTICLES TO READ
America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer | Atlantic (May 8, 2020)
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement (Mentoring a New Generation of Activists
”My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas | NYT Mag (June 22, 2011)
The 1619 Project (all the articles) | The New York Times Magazine
The Combahee River Collective Statement
“The Intersectionality Wars” by Jane Coaston | Vox (May 28, 2019)
Tips for Creating Effective White Caucus Groups developed by Craig Elliott PhD
”White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Knapsack Peggy McIntosh
“Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020)
“Black Lives Matter Otherwise All Lives Do Not Matter” African Journal of Criminology & Justice Studies, by B. Agozine (2018)
Gates, H. L. (2016). Explore history: The African American migration story. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross [Web Series]. PBS Learning Media. Available from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/on-african-american-migrations/
Golonka Carmichael, N. (2012). Turning towards multicultural diversity competence in dance/movement therapy. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 34(2), 99-113. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxyles.flo.org/10.1007/s10465-012-9140-z
Hitchcock, J. & Flint, C. (2015). Decentering Whiteness. Roselle, NJ: Center for the Study of White American Culture, Inc.
“Media Effects and Marginalized Ideas: Relationships Among Media Consumption and Support for Black Lives Matter. International journal of communication by Kilgo, D., & Mourao, R. R. (2019) .https://link-gale-com.ezproxyles.flo.org/apps/doc/A610367756/LitRC?u=les_main&sid=LitRC&xid=30f48954
Pedersen, P. B., & Pope, M. (2010). Inclusive cultural empathy for successful global leadership. American Psychologist, 65(8), 841. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.65.8.841
Ponterotto, J. G. (2006). Understanding prejudice and racism. In J. G. Ponterotto, S. O. Utsey, P. B. Pedersen (Eds.) Preventing Prejudice: A Guide for Counselors, Educators, and Parents, 2nd ed. (pp. 3-25). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Powell, J., & Kelly, A. (2017). Accomplices in the academy in the age of Black Lives Matter. Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, 6(2), 3. http://dx.doi.org/10.31274/jctp-180810-73
Spencer, L. G., & Androne, H. (2019). Intersectionality in the Classroom: Black Lives Matter as a Consummate Example. Journal of Pan African Studies, 12(9), 77.
WHITE, H. E. (2019). Making Black Lives Matter: Properly Valuing the Rights of the Marginalized in Constitutional Torts. Yale Law Journal, 128(6), 1742–1791.
Young, I. M. (1990). Five faces of oppression. In I. M. Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (pp. 39-65). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
FOR KIDS & FAMILIES
PBS’s Teaching Your Child About Black History Month
Your Kids Aren't Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup from Pretty Good
Follow @theconsciouskid
Reading List: Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners
Follow @akidsbookabout
WATCH
13th on Netflix
"How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion" | Peggy McIntosh at TEDxTimberlaneSchools (18:26)
Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, Carmelo, Lebron’s 2016 ESPY Speech (3:53)
American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix
Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975
Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu)
Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler)
I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc)
If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu
Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton)
King In The Wilderness — HBO
See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) — Netflix
Selma (Ava DuVernay)
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Hulu with Cinemax
When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
Two Sides (William King) — YouTube
“Revelations” by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — YouTube
DONATE
Black Lives Matter
George Floyd Memorial Fund
Minnesota Freedom Fund
Black Visions Collective
Reclaim the Block
Campaign Zero
Grassroots Law Project
National Bail Fund Network
Unicorn Riot
I Run with Maud
Justice for Breonna Taylor Petition & Fundraiser
National Bail Out Fund: Free Black Mamas
Black Futures Lab
Until Freedom
ORGANIZATIONS
Antiracism Center: Twitter
Audre Lorde Project: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Black Women’s Blueprint: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Color Of Change: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Colorlines: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Families Belong Together: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
MPowerChange: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Muslim Girl: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
NAACP: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
National Domestic Workers Alliance: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
RAICES: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
SisterSong: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
United We Dream: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The Loveland Foundation Instagram
BLACK OWNED AREA RESTAURANTS
Allston
Rock City Pizza
Dorchester
50Kitchen
Auntie Vie’s Bakery Cafe
Bon Appetit
Bred Gourmet
Cesaria
Clarke’s Cakes & Cookies
Down Home Delivery
Family Affair Restaurant & Catering
Irie Jamaican Style Restaurant
Island Style Jamaican Restaurant
JP Roti Shop
Levi’s Restaurant and Lounge
M & M BBQ
Murl’s Kitchen
Natif Natal Restaurant
Next Step Soul Food Café
Oasis Café
Oasis Vegan Veggie Parlor
One Family Diner
Only One Jamaican Restaurant
Ripple Cafe
Singh’s Roti Shop
Taste of Eden
Vaughan Fish & Chips
Wingz & Tingz
Yelu’s
Downtown
Savvor Restaurant & Lounge
East Boston
Tawakal Halal Café
Hyde Park
D Coal Pot
Farah’s Cafe Restaurant
Wingz & Tingz
Zaz Restaurant
Jamaica Plain
Blue Nile Restaurant
Exodus Bagels
Jamaica Mi Hungry
Mattapan
Au Beurre Chaud Bakery
Blue Mountain Jamaican Restaurant
Cafe Juice Up
Golden Krust
Le Foyer Bakery
Pit Stop Barbecue
Prestige Cuisine
Shea Butter Smoothies
Roslindale
Obosá
R&S Jamaican Restaurant
Roxbury
Ashur Restaurant
Dayib Cafe
District 7 Tavern
Fasika Cafe
Fort Hill Bar + Grill
Ideals Sub Shop
Maxine’s on St. James
Nos Casa Café
Silver Slipper
Soleil
Suya Joint
Top Mix
South End
Darryl’s Corner Bar + Kitchen
Lucy Ethiopian Cafe
MIDA
Slades Bar + Grill
Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club
Multiple locations
Ali’s Roti
Flames Caribbean Restaurant
Fresh Food Generation
P&R Jamaican Restaurant
Larry J’s BBQ
Greater Boston
Brother’s Kafe Kreyol (Everett)
Highland Cuisine (Somerville
)Infused Kreyol (Malden)
Karibu (Waltham)
Neighborhood Kitchen (Medford)
Petsi Pies (Somerville)
Pikliz International Kitchen (Somerville)
Rhythm N’ Wraps (Brookline)
Sunrise Cuisine (Somerville)
The Coast Café (Cambridge)
Tipping Cow Ice Cream (Somerville)
DIVERSIFY
The products you buy
The place you worship
The circle of friends you have
The leaders and teachers you learn from
Your beauty standards
The toys you buy for your children
The businesses you patronize
The music you listen to
The people you and your employer hire
Who you vote for
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
Jenna Arnold’s resources (books and people to follow)
Rachel Ricketts’ anti-racism resources
Resources for White People to Learn and Talk About Race and Racism
Save the Tears: White Woman’s Guide by Tatiana Mac
Showing Up For Racial Justice’s educational toolkits
“Why is this happening?” — an introduction to police brutality from 100 Year Hoodie
Zinn Education Project’s teaching materials
This list is intended to be dynamic. Please respond with more and I will ensure that your names are added. If you feel something is listed is inappropriate, please engage in compassionate dialogue versus judgement.
