Anti-Racism Resources
This list, collated by the Office of Student Leadership & Engagement, provides selected resources including articles, videos, podcasts, books, and guides about histories of racism and oppression primarily in the United States. These resources are meant to enhance opportunities for individuals and groups to provide further enrichment and education on anti-racism.
Anti-racism work requires sustained, proactive education and engagement as well as systemic, intentional efforts at micro- and macro-levels. We encourage you to use this specific resource in tandem with other resources available across NYU and other personal and professional networks.
Note: This list is not exhaustive and will be updated periodically. * The most recently added resources are marked with an asterisk.
Get Educated
- An Essential Reading Guide for Fighting Racism
- * Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta
- VIDEO: Systemic Racism Explained
- VIDEO: Angela Davis on Violence in The Revolution
- * VIDEO: We Need to Talk about Anti-Asian Hate
- * VIDEO: How Data Enlighten Our Understanding of Racial Bias
- GUIDE: Become a Better Ally: Anti-Racist Resource Guide
- TOOLKIT: New Era of Public Safety: An Advocacy Toolkit for Fair, Safe, and Effective Community Policing
- * TOOLKIT: Stop Asian Hate (NYC)
- * TRAINING: Bystander Intervention Training (Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Chicago)
Get Involved
- 10 Black-Owned Online Bookstores to Support While at Home
- 10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship
- 26 Ways to Be In the Struggle Beyond the Streets
- *40 Asian American Owned Businesses You Can Support Right Now
- *68 Ways to Donate in Support of Asian-American Communities
- 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
- * Anti-Asian Violence Resources
- * Stop AAPI Hate
Get Support
Articles
- The 1619 Project (all the articles) | The New York Times Magazine
- The Combahee River Collective Statement
- Elijah Anderson, “The White Space”
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations”
- Ibram X. Kendi, “A History of Race and Racism in America, in 24 Chapters”
- Bryan Stevenson, “On the Frustration Behind the George Floyd Protests”
Books
- * Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
- Caught by Marie Gottschalk
- 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
- Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
- * Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
- Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold
- Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
- Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
- 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
- * The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston*
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- * They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
- 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
Donate and Volunteer
As protests span the nation, there are many ways you can help those affected by donating time and resources. Here are some of them. For more, check out To Stop, Listen, and Act: How You Can Help Protesters and Black Lives Matter Groups from IndieWire.
- Black Visions Collective is “a Black-led, Queer and Trans centering organization whose mission is to organize powerful, connected Black communities and dismantle systems of violence…through building strategic campaigns, investing in Black leadership, and engaging in cultural and narrative organizing.” Donate via the organization’s website here.
- * CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities works to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working-class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City. Donate here.
- * Center for Pan Asian Community Services is a private nonprofit located in Atlanta, Georgia. Their mission is to promote self-sufficiency and equity for immigrants, refugees, and the underprivileged through comprehensive health and social services, capacity building, and advocacy. Donate here.
- The National Bail Out is “a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a community-based movement to support our folks and end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration.” Donate here.
- * Red Canary Song is the only grassroots Chinese massage parlor worker coalition in the U.S. There are over 9000 workplaces like these across the country with no political representation, or access to labor rights or collective organizing. Anti-trafficking NGO’s that claim to speak for migrants in sex trades promote increased policing and immigration control, which harms rather than helps migrant sex workers. Volunteer here.
- * Send Chinatown Love provides an online platform to low-tech, cash-only, Asian-owned small businesses that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Support local merchants by making a donation or purchasing a voucher from them. Donate here.
- * Welcome to Chinatown is a grassroots initiative to support Chinatown businesses and amplify community voices that generates much-needed momentum to preserve one of New York City's most vibrant neighborhoods. Donate here.
Films/Documentaries/TV Shows
- 13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
- American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix
- *Asian Americans - PBS
- Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 — Available to rent
- Blindspotting (Carlos López Estrada) — Hulu with Cinemax or available to rent
- Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu) — Available to rent
- Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix
- Explained: The Racial Wealth Gap — Netflix
- Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) — Available to rent
- I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc) — Available to rent or on Kanopy
- If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu
- Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent for free in June in the U.S.
- King In The Wilderness — HBO
- See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) — Netflix
- Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent
- The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution — Available to rent
- The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Hulu with Cinemax
- Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Jenner Furst) — Netflix
- When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix
- Who Killed Malcolm X? (Rachel Dretzin, Phil Bertelsen) — Netflix
Podcasts
- 1619 (New York Times)
- About Race
- Code Switch (NPR)
- Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
- Misogyny Against Asian Women - The TryPod Ep. 102
- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
- Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
- Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
- Seeing White
Social Media Accounts
- Antiracism Center: Twitter
- Audre Lorde Project: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
- Black Women’s Blueprint: Twitter | Facebook
- Color Of Change: Twitter | Facebook
- Colorlines: Twitter | Facebook
- The Conscious Kid: Twitter | Facebook
- Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Twitter | Facebook
- Families Belong Together: Twitter | Facebook
- The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights: Twitter | Facebook
- MPowerChange: Twitter | Facebook
- Muslim Girl: Twitter | Facebook
- NAACP: Twitter | Facebook
- National Domestic Workers Alliance: Twitter | Facebook
- RAICES: Twitter | Facebook
- Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ): Twitter | Facebook
- SisterSong: Twitter | Facebook
- United We Dream: Twitter | Facebook