Resources

Anti-Racism Self-Education Resources and Action Suggestions

COFEM Secretariat / June 16, 2020

In our statement of solidarity with Black women, we committed to ensuring that our words translate to actions so that within our network, and in all our advocacy work, we are supporting the essential truth that #BlackLivesMatter. COFEM members have put together an introductory list of anti-racism resources for on-going learning, educators to follow and support, virtual trainings, workplace guidance, mental health resources, and donation links. To begin, here are actions COFEM is taking:

Actions COFEM is taking as a network 

  • Providing learning opportunities for white and non-Black WOC members around race, feminism and intersectionality. 
  • Supporting opportunities for COFEM members who are Black and non-Black WOC to share their experiences in a private, dedicated forum within COFEM. 
  • Ensuring that planning for Learning Circles integrate attention to race, intersectionality, and feminism. 
  • Producing a learning brief on these topics and as well as their relationship to structural violence against women and girls. 
  • Continuing  to prioritize hiring COFEM team members with diverse backgrounds, voices and experiences and rotating in new members of the Coordinating Committee to reflect this diversity as well. 

Resources for ongoing learning and support

11 Questions to Ask Yourself (From Black Lives Matter)

  1. Who taught you about race and culture?
  2. What can you do to support People of Color in your community?
  3. What are you committed to doing outside of social media to end racial discrimination and systematic oppression?
  4. How do you behave when you are confronted by racist behavior?
  5. What do you want to learn more about?
  6. What information could you teach people?
  7. In what ways have you ignored racist behavior in the past?
  8. Why is it important for everyone to work towards ending injustice?
  9. How can you use anti-racist knowledge to change and progress classroom culture?
  10. Do you owe anyone an apology?
  11. How do you handle conflict? 

Anti-Racism Self-Education Resources:

Accountability for silence in the face of senseless Black death: 

  • Rachel Cargle has developed a template found here, this is a “a free template you may find helpful in addressing the need for accountability from the leaders in the places you work and could also be applied to the leaders of the vendors where you spend your money.”
  • Fanta Traore has developed a template found here, this is a “template designed to ease the burden for Black colleagues in the workforce in communicating with their respective institutions if they have not taken a stance on issues of police brutality and racism given recent events.”

Virtual Training: In collaboration with diversity, equity and inclusion consultant Cici Battle, Population Works Africa will be hosting a month long e-course intended to help allies identify their personal path towards radical anti-racism everyday. Their first cohort will begin July 1st, kicking off with a Zoom discussion with a very special guest. Space is limited, join the wait list here (information will be sent out for registration this Monday, June 8th.)

Workplace Guidance:

Articles on Racism in the Humanitarian Sector:

Resource pack: Educate yourself on Racism and Black Lives Matters
Dismantling White Supremacy in the Humanitarian/Development Sector: Resources

South Asian Resources: 

How to talk to your Parents/Family

  • How to Talk to South Asian Parents about Systemic Racism and Our Privilege 
  • Brief guide from South Asian Sexual and Mental Health Alliance provides resources on how to hold these dialogues and sustain them 
  • Racism and what can be done? Explained in Gujarati
  • South Asians committed to ending state violence against Black people must also work to undo anti-Blackness within
  • For courageous conversations with family, use this guide with exercises developed by the Queer South Asian National Network (link).

Ensure that South Asian solidarity struggles also include confronting casteism, Hindutva, and Islamophobia.

  • Learn more from South Asian groups here and read about caste abolition from Equality Labs here
  • Communities advocated for the passage of a city council resolution in St. Paul against the human rights violations in India (link)

Australia Resources 

Anti-Racism Resources from Australia and Beyond

Educate, donate, advocate – a beginner’s guide to anti-racism and supporting black, indigenous and people of colour

Anti-Racism Educators to Follow and Support: 

These are just a few women who are active on Instagram. Find a larger list of educators to follow on Instagram and Twitter here, and support them financially for their work if you are able. 

Virtual Mental Health Resources for Black Women:

Practice self-care and community care, and build your daily plan for transformative solidarity. Here’s an approach that might be useful: it’s a framework developed by Deepa Iyer to help us figure out our roles in times of crisis through a mapping exercise. You can find the map, the descriptions of roles, and a reflection guide here.

Where to Donate: 

Several of the resources in the Action Suggestions section above include details on organizations and funds to support. Black Lives Matter is a Black women-founded movement with chapters across the USA and Canada whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy, build local power to intervene on violence inflicted on Black communities, create space for Black innovation, and center Black joy. 

If you are US-based, learning exactly what racial justice organizations in your city are calling for in terms of mutual-aid and community services that benefit minorities can help you prioritize your donations. If you are buying books, here is a list of Black-owned bookstores to support by state, and you can find virtual bookstores here and here. 

If you are based outside the United States, you can find a list here of organizations working in the field of racial equity on a variety of issues and topics. 

Black Women-Led Organizations and Groups: 

Legal Aid, Training, and Access to Voting:  

  • The Know Your Rights Camp, an organization founded by Colin Kaepernick that provides education and training in black and brown communities, set up a legal fund for Minneapolis protestors.
  • Fair Fight, an organization founded by Stacey Abrams that aims to end voter suppression and equalize voting rights and access for fairer elections.
  • The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which supports racial justice through advocacy, litigation, and education.
  • Communities United Against Police Brutality, which operates a crisis hotline where people can report abuse; offers legal, medical, and psychological resource referrals; and engages in political action against police brutality.
  • Black Visions Collective, a black, trans, and queer-led social justice organization and legal fund based in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
  • No New Jails NYC aims to keep the city from constructing new jails and to instead divert funds that currently go toward the police and incarceration toward housing, ending homelessness, mental health, and other community support systems.

Bail Funds:

Activism, Allyship, Anti-Racism, Intersectionality
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