Many of us have recognized the importance of deepening our understanding of racism and how to fight it. Here are some resources that we found especially helpful. If you have any questions, please email us at communications@cthealth.org.
DEFINING RACISM & ROOTS OF RACISM IN AMERICAN HISTORY
One-pager: Types of Racial Inequity, Race and Social Justice Initiative
Website: 7 Ways We Know Systemic Racism Is Real, Ben & Jerry’s
Video: Systemic Racism Explained, Alex Cequea
Website: The 1619 Project, The New York Times Magazine
The 1619 Project is an interactive project that aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the center of our national narrative. It includes essays on aspects of contemporary American life that have roots in slavery and its aftermath, from mass incarceration to rush-hour traffic and the lack of universal health care in the U.S.
Website: Being Antiracist, National Museum of African American History and Culture
This website includes explanations of the different types of racism and includes many resources including the history of racism, how to talk about racism, and bias. It also offers discussion questions and prompts for reflection.
Infographic: A Day in a Life: How Racism Impacts Families of Color, Living Cities
Video: A Class Divided, Frontline
The day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small, all-white Iowa town, divided her third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and gave them a daring lesson in discrimination. This is the story of that lesson, its lasting impact on the children, and its enduring power 30 years later.
HOUSING
One of the clearest examples of structural racism is housing in the U.S. These two videos explain the ways in which policies led to segregation in where people live and racial wealth gaps.
Video: Race – The Power of an Illusion: How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Created, California Newsreel
Video: Segregated By Design
HEALTH
Video: How Racism Makes Us Sick | TED Talk, David R. Williams
Why does race matter so profoundly for health? David R. Williams developed a scale to measure the impact of discrimination on well-being. In this talk he presents evidence on how racism produces a rigged system and is actually making us sick. He offers hopeful examples of programs across the US that are working to dismantle discrimination.
Powerpoint: The House That Racism Built, David R. Williams
Issue Brief: Advancing Health Equity: Addressing the Role of Structural Racism, National Partnership for Women and Families
Article: Structural Racism is a Public Health Crisis, Dr. Kesha Moore
Structural racism is the underlying condition fueling disparities in COVID-19 outcomes.
Infographic: Creating a clearer path to better health, Connecticut Health Foundation
Everyone wants to lead a healthy and happy life, but there are barriers that make it harder for black and Hispanic people in Connecticut to do so. This infographic explores how one man’s path to addressing his health challenges is more difficult because of systemic issues.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Documentary: 13th, Ava DuVernay
Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay’s examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country’s history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
Article: An Unjust Burden, Vera Institute of Justice
Article: Before the Law, The New Yorker
Kalief Browder was accused of taking a backpack. The courts took the next three years of his life.
Docuseries: Time: The Kalief Browder Story, Jenner Furst, Julia Willoughby Nason, Nick Sandow
WHITE PRIVILEGE
Article: What Is White Privilege, Really?, Cory Collins, Teaching Tolerance
Video: What is privilege?
This is a short video of a teacher using a “race” to demonstrate what it means to live a life of privilege to a group of students.
EDUCATION & INCOME
These articles from Vox include charts and graphics that show the impact that districting has on segregating school zones. The first two articles include a tool you can use to see if your district is drawing borders to reduce or perpetuate racial segregation.
Article: How segregation keeps poor students of color out of whiter, richer nearby districts, Alvin Chang, Vox
Article: We can draw school zones to make classrooms less segregated. This is how well your district does. Alvin Chang, Vox
Article: Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys, Emily Badger, Claire Cain Miller, Adam Pearce And Kevin Quealy, The New York Times
Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families and living in some of the most well-to-do neighborhoods, still earn less in adulthood than white boys with similar backgrounds, according to a sweeping study that traced the lives of millions of children.This article includes interactive graphs following the lives of white and black boys in America to illustrate the study’s findings.
MORE IN DEPTH READING
If you’re looking for some more in depth information, here is an anti-racism reading list with recommendations from Ibram X. Kendi, An Antiracist Reading List