Are you looking for some helpful anti-racism resources?
In some ways, this Pandemic time has been helpful to those of us who have been looking to learn about race and anti-racism.
For many people there has been a lot more time and so opportunity to be reading more, to be discovering new writers and speakers, to engage in more conversations with people as well as attend webinars on helpful topics. There has also been a lot more time for people who are providing the content to be writing and filming and presenting.
Just this week i was directed to an African American man, Anthony ONeal and a series of videos he made about some conversations he had with a group of 5 white people. i have only watched the first two [out of six i think, watched them yesterday and will watch the rest today] but they were really interesting and i think helpful for white people who are seeking to learn. i think it is one long conversation broken into six parts and the first episode is simply their four-word response to the statement Black Lives Matter and the conversation that follows.
Emmanuel Acho
Someone i discovered early on in Lockdown was Emmanuel Acho and his series called ‘Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man’. To be honest, i have not found the conversations to be all that uncomfortable but then i am viewing them as someone who has been leaning in to this area for the last ten years or so. For someone early on in the journey they might well come across as challenging. But his demeanour and posture is so inviting that even if you find the topics challenging, they just feel so inviting which a lot of anti-racism work sometimes does not.
In each of the conversations he invited different guests to join him and then spoke about a theme related to them. The conversation where he asked the most uncomfortable questions was probably this one with a number of police officers, which was definitely one of my favourites. Emmanuel did not let them off the hook.
If you have been trying to walk friends or family through some anti-racism this series is probably a safe-ish one to begin with. And if you have been wanting to engage with people you care about on race stuff and haven’t known where to begin, why not invite some people to watch one or two of these videos and tell you what they think. Or set up a WhatsApp group or Zoom discussion.
For those of us who are aware that there is work needing to be done in terms of anti-racism in ourselves, it is imperative that we remain active.
There are actually so many amazing resources out there and a good place to move to once you have visited these two guys is these five anti-racism videos i posted about a while back. [One of the five actually is Emmanuel Acho but there are some other really helpful resources there.]
You will likely also be aware of the 50 Ideas for white people videos i am currently working on. 30 of them have been done so far and you can find the start to this series on my blog with links to the videos, or you can jump to them directly on my YouTube channel or watch them as they are released on my Instagram TV channel.
Before you go to any of these actually, a really good place to start might be this incredible TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – my favourite live author – who invites you to consider The Danger of a Single Story. This is another way to invite people you care about into the conversation.
Local is Lekker
If you’re in South Africa, there are so many people you can follow and connect with to learn from or invite to come and help your organisation, school, business or church to start doing the work.
Three that come to mind are:
Lovelyn Nwadeyi who has been doing the work for a number of years. Challenging and inspirational when following on social media she also heads up a company, L & N Advisors that is doing this work.
Asanda Saule Ngoasheng who i discovered via the This Dialogue Thing group that she is an admin of on Facebook. That group has been a great source of learning for me. You can see Asanda as a Political Analyst, Diversity Trainer or Academic Coach and much more.
Hani Du Toit is another woman who i have been fortunate to learn a lot from. She is also to be found in a number of different spaces as a Leadership and Communications Expert. With Hani a key word always seems to be ‘co-creating’ and she has a very inclusive approach that holds each individual to account for the work they need to be doing.
The bottom line is this – if you are someone who recognises the need to be working on your anti-racism and then looking at your community and the systems and structures around you that might need dismantling or challenging, there is more than enough out there. i hope that these few examples will be useful for you, not only for the work that needs to be done in you, but also as a way of inviting others to do this work with you!
An extra resource that i was recently turned on to was this helpful article looking at AI and Anti-Racism titled, ‘Building Inclusive AI: Strategies for Training Against Racism’ which is super interesting as people move more and more towards AI in different fields. Worth a read. [Thanks to Amelia and the students at Students for Research!]
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