Dismantling Racism Resources

Resources for Dismantling Racism
compiled by the Bellarmine Dismantling Racism Team

The following are a selection of resources that members of the Dismantling Racism Team recommend as a starting point for those interested in understanding and responding to racism, white supremacy, and racial inequities today. We hope they will open the door to or further support you in your journey towards active anti-racism and transformative change.

We includes some church statements and background information on racism, then list organizations, films, books, TedTalks, On Being podcast episodes, and articles from a variety of sources. The book list includes the list we read as a parish community through our book group series, 2016-2019.

Parish Winter Retreat: Stretching towards Anti-Racism: Lament to Conversion
Resources from the Retreat - January 2021
MLK homily from Mickey Townsend
Examen on Racism, Lament, and Conversion by Fr. Joshua Peters
Ch. 2: Renew Lament from Healing Our Broken Humanity: Practices for Revitalizing the Church and Renewing the World by Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill
Ch. 3: Towards a More Adequate Catholic Engagement from Racial Justice and the Catholic Church by Fr. Bryan Massingale
Notice the Rage, Notice the Silence with Resmaa Menakem from On Being with Krista Tippett
Race and Healing: A Body Practice with Resmaa Menakem from On Being with Krista Tippett
Backgrounder on Sr. Thea Bowman

Team Goals (Established January 2020):

Develop deeper relationships/partnership with racially diverse congregations and communities grounded in mutuality and equity.
Create educational avenues for parishioners to engage their own white privilege and implicit biases (personal) and structural forms of racism (systemic).
Increase inclusion and hospitality efforts within Bellarmine, including through the celebration of diversity and multi-culturalism and the breaking down of silos in our work.
Advocate for policy reforms that are anti-racist, especially as tied to issues of criminal justice reform and affordable housing.
Engage the arts and music in creating positive cultural changes in our community and through relationships with other communities.

Church Statements on Race and Racism

Open Wide Our Hearts: An Enduring Call to Love (2018)
Reconciled through Christ: On Reconciliation and Greater Collaboration between Hispanic American Catholics and African American Catholics (2013)
We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight: The Church’s Response to Racism in the Years Following Brothers and Sisters to Us (October 2004)
Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself: U.S. Catholic Bishops Speak against Racism (2001)
Brothers and Sisters to Us: Pastoral Letter on Racism (1979)
On Racial Harmony A Statement by the Administrative Board of the National Catholic Welfare Conference (August 23, 1963)
Selected Quotes from Discrimation and Christian Conscience, a statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops (November 14, 1958)

Backgrounders on Racism
from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Organizations

This list is not intended as a parish endorsement of the organizations listed. Rather it is meant as a resource to direct an individual to start his/her own research and exploration into anti-racism organizations and to get the conversation started. We would love your help in continuing to build this list!

Organizations Doing Anti-Racism Work Nationally
National Urban League
The National Urban League works to provide economic empowerment, educational opportunities and the guarantee of civil rights for the underserved in America.

Southern Poverty Law Center
Fight Hate, Teach Tolerance, Seek Justice, Civil Rights Memorial

Equal Justice Initiative
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

Black Lives Matter
The Black Lives Matter Global Network is a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission is to build local power and to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

NAACP
The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

Organizations Doing Anti-Racism Work Locally
(many national organizations have local chapters as well)

Greater Cincinnati Foundation

https://www.gcfdn.org/Investing-in-Our-Community/All-In-Cincinnati

Greater Cincinnati Foundation believes the greatest change happens when people come together—in partnership, collaboration and generosity. Their role is to align the right players and then coordinate their efforts and contributions to make the biggest impact.
Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) is committed to conversations about racial equity that build connections and move us forward with enhanced insights and shared purpose.

IJPC
(Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center)
https://ijpccincinnati.org/
https://ijpccincinnati.org/race-and-racism-cincinnati/
IJPC works to end the death penalty in Ohio, provides education about human trafficking, advocates for immigrants’ rights, and works toward peace and nonviolence. Explore Race and Racism in Cincinnati through history, law, and resilient communities of color in a new toolkit.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
https://www.freedomcenter.org/
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a museum of conscience, an education center, a convener of dialogue, and a beacon of light for inclusive freedom around the globe.

YWCA
https://www.ywcacincinnati.org/what-we-do/racial-justice/
Advocacy, Economic Empowerment and Advancement, Racial Justice and Inclusion, Recognition and Leadership, Safety, Youth Services

AMOS Project/Amos Organizing Collaborative
https://theamosproject.org/
The AMOS Project/Amos Organizing Collaborative is a network of congregations organizing and mobilizing with the most vulnerable in our city.

Film Recommendations

(Film Links are for Trailers)

Films shown publicly by the Dismantling Racism Team:

13th (2016) - available on Netflix
I Am Not Your Negro (2016) - available for Purchase on YouTube, Prime,and I-Tunes
Selma (2014) - available for Purchase on YouTube, Prime, and I-Tunes

Additional Film Suggestions

Documentaries

Mourning the Creation of Racial Categories (2019) - NKU Series on KET, available on the film’s website
Reconstruction: America after the Civil War (2019) with Henry Louis Gates - series available on PBS
More than a Word (2017) - available on the film’s website
The Lincoln School Story: A Battle for School Integration in Ohio (2017) - available on the film’s website
And Still I Rise: Black America Since MLK (2016), with Henry Louis Gates - series available on PBS
White Like Me with Tim Wise (2013) - available on Kanopy for free through the public library
Slavery by Another Name (2012) - available on PBS and Apple TV
Mirrors of Privilege (2010) - available on the film’s website
Race: The Power of an Illusion (2002) - 3-part documentary from PBS available for purchase on their website
The Color of Fear (1994) - available to purchase on Amazon Prime

Films

Harriet (2019) - available for purchase on YouTube and Prime
Just Mercy (2019) - available for purchase on YouTube, Prime, and I-Tunes
Marshall (2017) - available for purchase on YouTube and Prime
Hidden Figures (2016) - available on Hulu, and for purchase on YouTube, Prime, and I-Tunes
Loving (2016) - available on Hulu, and for purchase on YouTube, Prime, and I-Tunes
Twelve Years a Slave (2013) - available for purchase on YouTube, Prime, and I-Tunes

Book Recommendations

Books read by the Parish as part of the Dismantling Racism Team’s Book Group Series (March 2016 to March 2019)

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson (adapted for young adults)
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (2010)
The New Jim Crow Study Guide and Call to Action by Daniel Hunter
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone (2011)
Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson (2015)
The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Moral Justice Movement by Rev. William Barber II (2016)
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson (2017)
America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (2016)
Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell (2017)
Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by
Andrea J. Ritchie (2017)
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Olua (2018)
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (2017)

Suggestions for Further Reading (organized by topic)

Nonfiction

Books on Theology, Race, & Racism

Racial Justice and the Catholic Church by Bryan N. Massingale (2010)
The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone (2011)
The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Moral Justice Movement by Rev. William Barber II (2016)
America’s Original Sin:Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis (2016)

Autobiography & Biography

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself
by Oldaudah Equiano, edited by Robert J. Allison (1789)
Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth with Olive Gilbert (1850)
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson (1933)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X with Alex Haley (1965)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969)
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: An Informal Autobiography by Lorraine Hansberry, adapted by Robert Nemiroff (1969)
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. By Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by Clayborne Carson (1986)
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (1994)
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama (2004)
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride (2004)
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama (2006)
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson (2015)
Born A Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (2016)
Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by W. Kamau Bell (2017)
Becoming by Michelle Obama (2018)
Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas (2018)
American Like Me: Reflections on Life between Cultures by America Ferrera (2018)
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight (2018)

History of Racism

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet A. Washington (2006)
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (2010)
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (2017)
The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean by Gerald Horne (2018)
Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2019)
The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution by Eric Foner (2019)

Books on Racial Identity and Community

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon, translated by Charles Lam Markmann (1952)
Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (1961)
Race Matters by Cornel West (1993)
Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism by Derrick Bell (1993)
Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s by Michale Omi & Howard Winant (1994)
Killing the Black Body by Dorothy E. Roberts (1997)
Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (First Edition) by Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001)
Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United State by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2003)
Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White by Frank H. Wu (2003)
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America by Melissa Harris-Perry (2011)
Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Creates Race in the Twenty-First Century by Dorthy E. Roberts (2011)
Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life by Barbara and Karen Fields (2012)
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (2016)
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (2017)

Books on Whiteness

White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise (2004)
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson (2016)
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (2018)
Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzel (2019)

The Way Forward to Dismantle Racism and Advance Racial Reconciliation

Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters across the Color Line by Christopher Pramuk (2013)
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon for White America by Michael Eric Dyson (2017)
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Olua (2018)
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (2018)
The Innocence Project, to exonerate the wrongly convicted (189 successful DNA-based exonerations), is the subject of a remarkable new video-documentary series. “The Innocence Files” is now available on Netflix. Preview (0:02:14). Racism is a major subtext in this work. “Through the lens of The Evidence, The Witness and The Prosecution, The Innocence Files shines a powerful light on the untold personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the nonprofit organization the Innocence Project, and organizations within the Innocence Network, have uncovered and worked tirelessly to overturn….” See also: The Innocence Project Wrongful Conviction Reading Guide. This includes the book Blind Injustice by Prosecutor-turned-activist for the innocent and current director of the Ohio Innocence Project, Mark Godsey.

Criminal Justice Reform

Are Prisons Obsolete by Angela Davis (2003)
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (2010)
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson (adapted for young adults) (2014)
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris (2016)
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2016)
Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis (2016)
Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie (2017)
A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes (2017)
I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street by Matt Taibbi (2017)
Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal by Alexandra Natapoff (2018)

Fiction

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (1970)
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)
Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (2009)
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2016)
Small Great Things by Jodi Picault (2016)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2017)

TED Talks & TED-Ed Lessons

Color Blind or Color Brave? (TED Talk) by Mellody Hobson
What It Takes to be Racially Literate (TED Talk) by Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo
The Atlantic Slave Trade: What Too Few Textbooks Told You (TED Talk) by Anthony Hazard
The Breathtaking Courage of Harriet Tubman (TED-Ed Lesson) by Janell Hobson
The Symbols of Systemic Racism--And How to Take Away Their Power (TED Talk) by Paul Rucker
How to Raise a Black Son in America (TED Talk) by Clint Smith
Notes of a Native Son: The World according to James Baldwin (TED-Ed Lesson) by Christina Greer
An Artist's Unflinching Look at Racial Violence (TED Talk) by Sanford Biggers
The Beauty of Human Skin in Every Color (TED Talk) by Angelica Dass
How Racism Makes Us Sick (TED Talk) by David R. Williams
The Trauma of Systematic Racism Is Killing Black Women. A First Step toward Change… (TED Talk) by T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison
How We Can Make Racism a Solvable Problem—and Improve Policing (TED Talk) by Phillip Atiba Goff
My Road Trip through the Whitest Towns in America (TED Talk) by Rich Benjamin
The Pride and Power of Representation in Film (TED Talk) by John Chu

On Being’s Race & Healing Library Podcast

Love in Action with John Lewis
How Can I Say This So We Can Stay in This Car Together? with Claudia Rankine
Where Does It Hurt? With Ruby Sales
The World Is Our Field of Practice with angel Kyodo williams
More Beautiful with Imani Perry
Imagining a New America with Ta-Nahesi Coates
Self-Reflection and Social Evolution with Darnell Moore
Are We Actually Citizens Here? with Annette Gordon-Reed and Titus Kaphar
Community Organizing as a Spiritual Practice with Rami Nashashibi and Lucas Johnson
W.E.B. Du Bois and the American Soul with Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander, and Arnold Rampersad
love is a language / Few practice, but all, or near all speak with Tracy K. Smith
The Freedom of Real Apologies with Layli Long Soldier
Let’s Talk about Whiteness with Eula Biss
The Mind is a Difference-Making Machine with Mahzarin Banaji
Open to the Question of Belonging with john a. Powell
The Heart is the Last Frontier with Isabel Wilkerson
Radical Hope is Our Best Weapon with Junot Diaz
The Spiritual Work of Black Lives Matter with Patrice Cullors + Robert Ross
Notice the Rage, Notice the Silence with Resmaa Menakem

Articles

We All Must Say ‘Black Lives Matter’ by Jamie Manson from National Catholic Reporter (June 2nd, 2020)
How Can Catholics Help Lead the Fight against Racism? by Olga Segura from America: The Jesuit Review (May 29th, 2020)
Editorial: To Fight Racism, Catholics Must Hunger for Justice Like We Do for the Eucharist from America: The Jesuit Review (June 1st, 2020)
The Holy Spirit Is Moving Us to Act against Racism by Fr. James Martin, S.J. from America: The Jesuit Review (June 1st, 2020)
‘The Ink Has Run Dry on Writing Statements.’ Black Catholics Call for Action in Wake of George Floyd’s Killing by Michael J. O’Loughlin from America: The Jesuit Review (June 1st, 2020)
The Assumptions of White Privilege and What We Can Do about It by Fr. Bryan Massingale from National Catholic Reporter (June 1st, 2020)
Catholic Leaders Say Floyd’s Death, Demonstrations a ‘Wake-Up Call’ by Christopher White from Crux (June 1st, 2020)
Editorial: What have you done? No Accounting for Deaths of Floyed, Taylor and Arbery from National Catholic Reporter (May 29th, 2020)
After George Floyd’s Suffocation: A Litany for Oxygen from a Black Jesuit by Patrick St-Jean, SJ from The Jesuit Post (May 29th, 2020)
Killing of George Floyd Exposes Blind Spot on Racism, Catholic Advocates Say by Christopher White from Crux (May 28th, 2020)
What Black Lives Matter Can Teach Catholics about Racial Justice by Olga Segura from America: The Jesuit Review (February 1st, 2019)
America Must Listen to Its Wounds. They Will Tell Us Where to Look for Hope by Rev. William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign from the Guardian (May 30th, 2020)
Breonna Taylor Lived and Died in a Part of the U.S. Where Rights Do Not Matter by Joseph S. Flipper from America: The Jesuit Review (June 4th, 2020)
An Open Letter to My Fellow White Americans by Matt Malone, SJ from America: The Jesuit Review (June 8th, 2020)
An Examen for White Allies by Maddie Murphy from Ignatian Solidarity Network Blog (December 12th, 2018)
An Interview with Bryan Massingale by Regina Munch from Commonweal Magazine (June 5th, 2020)
When Will the US Bishops Address the Evils of Systemic Racism Head-On by Daniel P. Horan from National Catholic Reporter (June 10th, 2020)

Resources for Dismantling Racismcompiled by the Bellarmine Dismantling Racism Team

Organizations

Film Recommendations

Book Recommendations

Resources for Dismantling Racism
compiled by the Bellarmine Dismantling Racism Team