Dear Friend,
Thank you for your responses to my post: I can’t breathe.
In some responses, you asked where to look and where you might start on your journey to some of the STOPS I requested of you. At first, I felt the burden of being asked to educate further about anti-black racism, a common double-bind people of colour find themselves in once this conversation is ventured into across interracial lines. Then I remembered our mutuality and the fact that while I have been living with conscious and unconscious anti-black racism for a lifetime, you may only be venturing into this doorway now. And I want you to stay here and keep taking the journey all the way. My greatest fear right now is that you and I will turn away from the winds of change because it is too hard. The winds are blowing and it is physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually draining. But I am choosing to keep facing the windstorm and I pray you do too. I believe that if we all stay in this, we can walk forward together, one scary step at a time for the long haul.

So here is a follow-up list of places to look and resources to delve into. A quick google scholar or any library database search will pull up research evidence and the debates corresponding to any of the topics. A disclaimer that I am not an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion professional and this is not a comprehensive list. There are many lists going around so please look beyond this to those spaces that can offer even more resources and address other forms of racism. This is an offering based on my lived experience, my learning by association of being and the human development, social change and Global African/Black-Canadian lens with which I view the world. I have read/engaged with some of these and am still working through others. I am still transforming and unlearning my own biases and colonized mentalities too. I will keep adding to this list as I come across more useful links. It’s overwhelming but remember this is a long game that starts with acceptance. Please stay here, in the discomfort, the learning, the focus on a new normal that includes a fair, just and humane society for us all.
Quick Starts: Short but Impactful Videos & Resources
- What Black parents teach their children twitter video
- What is privilege: YouTube video? Notice the final positions
- White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh (downloadable pdf). Please also google other Peggy McIntosh Resources
- Being Black Video by Jane Elliot
- Jane Elliot’s “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” Anti-Racism Exercise | The Oprah Winfrey Show
- Jane Elliott on Her “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise” and Fighting Racism | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
- Brené Brown with Austin Channing Brown on I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness on the Unlocking Us Podcast.
- Fielding colleague, Nobel Peace Laureate and Founder of Martin Luther King Day Celebration in the City of Tacoma Melannie Denise Cunningham speaks on Racial reconciliation & Intercultural Competence
- Harvard’s Implicit Bias Test
- On Being with Krista Tippett: In conversation with Robin DiAngela and Resmaa Menakem (on white fragility and white dominant culture to an embodied antiracist culture)
- Anti-Racist Checklist for Whites. Robin DiAngelo, 2016 (downloadable PDF) and see resource list at: https://robindiangelo.com/resources/
- Teaching Tolerance Interview and CNN interview with Robin DiAngelo, Author of White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard to Talk to White People about Race.
- DocPlay: 10 Documentaries To Watch About Race Instead of Asking A Person of Colour To Explain Things For You
- Cineplex: Free ‘Understanding Black Stories’ movie collection
- Article: Welcome To The Anti-Racism Movement — Here’s What You’ve Missed. Ijeoma Oluo, 2017.
- Article: African-American mental health trauma, Alia E Dastagir
- Article: Why I am no longer talking to White people about race, Reni Edo-Lodge
- Article: My White friend asked me on Facebook to explain White privilege. I decided to be honest. Lori Lakin Hutcherson
- Article: Racism harms Black people most. It’s time to recognize ‘anti-blackness.’ Ahmed Olayinka Sule
- Article: Dutch PM now says ‘Black Pete’ tradition will disappear
- Abstract: The African Slave Trade to Asia and the Indian Ocean Islands
- Esri: The Journey of racism in Brazil
- Essay on Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o‘s Decolonizing the Mind by Arushi Bahuguna
Anti-Racist Comprehensive Resource List/Books
- TedTalks on Race
- Anti-Black Racism Resources for Parents and Kids
- Education scholar Victoria Alexander’s : Anti-Racist Resource Guide
- Racial Equity Tools Website
- Robin DiAngelo resource website
- Racisms: From the Crusades to the Twentieth Century – Book by Francisco Bethencourt
- Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources for White Allies
Black Canadian History/Black in Canada/Black in Vancouver
- African and Britain: A Forgotten History: My review: A MUST watch for the global connection and impact of colonialism and slavery on Black History from African to Britain to the Americas and Caribbean. It is both historical and contemporary; an educational and digestible watch.
- August 1 – Canadian Emancipation Day from Slavery
- Black Loyalist Heritage Centre
- Black Halifax
- BBC Media: Black in Canada: 10 stories
- BBC Article: Black Nova Scotians may finally get title to their land
- BC Black History Awareness Society
- Canadian Encyclopedia: Black History in Canada
- Carding and anti-Black racism in Canada
- Canadian Museum of Human Rights: The Story of Africville
- Canada: UN expert panel warns of systemic anti-Black racism in the criminal justice system
- National Film Board of Canada – Anti-Racism Films
- CBC: Book of Negros Miniseries. A must view and read to show the interconnection of continental Black Africans and Black peoples in the diaspora
- CBC: Seven Black Canadian Writers to Watch in 2022
- CBC: Canadian man’s Black Loyalist heritage leads him back to Africa (Sierra Leone)
- CBC: She was the only Black student in one of Philippe J Rushton’s classes. She never got an apology.
- Cool Black North: Featuring Harry Jerome Award Recipients and stories of Black Excellence in Canada (including feature of me and my family)
- CBC: Don’t believe the hype: Canada is not a nation of cultural tolerance
- CBC: Where are you from can be a loaded question
- CBC: But where are you really from? A seemingly simple question, with a complicated answer
- CBC article : Black business owners in Vancouver share successes and call to action re: racism
- CBC Being Black in Canada
- CBC Short Docs: Deeply Rooted. Filmmaker Cazhhmere is a 7th-generation black Canadian. Despite this deep history, she’s constantly asked to explain where she’s from – even though the answer is always “Canada.” (23 mins)
- CBC Gem: Celebrating Black History Collection
- Daily Hive: Black owned businesses and mutual aid funds you can support in Vancouver
- Freedom Marching: Website and Music Videos
- Global News: Black Performers call out Vancouver TheatreSports for racism, misogyny [My comment: Tunji Taylor-Lewis cited in this article is my nephew]
- Global News: Ontario to end academic streaming in Grade 9 & early years suspension
- Hogan’s Alley Society
- Huff Post: Black organizations and anti-racist groups Canadians can support now
- Policing Black lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to Present (summary video at link)
- The Star Article: Heartbroken and conflicted: Canada’s Black police officers open up about George Floyd’s death and anti-racism protests
- The Skin I’m in: Desmond Cole. Toronto Star Article
- The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power (book/e-book/audiobook download)
- The Skin We’re In: CBC documentary.
- The Signal: Advocates continue to push for reparations for African Nova Scotians
- 21 Black Futures: Obsidian Theatre and CBC Arts present 21 ten-minute one-person theatre depictions of Blackness and Black Future in Canada
- 604 Now: Black organizations and anti-racist groups you can support now
Black Literature
- Global African/Black Literature Reads
- Afreada and Brittle Paper – Contemporary African Literary Magazines
- GoodReads Black Literature lists from a variety of perspectives
- 50 Books About Race for Kids & Young Adults to Read Right Now
- 25 Books about Being Black in Canadian
- Fiction by Black Canadian Authors
- PBS: Historical African-America Authors
- 10 Female Caribbean Authors
- 10 Black Caribbean Authors You Should Know
- Oprah Magazine: Books by Black Authors to Read
Hollywood and Racism in America
Other Resources & Blog Posts I’ve Authored
- TedxSFU Talk: How to get past disconnection to social change (18 mins talk)
- Black Canadian History is my Family History
- Black History Month: What it is and Why it Matters
- Identities: A Short Story Collection
- Ancestries: A Short Story Collection
- In Conversation About Ancestries
- “Where Are You From?” Building Relational Intelligence Across Identity Differences (downloadable) and related conference talk: On the experience of being asked: Where are you from? (20mins)
- Why Today’s Global OD Practice is Local: Lessons from Transnational Experience (downloadable)
- On privilege, power and equality
- The day I became a Black man
- Leading through Trauma in Organizations and Communities
- In a world of extremes…build a bridge
- It’s all about Belonging
- In anti-racism work, keep leaning into messy
Yours in solidarity and humanity,
Yabome (a still grieving Black sister)