Anti-Racism Resources

 Online anti-racism resources to support your understanding and allyship:

1. Understand the history of racism.

a)       CBC series - slavery in colonial Canada

Two part series entitled “Canada's slavery secret: The whitewashing of 200 years of enslavement” that explores slavery in colonial Canada and its impacts today.

b)      13th (on Netflix)

An Emmy Award-winning documentary by Ava DuVernay, named after the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery, which explores the connections between mass incarceration of black people and racial inequality.

2. Understand concepts of identity, power and privilege.

a)       How to recognize your White privilege - and use it to fight inequality

Anti-bias educator Peggy McIntosh published her classic essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” in 1988. In this TED talk, she explains how privilege can be used by those with power to ensure a fairer life for others.

b)      White Fragility: Why it’s so hard for White people to talk about racism

A New York Times best-selling book by Robin DiAngelo that explores racial biases held by White people, and how these reactions maintain systems of racial inequality.

3. Listen and learn what racism looks like.

a)       Stanford Social Innovation Review's - DEI series

SSIR's second series on DEI focuses on explaining how racism operates within organizations. This series of 10 articles from multiple contributors are meant to generate ideas and create conversation about racial justice, dignity, and belonging.

b)      Colour Code

Globe and Mail's podcast discusses how issues of race and identity affect individual Canadians and are woven through every current affairs story that matters.

c)       TED Talk: Intersectionality

Activist and law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw explains her groundbreaking theory of Intersectionality, a lens that takes into account people's overlapping identities and experiences in order to understand the complexity of prejudices they face.

4. Seek to move from awareness to allyship.

a)       TED Talk: Difference between being ‘not racist’ and anti-racist

There is no such thing as being "not racist," says author and historian Ibram X. Kendi. He defines the transformative concept of antiracism to help us more clearly recognize, take responsibility for and reject prejudices in our public policies, workplaces and personal beliefs.

b)      The person you mean to be: How good people fight bias

A guide from Dolly Chugh, an award-winning social psychologist, on how to confront sexism, racism, inequality, and injustice to make the world (and yourself) better.

c)       TED Talk: How to overcome our bias - walk boldly towards them

Diversity advocate Vernā Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. In a funny, impassioned, important talk, she shows us how to acknowledge our biases, and then move toward the groups that make you uncomfortable.