Michigan State University College of Communication Arts and Science – Racial Justice Resources
9 Movies and Shows that Explain How America’s Justice System Got this Way
Presbyterian Church (USA) Resources
https://www.pcusa.org/racial-justice-resources/
https://facing-racism.pcusa.org/
https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/matthew-25/racism/
“13th,” – available on Netflix and YouTube, a documentary from director Ava DuVernay that looks at the U.S. prison system and how the country’s history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
1619 – podcast series from New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah Jones that connects “past and present” by examining “the long shadow of American slavery.”
21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge by Dr. Eddie Moore
Broken Justice – PBS NewsHour original podcast series that looks at the impact that overworked and underfunded public defenders have on the American criminal justice system. It tells the story of Ricky Kidd, who was sentenced to life without parole for a double homicide he says he didn’t commit and argues his court-appointed lawyer is the reason for that conviction.
Code Switch – NPR podcast created by “a multi-racial, multi-generational team of journalists” that covers “overlapping themes of race, ethnicity and culture, how they play out in our lives and communities, and how all of this is shifting.”
Detour‐Spotting for White Anti‐Racists by Joan Olsson.
For 21 days, do one action each day to further your understanding of power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity. The challenge includes suggestions for readings, podcasts, videos, observations, and ways to form and deepen community connections. Suggestions are in the following categories: read, listen, watch, notice, connect, engage, act, reflect and stay inspired. Use the tracking chart provided below to stay on course. The focus is on understanding white privilege and white supremacy as a powerful lens into the complexities of doing social justice work. The challenge can be done individually, with friends and family, or organization-wide. (Could support group work.)
I Am Not Your Negro – This Oscar nominated film envisions the book James Baldwin never finished; a narration of race in America in his own words as read by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Available on PBS streaming and Netflix.
Implicit Association Test, Online tests that measure implicit social cognition – thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. The tests are designed to help people learn about their hidden biases.
PBS Series on Racism through WKAR broadcast and other streaming content services that includes many iconic series exploring the impact of racism on Black Americans and the country as a whole.
Race Forward – home to the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, a national network of local government working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. It publishes the daily news site Colorlines. Its research agenda is built around understanding how race compounds and intersects with other societal issues as well as ways to nurture and strengthen social change. Video series on line include “What Is Systemic Racism?” and “#RaceAnd” a series exploring the ways that race compounds and intersects with all the other issues faced by people of color. www.raceforward.org
Say It Loud – a PBS Digital Studios series that celebrates Black culture, context, and history.
Talking about Race, National Museum of African American History and Culture
Talking About Whiteness – On Being with Krista Tippet. A podcast conversation with Eula Bliss, author, who unpacks words and ideas like complacence, guilt, and opportunity hoarding for an urgent reckoning with whiteness.
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross – a film by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. chronicling African American history, from the origins of slavery on the African continent through more than four centuries of remarkable events.
The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates. A series of articles in The Atlantic. Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
The Soul of the Nation with Jim Wallis, author and founder of Soujorner’s Magazine – Informs and inspires listeners to examine our priorities in meeting the Biblical call for social justice and to take action to promote racial and social justice, life and peace.
It is important to remember that American racism is a thing that was done, and a world where American racism is beaten back is not a world of “racial diversity” but a world without such terminology. Perhaps we can never actually get to that world. Perhaps we are just too far gone. But we should never forget that this world was “made.” Whiteness and blackness are not a fact of providence, but of policy—of slave codes, black codes, Jim Crow, redlining, GI Bills, housing covenants, New Deals, and mass incarcerations.
—Ta-Nehisi Coates
