Anti-Racist Social Work Education Resources

Our faculty, staff and students wish to turn despair into action. We have curated and recommend this list of anti-racist resources. You can borrow many of the books from the UB Libraries or the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, or purchase them at Bookshop.org.

Updated June 12, 2023

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Articles

Beyond Lip Service: Bringing Racial Justice to Black and Brown Communities (co-authored by Associate Professor Kelly Patterson)
The Enduring Backlash Against Racial Justice in the United States: Mobilizing Strategies for Institutional Change (co-authored by Associate Professor Kelly Patterson)
You Shall Not Replace Us!’ White Supremacy, Psychotherapy and Decolonization
26 Ways to be in the Struggle Beyond on the Streets
Black People Need Stronger White Allies (Refinery29)
How to Make This Moment the Turning Point for Real Change (by President Barack Obama)
Know Your Rights (ACLU)
How to Take Anti-Racist Action in Your Life (Teen Vogue)
What You Can Do to Support the Protests Right Now (Grassroots Economic Organization)
The 1619 Project
Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources
Anti-Racist Resources from Greater Good
106 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
How Do We Change America? (The New Yorker)
What's Missing from "White Fragility"? (Slate)
You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument (The New York Times)
Asian Americans Are Still Caught in the Trap of the ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype. And It Creates Inequality for All (Time)
Black People in the U.S. Were Enslaved Well Into the 1960s (Vice)
We Can't Talk About Racism Without Understanding Whiteness (The Guardian)
Police Abolition: Frequently Asked Questions
Police Abolitionist Toolkit CR Abolition Toolkit (PDF)
Defund Police: Concrete Steps Toward Divestment from Policing and Investment in Community Safety (PDF)
Reformist Reforms vs. Abolitionist Steps in Policing (PDF)
The Breathe Act
Cariol's Law
Dropping the N-Word in College Classrooms (Inside Higher Ed)
Decolonising Research Methodology Must Include Undoing its Dirty History (The Conversation)
Science Still Bears the Fingerprints of Colonialism (Smithsonian Magazine)
Decolonization is not a Metaphor
The Past is Still Present: Why Colonialism Deserves Better Coverage (The Correspondent)
Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women (PDF)
Trading Cops for Social Workers Isn’t the Solution to Police Violence (Truthout)
The 21-Day Habit Change Challenge

Books

Critique of Black Reason by Achille Mbembe
Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis
Dear White America by Tim Wise
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
How To Be An Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum
The Color of Law by Richard Roxy
Waking up White by Debby Irving
For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood by Christopher Emdin
Texas Tough by Robert Perkinson
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Me and My White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
Unapologetic: A Black Queer and Feminist Mandate by Charlene Carruthers
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism by Bushra Rehman
Black Liberation by Keeange-Yamahtta Taylor
The Condemnation of Blackness by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Freedom Dreams by Robin D.G. Kelley
A Shining Thread of Hope by Darlene Clark Hine
Taking Bullets: Black Boys and Men in Twenty-First Century America, Fighting Terrorism, Stopping Violence and Seeking Healing by Haki R. Madubti
The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy by Andrea Flynn
Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence and America’s Prison Nation by Beth E. Richie

Videos and Movies

Conversations About Culture: Video and Lesson Plan on Cultural Humility from the University at Buffalo School of Social Work
The Pandemic is a Portal by Arundhati Roy, Hosted by Imani Perry
13th directed by Ava DuVernay
Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children on HBO
Advice for Non-Black Social Workers of Color from Smith College
Color of Fear: What It Means to Be American from the University of San Francisco
American Son on Netflix
Social Inequalities Explained in a $100 Race
Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins
Prof. Ibram X. Kendi: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Historical Perspectives on Whiteness (Conversation with Nell Painter)
The Urgency of Intersectionality (TED Talk by Kimberle Crenshaw)

Podcasts

The University at Buffalo School of Social Work's inSocialWork
NPR’s Code Switch
NPR’s Throughline
On Being’s Notice the Rage, Notice the Silence
African American Policy Forum’s Intersectionality Matters
Crooked Media’s Pod Save the People
The New York Times’ 1619 Podcast
NYU McSilver Institute’s Black Boys and Men: Changing the Narrative

Websites

Toolkits: Take Action to Defend Black Lives from Greenpeace
Racial Equality Tools – resources, research, curricula and ideas to increase your understanding and help work toward justice
Global Citizen – resource to help you take action on events that impact the global community
Movement for Black Lives – activist site with policy platforms and resources
TransformHarm.org – resource hub for ending violence
Boston University Center for Anti-Racism Research
Academics for Black Survival and Wellness

Local Organizations

Black Love Resists in the Rust
Buffalo Mutual-Aid Network
Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition
Legal Aid Bureau
MOCHA Center
Partnership for the Public Good
- Events
- Get involved
- Articles and reports related to racial inequality in Buffalo
Showing Up for Racial Justice
- Buffalo Facebook group
VOICE Buffalo

Read our Faculty Council statement on Black Lives Matter

Anti-Racist Social Work Education Resources

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