Resources to Support Antiracism in the Classroom

Below is a list of books, educational articles and resources, podcasts, and social media accounts we have sourced to help guide your journey to becoming an Ally/ Accomplice for BIPOC.

2020 will definitely be a year to remember, not only for the Coronavirus pandemic causing mass shut downs and shelter in place orders that have swept the world, but also for the vast inequalities it has helped to shed light on. A disproportionate amount of Black Americans have died from COVID-19 than whites or other ethnic groups. Black Americans represent 13.4% of the US population, but over 25% of the deaths from the virus. How is this even possible? After all, “The virus knows no race or nationality; it can’t peek at your driver’s license or census form to check whether you are black. Society checks for it, and provides the discrimination on the virus’s behalf. The effects of that discrimination are found in the morgues.”

Disparities could be due to inequalities in access to health care. However, a much more likely reason is the systematic, structural, and institutionalized racism that has plagued this country for the past 400 years. To exacerbate these glaring inequalities is the continued news cycle of Black people dying at the hands of police and white supremacists. And now, months later, an uprising has begun.

Black Lives Matter protests have erupted across the United States and into Europe. As we sit at home and wonder, what can we do? How can we help? We, as educators, have a lot we can do (and we even argue it is our duty to do) when we step back into our classrooms in the fall. We have the perfect platform to break the cycles of inequalities within the educational system. “Research has shown evidence of systematic bias in teacher expectations for African American students and non-black teachers were found to have lower expectations of black students than black teachers.” Black children deserve every opportunity to succeed in life. It is our duty as educators to help in that process. Talking about racism is not racist. In fact, open and sincere conversations about racism that is grounded in historical and social truth is the way forward to dismantling racism, whether it be teaching anti bias and antiracist curriculum, or educating ourselves on the disparities faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in our educational system. It is up to us to work towards a society of genuine racial equality. We have a lot of work to do, and sometimes these problems seem too great to overcome, but they are not. White people have created these racial disparities. We can also dismantle them. We hope you will join us in guiding our students into a better future for all.

Below is a list of books, educational articles and resources, podcasts, and social media accounts we have sourced to help guide your journey to becoming an Ally/ Accomplice for BIPOC.