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WOW. I am not a thought-leader, I am not an expert, I am not a Black person or a person of color. But I have been insanely inspired this week to learn, to listen, and to ACT. It’s not enough to be ‘not-racist’; I’m now empowered and excited to be actively anti-racist.
But this is NOT ABOUT ME. There are thousands of Black people sharing their stories, their voices, their experiences, their resources. And it’s our job to LISTEN AND LEARN AND AMPLIFY AND GIVE.
Whether you think its ‘too little, too late’ or ‘better late than never’, there’s no playbook on this, so show yourself – and others – grace on this journey.
Admittedly, I’d never shared black creatives or content creators, I’d never even discussed race with my children. That’s my laziness, my complacency, my privilege. But I’m ready to walk the walk and do the work, and I know SO many of you are, too.
I also know that change doesn’t happen overnight. Hearts and minds don’t transform instantly but education and conversation can – and will – move us forward.
This is basically my game plan for myself + my fam:
There are SO many amazing resources and it would be impossible to dive into all of them at once, so I wanted to create a hub of info resources that can live on as we all move forward.
Maya Angelou said “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” LET’S BE BETTER. Here are some of the ways I’ve found to help us all do better:
Conversations with Kids
Now is the right time to start talking about race with kids. A few great Instagram accounts to help:
The Conscious Kid // Inclusive Storytime // Here Wee Read (shoppable reading list here) // Teaching Tolerance
I found this blog post from Books for Littles helpful as well – Anti-Racism For Kids 101: Starting To Talk About Race.
Watching this with the kids on Saturday 6/6/20 @ 9am CST:
If your child has Epic (an app with thousands of book titles AND they have a free 30 day trial), they have 2 curated collections of books that are helpful: Celebrate Black Culture + Start a Conversation About Race.
A great point on why now is the right time to start discussing race with your kids. Here’s the list of resources that accompanies this graphic.
A White Family’s Guide to Talking About Racism – I purchased this $20 course from 2 Black moms who are also educators: Apron_Education + ReadLikeARockStar. I’m so ready to dive in.
Art For Kids (a YouTube channel) will donate 100% of the ad revenue from this video:
Diverse Toys
all the toys below can be found/purchased here
Resources for You
Rachel Cargle – she is definitely a thought-leader and has a ton of resources, including a FREE #dothework 30-day challenge // linked here
Watch 13th – this documentary is on Netflix and was VERY eye-opening. Worth a watch, for sure.
This article/blog post was very insightful for me and answered a lot of questions I’ve had and heard asked by white friends and family before. A Black man answers questions like:
Black Content Creators to Follow on Instagram
Tap through these pics to be taken to lists of black female content creators on Instagram to diversify your feed… anti-racism, art, fashion, fitness, food, lifestyle, and wellness. Following them, supporting their work and learning their stories is a super simple way to purposefully expose yourself to more Black voices on Instagram – something I personally wasn’t doing before.
Here’s another list of 9 powerful Black female voices to follow:
And another list of Black voices to follow on Instagram:
And another:
OhHappyDani is a new follow and I love her art. Side note: totally grew up thinking ‘I don’t see color’ was the goal and this totally flips that notion on its head:
Style Fit Fatty // Only Girl 4 Boyz // Patricia Taylor
This Implicit Bias Test from Harvard is one way to learn more about the Implicit Biases we all hold about race, gender, etc.
White Fragility was suggested to me as a starting place for reading
Take African American History: From Emancipation to the Present online from Yale – its free. I have so much to learn about Black history in America.
Systemic Racism Explained
This is helpful for adults and kids alike:
Donate!
I’m matching your donations up to $1000 to The Loveland Foundation, which “is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways, with a particular focus on Black women and girls. Our resources and initiatives are collaborative and they prioritize opportunity, access, validation, and healing. We are becoming the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
donate here then send me a screen shot of your donation + I’ll match it up to $1k
St. Louis Resources
St. Louis is a VERY segregated city – Chris and I both grew up in STL and are choosing to raise our fam here as well. There are several resources and businesses to support that are specific to St. Louis so wanted to round them up here:
WeStories – this nonprofit org exists to help white families re-think race and their role in our segregated region. I’m signing my family up for the September program.
EyeSeeMe – an STL children’s bookstore dedicated to promote positive images and stories about African American culture and history.
This map has Black-owned restaurants pinned – SO COOL!
Bridget K McKay says
Myself and a few other white moms I know are reading a book called Raising White Kids by Jennifer Harvey, followed by some discussion. It’s the first book for our Anti-racist book club. I’ve just started it and it’s already had a lot to offer. Might be a good resource for you too! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501878077?pf_rd_r=8681JF48711KD761YJD3&pf_rd_p=edaba0ee-c2fe-4124-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee