A Few Resources for White People Who Want To Help (Special Note Included)

Recently a reader of my blog reached out to me for help with finding resources on racial justice. This reader, who was White, was soon to start teaching in a school district that primarily served students of color.

Special Note:

Sometimes in my work offline or through the emails I receive, I encounter the belief on the part of privileged folks that marginalized people be prepared to educate them on-demand.

In fact, “If you won’t educate me, how will I learn?” is the first space on the derailment bingo board.

Because I’m sharing this publicly, it’s important to mention that providing this information was a conscious decision on my part.

I can’t stress enough the importance of doing your own work as well. The internet is plentiful, and marginalized folks are not obligated to serve in the role of teacher to those who are actively and or passively involved in the perpetuation of their oppression.

Marginalized people are not beholden to their allies in any way, so that one person decides to share in one instance does not mean that they are obligated to do so in the future. If they do decide to share, consider it a gift, and don’t place any undue burden on them to continue past a point they’re not comfortable with.

I figured further exploration into their identity could help them speak from a better perspective of what the needs are, as well as how they can better serve.

Here are a few of the resources I shared with them. If you have any resources, feel free to share them in the comment section at the bottom of this post.

Articles:

The Subtle Linguistics of Polite White Supremacy

10 Ways White Liberals Perpetuate Racism

Why It’s So Hard To Talk to White People About Racism

Curriculum For White Americans to Educate Themselves on Race and Racism—From Ferguson to Charleston

Videos:

Is Racism Over Yet?

Deconstructing White Privilege

Five Times My Skin Color Didn’t Kill Me

How To Raise A Black Son In America

Colorblindness Will Not End Racism

For more resources and sharing, you can visit the Race Matters section and Allyhood section of my blog.

Ubuntu,

From Aspiring Humanitarian, Relando Thompkins-Jones, MSW, LLMSW