It is not enough to oppose racism by simply being “not racist.” We must be actively anti-racist.
We must educate ourselves on the tools of white supremacy and systemic racism so we can dismantle all oppressive structures. We must acknowledge our implicit and explicit biases, as well as our privileges, so we can hold space for others and our interconnected struggles. We must commit to constant and ongoing anti-racism, including centering the voices of Black people and non-Black people of color, unlearning dangerous behaviors, and redistributing wealth and/or participating in mutual aid.
The following post contains various resources for those looking to donate, support, educate, and participate in active anti-racism, as well as ways to support our local Black, AAPI, Latinx, and SWANA communities.
DONATE, SUPPORT, LEARN:
- Donate: Aniyah’s Mission – Philly-based, Black-led organization dedicated to “empowering and encouraging children and adolescents through book bag and school supply donations, monetary donations towards scholarship funds, and winter clothing donations.”
- Donate: Beyond the Bars – Black-led music and career planning program that is dedicated to interrupting the cycles of violence and incarceration in Philadelphia.
- Donate/Learn: Black and Brown Workers Cooperative – Labor organizing cooperative fighting contemporary forms of subjugation/dehumanization in our workplaces, classrooms, and communities by expanding democracy and agency
- Donate/Learn: Black Lives Matter / Black Lives Matter Philly – National and local chapter for the Black Lives Matter Movement
- Donate/Learn: Bystander Intervention Training – Educational tools to help stop anti-Asian/American and xenophobic harassment
- Donate: commUNITY Action Fund – Non-profit that aims to amplify, educate and activate AAPI to stand for justice and equality in solidarity with other communities
- Donate: CRY (Creative Resilient Youth) Collective – A teen-led collective responding to gaps in mental health dialogue and resources in Philadelphia-area schools.
- Donate: Dimplez 4 Dayz – Youth-founded, youth-led nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the youth voice and reducing youth violence in Philadelphia.
- Donate: The ECO (Education, Culture, Opportunities) Foundation – This organization works collaboratively with the people they serve to “provide creative education, healthy foods, and employment opportunities, so they can meet their needs today and thrive for generations to come.”
- Donate: galaei – QTBIPOC nonprofit organization that provides free testing & PrEP services, youth services, and gender expansive services within the Philadelphia area.
- Donate/Learn: #HateIsAVirus – Non-profit community of mobilizers and amplifiers that exists to dismantle racism and hate
- Donate/Support/Learn: Indigenous Peoples Movement – A global coalition bringing awareness of issues affecting Indigenous people from North & South America, Oceania, Asia, Africa & the Caribbean.
- Donate/Learn: Mothers In Charge – A violence prevention, education & intervention-based org which advocates & supports youth, young adults, families affected by gun violence
- Donate/Learn: National Resource Link
- Donate: Oshun Family Center – A local family center that aims to provide racially concordant care to members of the Black community that are struggling to cope with life transitions, including free mental health services for Black individuals
- Support: People’s Paper Co-Op – A women led, women focused, women powered art and advocacy project at the Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philadelphia
- Donate: Philadelphia Bail Fund
- Donate/Support/Learn: Philly Jail Support – Abolitionist community members working with Golden Rod Community, a Black-led 501c3 providing jail support and other services for system impacted folks
- Donate: Philly Thrive – Volunteer action group organizing for environmental justice, with a specific focus towards those who are disproportionately affected: “communities of color, especially Black communities, working class and low-income folks, and women.”
- Donate/Learn: Red Umbrella Alliance Philly – An all volunteer collective dedicated to ending stigma & violence towards SWers through labor organizing, advocacy, & decriminalization
- Donate/Learn: Stop AAPI Hate – Multi-organization collaboration that tracks and responds to incidents of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, shunning, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States
- Donate/Support: Walls for Justice – Using art as a platform to promote social change
- Donate/Support/Learn: We Are The Seeds – Amplifying Indigenous voices through the arts
- Donate: We R.E.I.G.N.: Philly-based nonprofit that supports Black girls in developing advocacy, activism, and organizing skills.
- Donate/Support/Learn: Working Class History – A podcast, book, and social media project that records and popularizes our grassroots, people’s history, as opposed to the top-down accounts of most history books
- Donate: YEAH (Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout) Inc. – Black-led, community-based nonprofit that “works with teens and young adults in West and Southwest Philadelphia whose lives have been impacted by violence.”
- Donate: Youth Action – Philly-based organization that “produces socially responsible leadership among middle & high school students by providing them with training, socially responsible leadership & mentorship, as well as funding to increase their social awareness of community concerns and lead service initiatives in their communities.”
- Donate: Youth United For Change (YUC) – Philly-based “democratic organization primarily made up of working class youth of color, which builds the ‘people power’ necessary to hold school officials and government accountable to guarantee the educational rights of Philadelphia public school students.”
MUTUAL AID
- City Wide! Mutual Aid
- Homies Helping Homies
- Coalition for Black Liberation
- South Philly Punks with Lunch
- South Philadelphia Community Fridge
- The Family Fridges
- The West Philly Bunnyhop
- The People’s Fridge
- Hive Community Pantry
- East Falls Community Fridge
- The Housing Reparations Group
- Funds Y’all Mutual Aid Philly
- Front-Line Meals & Reparations
- Abolitionist Law Center
- Cars for Philly
- Groceries for Philly
- PHL Laundry Support
BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES
- Amazulu Collections (Philly)
- Amalgam Comics and Coffeehouse (Philly)
- AphroChic
- Atomic City Comics (Philly)
- Beneath Your Mask
- Basbaas Foods
- Black and Noble (Philly)
- Black Pepper Paperie Co.
- BLK MKT Vintage
- Blue Sole Shoes (Philly)
- Bold Xchange
- Bolé Road Textiles
- Brooklyn Tea
- Cultured Couture Vintage (Philly)
- Denise’s Bakery (Philly)
- Foxie Cosmetics
- Frugal Bookstore
- Golden Girly
- Hakim’s Bookstore (Philly)
- Harriett’s Book Shop (Philly)
- The Honey Pot
- Lauren Napier Beauty
- Maison Noir Wines
- Marsh + Mane (Philly)
- Natty Garden
- Pottery by Osa
- Reparations Club
- The Sable Collective (Philly)
- Semicolon Bookstore and Gallery
- Snapdragon Flowers & Gifts (Philly)
- South Street Art Mart (Philly)
- Sweet Nectar Dessert Kitchen (Philly)
- Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books (Philly)
- Unsun
- Yam
- Yowie (Philly)
For a more comprehensive directory of Black-owned businesses in Philly, check out AfroPhilly. For more Black-owned businesses in the South Street Headhouse District, visit this post.
A LIST OF EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES:
BOOKS
- Hanif Abdurraqib – They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us
- Michelle Alexander – The New Jim Crow
- James Baldwin – The Fire Next Time
- James Baldwin – Giovanni’s Room
- Charlene Carruthers – Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements
- Angela Davis – Freedom Is A Constant Struggle
- Angela Davis – Women, Race, & Class
- Reni Eddo-Lodge – Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race
- Frantz Fanon – Black Skin, White Masks
- Frantz Fanon – The Wretched of the Earth
- Roxane Gay – Bad Feminist
- Laura E. Gómez – Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism
- bell hooks – Feminism Is For Everybody: Passionate Politics
- Sarah Jaffe – Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone
- Mikki Kendall – Hood Feminism
- Ibram X. Kendi & Jason Reynolds – Stamped
- Ibram X. Kendi – How to Be an Antiracist
- Rshid Khalidi – The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017
- Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha – Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice
- Erika Lee – The Making of Asian America: A History
- Audre Lorde – Sister Outsider
- Audre Lorde – The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House
- Audre Lorde – Your Silence Will Not Protect You
- Wesley Lowery – They Can’t Kill Us All
- Martin Luther King, Jr. – Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?
- Jasmine Mans – Black Girl, Call Home
- Martina McGowan – i am the rage: a black poetry collection
- Toni Morrison – The Bluest Eye
- Kliph Nesteroff – We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy
- Ijeoma Oluo – So You Want To Talk About Race
- Mark Oshiro – Anger Is a Gift
- Cathy Park Hong – Minor Feelings
- Morgan Parker – There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce
- Devon Prize – Laziness Does Not Exist
- Claudia Rankine – Citizen: An American Lyric
- Ann Russo – Feminist Accountability: Disrupting Violence and Transforming Power
- Layla F. Saad – Me and White Supremacy
- Assata Shakur – Assata: An Autobiography
- Danez Smith – Don’t Call Us Dead
- Dean Spade – Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity in This Crisis
- Sabrina Strings – Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia
- Jackie Sumiel & Herman Wallace – The House That Herman Built
- Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor – Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership
- David Treuer – The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present
- Alex S. Vitale – The End of Policing
- Jackie Wang – Carceral Capitalism
- Monica M. White – Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement
- Hannah Whitman – Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community
- Malcolm X, Alex Haley – The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- Howard Zehr – The Little Book of Restorative Justice
- Howard Zinn – A People’s History of the United States
- A Collection of Essays – Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States
- A Collection of Essays – The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex
- A Collection of Essays – Asian American Feminism & Women of Color Politics (Decolonizing Feminisms: Antiracist and Transnational Praxis series)
- & MORE: (1) (2) (3)
ARTICLES & STORIES
- An Oral History of the 1985 Move Bombings in West Philadelphia by Lindsey Norward
- For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies by Courney Ariel
- My White Friend Asked Me to Explain White Privilege by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
- Teaching Your Child About Black History Month by Nefertiti Austin
- Discourse and Debate: Is performative activism inherently bad? by Kayla Abrams, Jemima Fregene, and Lana Awadallah
- White Fragility by The Conscious Kid
- Remember, No One Is Coming to Save Us by Roxane Gay
- Amy Cooper, White Spaces and the Political Projection of Whiteness by Lara Witt
- Why White People Freak Out When They’re Called Out About Race by Sam Adler-Bell
- A Timeline of Events That Led to the 2020 ‘Fed Up’-rising by Michael Harriot
- A History of the Black Panther Party (Read or Listen)
- White People: This Is How To Check Your Privilege When Asking People Of Color For Their Labor by Sophia Stephens
- How Not To Be An Ally by Dr. Kim Case
- How To Be An Ally If You Are a Person With Privilege by Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D.
- White Anti-Racism: Living The Legacy by Diane Flinn, Georgette Norman, Sejal Patel, and Yvette Robles
VIDEOS
- Why “I’m not racist” is only half the story.
- Courageous Conversations: Sharing Stories About Race and Pledging to Practice More.
- How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion.
- A Mindful Approach to Race and Social Justice.
DOCUMENTARIES, MOVIES, TV
- 12 Years A Slave (2013)
- 13th (Netflix)
- American Son (Netflix)
- The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (PBS)
- The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (Netflix)
- Dope (Netflix)
- Dear White People (Netflix)
- Horror Noire (Shutter)
- King In The Wilderness (HBO)
- Sorry To Bother You (Hulu)
- See You Yesterday (Netflix)
- Selma (2014)
- The Hate U Give (Hulu)
- What Happened Miss Simone? (Netflix)
- When They See Us (Netflix)
- Woke (Hulu)
Artwork by Marisa.VR.
Continue reading “Black Lives Matter: Resources for Anti-Racism”