The Resource Remedy

How antiracism resources represent a profoundly positive shift in the movement for racial justice

In the wake of the recent protests that followed the murder of George Floyd, I’ve noticed something online that you’ve probably noticed too.

Resources.

If you’re on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube at all, you’ve almost definitely seen some of these resources floating around the internet in the past few weeks. If you haven’t, here you go!

• bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES
• bit.ly/junejustice
• https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234
• https://www.rachelricketts.com/antiracism-resources
• https://www.antiracismproject.org/resources

These resources are usually compilations of books, articles, and podcasts to check out, lists of artists, activists, and poets to follow, and links of videos, plays, and movies to watch — all with the goal of edifying and making people more antiracist.

This is a fabulous milestone worthy of celebration.

Why?

Because access to resources is the first step towards education, and education is the most durable avenue towards social change.

There’s something that feels qualitatively different in this particular wave of protests as compared to other protests throughout the history of the movement for racial justice. The protests in the US have been echoed in cities around the world as a show of solidarity, and we’ve already started to see legislators take actions to reduce the funding of violent police departments in several municipalities.

While I don’t think these resources are the most powerful thing to emerge from this most recent iteration of protests, I do think that they represent a sea change in the way people (especially white people) are thinking about racism.

Years ago, during the protests following Eric Garner’s murder, people were calling for police bodycams and separate tribunals for officers who violated their codes of conduct. Now, however, the focus is not on eliminating the “bad apples” from the police department, but rather on lessening the racism that we know exists in all of us.