An Anti-Racism Collection

Uthabiti:

An Anti-Racism Collection 

Parents for Diversity is proud to present a multimodal, anti-racism diversity library – one that will support the intersectional anti-racism work for families and children, educators, administrators, and system leaders as well as community organizations. The library includes resources such as podcasts, reports from the ministry, international organizations, non-profit organizations, news articles, children’s books, books for adults, audiobooks, blogs, videos, films, and current terminology to support intersectional anti-racism work. You can search through our growing library by the various categories below.

Racism

Racism = Racial Prejudice + Power

Racism is different from racial prejudice, hatred, or discrimination. Racism involves one group having the power to carry out systematic discrimination through the institutional policies and practices of the society and by shaping the cultural beliefs and values that support those racist policies and practices. Source: Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre

Books on Racism

Anti-Racism

Anti-racism is about taking proactive steps to fight racial inequity. It’s different from other approaches that focus on multiculturalism or diversity because it acknowledges that systemic racism exists and actively confronts the unequal power dynamic between groups and the structures that sustain it. Anti-racism involves consistently assessing structures, policies, and programs, and through monitoring outcomes, ensuring they are fair and equitable for everyone. Source: Ontario’s Anti-Racism Strategic Plan

Books on Anti-Racism

Terminology

Terminology, as it relates to historically marginalized and underserved peoples, changes and evolves with time and learning. A term that might be acceptable to some might be offensive to others, outdated, and/or incorrect. Below is a glossary of terms to help strengthen your comfort with engaging in anti-racist learning.

Anti-Indigenous Racism

Anti-Indigenous racism is the ongoing race-based discrimination, negative stereotyping, and injustice experienced by Indigenous Peoples within Canada. It includes ideas and practices that establish, maintain and perpetuate power imbalances, systemic barriers, and inequitable outcomes that stem from the legacy of colonial policies and practices in Canada.
Systemic anti-Indigenous racism is evident in discriminatory federal policies such as the Indian Act and the residential school system. It is also manifest in the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in provincial criminal justice and child welfare systems, as well as inequitable outcomes in education, well-being, and health. Individual lived-experiences of anti-Indigenous racism can be seen in the rise in acts of hostility and violence directed at Indigenous people. Source: Glossary | Ontario.ca

Books on Indigenous Peoples

Anti-Black Racism

Anti-Black racism is prejudice, attitudes, beliefs, stereotyping, and discrimination that is directed at people of African descent and is rooted in their unique history and experience of enslavement and its legacy. Anti-Black racism is deeply entrenched in Canadian institutions, policies, and practices, to the extent that anti-Black racism is either functionally normalized or rendered invisible to the larger White society. Source: Ontario Government Glossary

Books on Black Identities


Black Joy & Positive Racial Affirmations

Clever Cruz, the founder of the Black Joy Project states that “Amplifying Black joy is not about dismissing or creating an ‘alternative’ Black narrative that ignores the realities of our collective pain; rather, it is about holding the pain and injustices we experience as Black folks around the world in tension with the joy we experience in pain’s midst. It’s about using that joy as an entry into understanding the oppressive forces we navigate through as a means to imagine and create a world free of them.” Source: Ontario Nonprofit Network

The N-Word

Conversations surrounding the N-Word are usually met with differing views. Parents for Diversity has compiled resources on the history, meaning, and discourse of the word. Ultimately, the word has grown from its Latin roots, to cause harm and insult Black people but it has also become a word for Black people to use with one another in a variety of contexts.

The N-Word is derived from the Latin word for the color black, niger. According to the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, it did not originate as a slur but took on a derogatory connotation over time. Source: N****r: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word

The n-word is unique in the English language. On one hand, it is the ultimate insult—a word that has tormented generations of African Americans. Yet over time, it has become a popular term of endearment by the descendants of the very people who once had to endure it. Among many young people today—Black and white—the n-word can mean friend. Souce: STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT THE N-WORD

Islamophobia

A fear, prejudice, and hatred of Muslims or non-Muslim individuals that leads to provocation, hostility, and intolerance by means of threatening, harassment, abuse, incitement, and intimidation of Muslims and non-Muslims, both in the online and offline world. Motivated by institutional, ideological, political, and religious hostility that transcends into structural and cultural racism which targets the symbols and markers of being a Muslim.
Source: A Working Definition of Islamophobia

Books on Muslim Identities

Anti-Asian Racism

In Canada, anti-Asian racism refers to historical and ongoing discrimination, negative stereotyping, and injustice experienced by peoples of Asian heritage, based on others’ assumptions about their ethnicity and nationality. People of Asian heritage are subjected to specific overt and subtle racist tropes and stereotypes at individual and systemic levels, which lead to their ongoing social, economic, political, and cultural marginalization, disadvantage and unequal treatment. Source: Government of Canada — Anti-Asian Racism

Books on Asian Identities

Books on South Asian Identities

Books on Latin American Identities

Anti-Palestinian Racism

Anti-Palestinian racism is a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. Anti-Palestinian racism take various forms including: denying the Nakba and justifying violence against Palestinians; failing to acknowledge Palestinians as an Indigenous people with a collective identity, belonging and rights in relation to occupied and historic Palestine; erasing the human rights and equal dignity and worth of Palestinians; excluding or pressuring others to exclude Palestinian perspectives, Palestinians and their allies; defaming Palestinians and their allies with slander such as being inherently antisemitic, a terrorist threat/sympathizer or opposed to democratic values. Source: Canadian Arab Lawyers Association

Books on Palestinian Identities

Antisemitism

Antisemitism is an attitude characterized by hostility and discriminatory behaviour towards Jewish people. Antisemitism has a long history in Canada in fueling discrimination and unfair treatment against Jewish Canadians. Antisemitism in Canada was never restricted to the extremists of society. Rather, it has always been part of the mainstream, shared to varying degrees by all elements of the nation. Source: Antisemitism in Canada

Books on Jewish Identities

Resources on Conversations About Race & Racism

Equity and Inclusive Education

Reducing the predictability of who succeeds and who fails, interrupting reproductive practices that negatively impact students, and cultivating the gifts and talents of every student. Source: National Equity Project

Human Rights

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination. Source: United Nations – Human Rights

Microaggressions

Microaggressions are hostile verbal, behavioral, or environmental insults or slurs that target People of Colour and Indigenous communities. They are normalized and are thus often not recognized as aggressive or inappropriate. Source: Centre for Race and Culture

Books on 2SLGBTQQIA+ Identities

Resources on Racism and Accessibility

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White Privilege

The unquestioned and unearned set of advantages, entitlements, benefits, and choices bestowed upon people solely because they are white. White people who experience such privilege usually do so without being conscious of it. Source: White Privilege and White Supremacy – Anti-Racism Resources – Subject Guides at Nova Scotia Community College

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