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Reading Is Only a Step on the Path to Anti-Racism

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Anti-racist reading lists are trending, but becoming anti-racist requires action, writes librarian Nicole A. Cooke.

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Resources for teachers

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When actor Melissa Victor thought about where she learned the stories that shaped her-important things about life, and how to braid hair-she realized that a lot of that education took place on the Baltimore stoop where she grew up. Victor is deeply spiritual, and at a certain point, as her theater parts started to dry up, she asked God for guidance. His advice, she says: Create a podcast for children of color. Create stories for them because they need to be represented. Victor published the first episode of Stoopkid Stories in January 2020 so that young Black children could hear themselves reflected in audio stories. This Black Voices playlist includes voices from Stoopkids Stories and other Black kidcasters, storytellers, authors, poets, activists, musicians, and leaders.

Click here to access the Black Voices Playlist and episode links.
So Get Me: Alphabet Rockers: "Shine In My Beautiful Skin"
Ages 5-12-The So Get Me podcast shares the music from the Alphabet Rockers, a hip-hop children's music collective with a focus on activism. In this episode, hosts Kaitlin McGaw and Tommy Shepherd discuss ways to honor the work of ancestors, activists, and artists. Listeners hear the Alphabet Rockers sing "Shine," from their album Rise Shine #Woke, and learn how families are working to create a more equitable world by discussing skin color and ways to keep "shining in our beautiful skin."
Girl Tales: "Anansi and the Sky Goddess Asase Yaa by Bleu Beckford-Burrell"
Ages 5-12-On the Girl Tales podcast, executive producer Rebecca Cunningham pulls from fairy tales, folk tales and myths, rewriting them with a feminist twist. In this episode, Black playwright Bleu Beckford-Burrell transforms an Anansi tale about how Asase Yaa invented all the stories in the universe. The story is brought to life by voice actors Barron Bass, Rama Orleans- Lindsay, and Cristina Pitter. Kids who love this episode will also want to explore other Girl Tales episodes including fairy tales rewritten by Black playwrights, as well as episodes about people including Bessie Coleman and Katherine Johnson, and more.
Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls "Michelle Obama Read by Pearl Thusi"
Ages 5-12-Kids familiar with the books Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls will also enjoy the podcast. This brand seeks to empower girls by sharing the stories of pioneering women from across the globe. Here, voice actor Pearl Thusi spotlights former First Lady Michelle Obama. While librarians may be familiar with Obama's book and documentary Becoming, this episode aims to introduce young listeners to her in an inspiring, engaging way, and highlights Obama's challenges of balancing family and career during the path led to the White House. The series offers many empowering stories of women leaders from around the world and throughout history, including an episode about reader Pearl Thusi herself.
Stoopkid Stories: "Seeing McKinley Pt. 1"
Ages 8-12- Stoopkid Stories is a story podcast written and read by actor Melissa Victor. The episodes feature Black characters experiencing and overcoming the obstacles of life. In "Seeing McKinley, Pt 1," listeners meet Mickey, a girl on the receiving end of microaggressions, which are hurtful comments or actions based on race, gender, or religion, at school. Kids gain an understanding of the term and hear how Mickey handles these comments. They also learn why it's important to not just amplify Black voices during Black History Month, but all year long. Kids who like this episode will want to tune into part 2 of the story. Families who listen together may naturally talk about when they've experienced microaggressions and ways to handle them.

Read: 10 Books To Nurture Budding Young Activists | Summer Reading 2020
Activist, You!: "Racial Justice with Nupol Kiazolu"
Ages 8-12- Activist, You! is a podcast amplifying the voices of young activists fighting for social justice. In this episode creator and host Lindz Amer interviews the president of the Black Lives Matter Greater New York, 19 year-old Nupol Kiazolu. Listeners will learn about Nupol's first fight for the right to wear a hoodie at her school when she was 13 years old. Nupol provides young listeners with many ways to support Black Lives Matter in the fight for social justice.
This Day in History Class: "Gwendolyn Brooks born June 7, 1917"
Ages 8-12-Yves Jesscoat, writer and podcaster based in Atlanta, hosts This Day in History Class, a podcast where "history waits for no one." This short episode is about the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, Gwendolyn Brooks. Listeners learn about Brooks' pathway from having her first poem published to honing her craft and speaking out more boldly around issues of race. Yves highlights how Brooks drew her inspiration from what she saw and heard on the street. Her story can encourage kids to express their thoughts about what they are seeing and hearing through poetry. Jesscoat also hosts the adult podcast AfroPunk Solution Sessions, with discussion about challenges Black people face and steps that can be taken in response.
Flyest Fables: "Constellations of the Sky"
Ages 8-12- Flyest Fables is written and read by trans-Black story teller and audio producer Morgan Givens, who describes his show as an "interconnected fiction anthology" with "hopefunk fables for the 21st century." "Constellations of the Sky" will give new listeners a feel for the show. In this story, the magical world of "The Book" is handed over to a new storyteller. Givens's hope is that these fables help listeners cope with the problems of the real world by empowering them with magic and story. Kids who like this tale will want to go back to the beginning of the series and enjoy the full journey.
Book Club for Kids: "On the Come Up by Angie Thomas"
Ages 9-17-The Book Club for Kids podcast primarily focuses on middle grade books, but in this episode features Angie Thomas's YA novel On the Come Up. Host Kitty Felde talks with three eighth graders from Washington, D.C. about the book, and listeners hear how rap and hip-hop shape the story of main character Bri. Actor Tallie Johnson reads from On the Come Up, and the students ask Thomas about her writing process. Kids will also want to listen to the episode where she shares the playlist that inspired On the Come Up. Other episodes spotlight books by Kwame Alexander, Nikki Grimes, Christopher Paul Curtis, Varian Johnson, and Walter Dean Myers, just to name a few.
Code Switch: "On the Shoulders of Giants"
Ages 9-17- Code Switch is an adult podcast discussing race and racism, but recently the hosts curated a series of episodes for kids and families. In this one, hosts from NPR's Throughline, a podcast exploring present events through the lens of the past, focus on the activism of Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem at NFL games. Listeners travel back to learn about the activism of boxer Jack Johnson, sprinter Wilma Rudolph, and basketball player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.
ReadMore Podcast: "Brittney Morris"
Ages 13-17-The ReadMore Podcast interviews authors about their books and writing process. Here, host Marva Hinton, also a writer and editor, interviews author Brittney Morris about her YA novel Slay. Morris discusses how the movie Black Panther motivated her to write in 14 days. She talks about how the feeling of living a double life at the time-working in a place where she was one of only two black employees, and going home to be surrounded by Black friends and family-helped her develop the theme for her book. Slay explores the effects of marginalization through the lens of video gaming, and what it means to create inclusionary, safe spaces in the virtual realm and beyond, and can open up discussions on those issues.

For podcast resources to help grownups talk about race with their kids, see Bello Collectives recent list. For more resources about social justice see SLJ 's Antiracist Resouces and Reads and The Brown Bookshelf's KidLit Rally for Black Lives: Anti-Racist Resources for Children, Families and Educators.

Youth technology integration consultant Anne Bensfield helps libraries and schools implement new models for innovation. Librarian and Buttons & Figs podcast creator Pamela Rogers inspires creative expression from elementary school kids by reading, writing, and playing with words.

Read: Sales Soar for Antiracism Books and Titles by Black Creators

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When actor Melissa Victor thought about where she learned the stories that shaped her-important things about life, and how to braid hair-she realized that a lot of that education took place on the Baltimore stoop where she grew up. Victor is deeply spiritual, and at a certain point, as her theater parts started to dry up, she asked God for guidance.

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article about cover ups in the media

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Lisa Maree Williams / Getty / The Atlantic

In light of the recent police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, journalists are faced, once again, with the task of making sense of black protest for the American public. It bears asking what media professionals have learned, not just in the six years since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, spurred national outrage, but also in the decades, and centuries, of black American resistance.

How the news covers activism matters profoundly to a democracy because the media can influence public support or rejection of policies that might solve social ills such as racism and police brutality. Following the dozens of uprisings that swept U.S. cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, commonly known as the Kerner Commission, reported on the cause and possible future prevention of such unrest. The commission asserted that, in addition to generational poverty, housing and employment discrimination, and over-policing, the media was partially responsible for the neglect felt by black communities.

The commission wrote:

Along with the country as a whole, the press has too long basked in a white world, looking out of it, if at all, with white men's eyes and a white perspective. That is no longer good enough. The painful process of readjustment that is required of the American news media must begin now ... They must insist on the highest standards of accuracy-not only reporting single events with care and skepticism, but placing each event into meaningful perspective. They must report the travail of our cities with compassion and in depth.

Yet in recent investigations of post-civil-rights-era protests (from Watts, Los Angeles, in 1992 to Baltimore in 2015), researchers found that media coverage continues to reinforce stereotypes of black incivility and denigrate the legitimacy of black outrage. For instance, news that denies black agency by fixating on supposed "outside agitators"-a common insult lobbed at the northern students and clergy who joined forces with black southerners in the 1960s-came roaring back with a vengeance over the past week. USA Today and other outlets ran headlines that uncritically repeated officials' lines, such as "' There are anarchists': Minnesota officials say 'outside agitators' are hijacking peaceful protests." Later, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was forced to backtrack on this claim, as the large majority of those arrested in Minneapolis had local driver's licenses.

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possible future prevention of such unrest

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madison journalism professor douglas mcleod

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range of media coverage of public activism

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The Headlines That Are Covering Up Police Violence

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In light of the recent police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, journalists are faced, once again, with the task of making sense of black protest for the American public.

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Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources.

John Minchillo / Associated Press

Protesting the killing of George Floyd, a crowd gathers for a rally at Cadman Plaza Park in New York City on June 4, 2020.

"I'm a White educator, where do I start?"

"How can I help?"

"What if I get it wrong?"

Recent events have shaken me to my core, and the nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd suggest that people across the country are similarly shaken. These are dark times, but if there's anything that seems like a glimmer of light to me at the moment, it's the fact that so many teachers are reflecting on how to fight racism:

For me, a Black educator and mother to a Black 16-year-old who has reached the appearance if not the legal age of manhood, these questions stir hope. Folks who don't look like me are embracing the idea that the fight for equity has to be everyone's fight. But fighting racism is a big job, and when the fires of outrage cool, we teachers will be confronted with the reality of planning deadlines, testing schedules, and another hundred things that are all in a day's work. The difficult work of equity may become just another item on a desk crowded with to-do lists.

What Can Teachers Do?

The answer, an old joke: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, of course-and achieving equity is no different. Take small bites that can have big impact and don't worry about getting it wrong sometimes, as you inevitably will. If you keep going, you can do something that brings about change.

Reading: Even if you only have 10 minutes, you can learn something to help you create a more equitable classroom. Websites like Teaching Tolerance, the NEA's EdJustice, and KQED's Mindshift feature resources for lesson planning as well as lessons for you as a teacher. Teaching Tolerance is the perfect place to start, whether you want to use bias-free language to teach tolerance through reading with young learners or plan a social action campaign with high school students.

In addition to a rich collection of K-12 classroom resources, the website features self-guided PD, on-demand webinars, and podcasts that may enable you to earn a certificate-check with your administration first. Those can easily be broken up into small chunks of time. And note that many of the site's feature articles list recommended actions at the bottom.

If your goal is to understand the Black community better, sites designed for Black audiences like The Root, The Undefeated, and Huffington Post's Black Voices are good places to start. These non-mainstream media outlets feature content by minority and minority-supporting journalists. You'll find content on topics not covered in mainstream media, like coverage of historically Black colleges and universities, news about Black brands and influencers, and stories like this one on MIT's first Black female student body president in its 159-year history. If you're teaching Black children who are generally inundated by media that does not reflect them, these are priceless ways you can enrich your current events and show-and-tell circles.

Watching: You can improve your cultural competence and learn about Black Lives Matter by watching " 4 Black Lives Matter Myths Debunked" on YouTube, which will answer quite a few questions on social justice issues, probably including some you didn't even know you had. And if you want help in having real discussions on complex issues with young children, the YouTube show LivingRoomProtest will lead you through conversations on being Black, politics, pride, and even death and the afterlife-try the episode " Education Is a Human Right " for starters.

If you want entertainment with a cultural component, Netflix has a host of shows that cater to a Black audience, as well as original content that regularly features diverse character lineups. Hulu has not only a small curated selection of Black Stories but also six seasons of the binge-worthy, socially conscious Black-ish and its spin-off prequel Mixed-ish. While Black-ish might be a little campy, it tackles real issues surrounding racism, bias, and social justice issues that arise within the Black community.

Taking action: For the civic-minded, the Kellogg Foundation has put together a website that lets you create your own personal plan to support, donate, or volunteer in the way you find most relevant. This site can help you focus your attention on one or two civic tasks with broader impact.

Social action is also a great way to involve students, which multiplies your impact. You can teach students how to write emails or letters by asking them to write to your local government in favor of policy changes banning the eight most deadly policing strategies listed at 8 Can't Wait, which has ideas on how to call or email your government yourself-there's a script you can use or adapt.

Looking within: Finally, and perhaps most importantly, take inventory of your feelings. It's normal to be most comfortable around people who are like you. It's just not good when that makes you and those like you an "us" and those who aren't like you a "them." Use a journal to sort through your personal feelings on racism or read books that provide perspective on systemic inequities and bias. These long-haul strategies will produce change in you while you take more immediate action in other ways.

The devastating events of the last days have left me shaken. I have felt anger, fear, grief-so many emotions. But I have also felt buoyed by the great outpouring of support from my less melanated colleagues who want to listen, learn, and find out how to do better. So many of them are already doing amazing things with diverse students. This piece is dedicated to them. They give me hope that this time, we will fight racism together and bring about lasting change.

Don't stop now. How do you eat an elephant? One small bite at a time.

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A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators

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Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources. John Minchillo / Associated Press Protesting the killing of George Floyd, a crowd gathers for a rally at Cadman Plaza Park in New York City on June 4, 2020.

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For more information on our response to these events:

Read Accountability, Justice, and Healing After Derek Chauvin's Trial

Read A Message From Facing History: A Reckoning Amidst the Pandemic

Read our blog post, On George Floyd

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was suffocated by a police officer in Minneapolis, while three other officers looked on. George Floyd has joined a long list of black men, women, and children who have been killed in recent years by police officers. Here is a list of some of the names of black people killed by the police between Eric Garner's murder in 2014 and George Floyd's murder this year. Protests have erupted across the United States—and even across the world—in response to these deaths.

This Teaching Idea is a guide for teachers to begin conversations with their students about George Floyd’s death and the events that surround it. Such conversations are always difficult for teachers to facilitate, and distance learning presents added challenges to teaching sensitive material. Despite these challenges, it’s critical to make space for students to process the difficult and deeply painful events of the past week.

1. Start with Yourself

Self-reflection is important preparation for facilitating sensitive conversations with our students. As educators, we have to process our own feelings and become aware of the way our own identities and experiences shape the perspectives we hold. Read the “Start with Yourself” section on page 2 of our Fostering Civil Discourse guide. Then reflect on the following questions:

What emotions do the recent events surrounding the death of George Floyd raise for you?

What perspectives will you bring to your reflection on these events with your students?

What can you do to ensure that students with a range of perspectives are supported in your reflection?

As this story develops, how will you continue to learn alongside your students?

2. Prepare for Teaching

A remote learning environment poses particular challenges for difficult conversations. These ideas will help you to plan a sensitive and effective conversation with your students:

Plan where and how you will hold this conversation. Will it be a live discussion on Zoom or another platform? Will you use a moderated discussion board or other asynchronous platform?

If you don’t regularly meet with your students online, consider setting up office hours when students have the option to call or message you to discuss their thoughts or feelings about the killing of George Floyd and the protests that have followed.

Tell students ahead of time what to expect from your conversation about the events surrounding George Floyd’s death, so that they can emotionally prepare. For example, let your students know if they will be assigned to break out rooms or other discussion forums. Consider giving students the opportunity to opt-out of talking during the conversation, in order to provide students who need it space to process what they are experiencing and learning.

Determine whether you might be able to refer students to school wellness staff for additional support if needed.

Consider communicating with parents and caregivers about the conversation you are planning to hold. How might you help to bridge and support connections between school conversations and those happenings in students’ lives outside of school?

3. Create Space for Student Reflection

In the midst of traumatic and violent events, it can be beneficial to focus first on emotional processing, addressing the “heart” before the “head.” Give yourself and your students space to reflect on your emotional responses to the event.

Let your students know that their learning environment is a safe space. Begin with a brief Contracting activity if you have not already forged that safe space in your distance learning environment. Invite your students to add to or modify the contract to support this conversation. Then follow with an acknowledgment of the event and its emotional impact.

Consider sharing a resource from a trusted news outlet to establish baseline knowledge of the events and dispel misinformation. You might choose to share an article from a local news source to focus on the impact of recent events in your area. (Many students may have watched the video of George Floyd’s murder. We do not recommend showing this graphic video to your class, in part because it risks retraumatizing students.)

Give your students an opportunity to reflect individually in their journals. Students should have the option to keep their journal reflections private. Potential journal prompts include:

How is the news of the past week, including the murder of George Floyd and the resulting protests, affecting you?

What would you like others to know about what you are thinking, feeling, and experiencing?

What do you need from others to understand, cope, process, and be safe as this story continues to unfold?

What can you offer to others to support them in how this story is impacting them?

Invite students to share any reflections they wish to, but also give students the option to keep their reflections private. Possible ways to share include:

One-on-one or small group office hours with teacher

Small group discussions among students on a video or chat platform

Voice recordings (sent directly to the teacher or shared in a student forum)

Excerpts from journal entries, chosen by students (sent directly to the teacher or shared in a student forum)

4. Go Deeper: Learn about the History of Police Violence towards Black Americans

The following resources can help your students better understand the historical roots of police violence towards black Americans:

In an interview with The New Yorker magazine, Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson explains how today’s police violence towards black Americans is rooted in our past and a false narrative of racial difference.

The article The racist roots of American policing: From slave patrols to traffic stops from The Conversation traces the historical precedents of aggressive and violent policing of African Americans in slavery and the Jim Crow era.

You might have students synthesize what they have learned from one or both of these resources by having them create an iceberg diagram. At the top of the diagram, students can write “the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.” Next to the bottom part of the diagram (under the water), students should write their answers to these questions: What are the historical roots of police violence toward black Americans? How does this history impact policing today?

Finally, ask students to share their diagrams. (If students drew their own diagrams, they can take a photo to share.)

5. Go Deeper: Reflect on Protests Today

Play Trevor Noah’s video George Floyd, Minneapolis Protests, Ahmaud Arbery & Amy Cooper for your students. (Note: In the first few minutes of the video, Trevor Noah focuses on the video of Amy Cooper taken in Central Park last week. You may choose to play the video from the beginning or start the video at 5:40, when Trevor Noah begins discussing the death of George Floyd.)

Then, reflect with students:

How is Trevor Noah making sense of the news from the past two weeks? Why does he believe that the pandemic and the series of high profile incidents of racism and racist violence are connected?

How does Trevor Noah define a social contract? How does he use the idea of a broken social contract to explain the protests and unrest we have seen across the United States?

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech The Other America, he talks about how “a riot is the language of the unheard.”1 Play a video excerpt of his speech or share the transcript with your students.

Then, reflect with students:

What do you think Martin Luther King Jr. means when he says that “a riot is the language of the unheard?”

What examples does Martin Luther King Jr. give of problems he believes are going unaddressed during his life? What are examples of problems you believe are going unaddressed today?

6. Raise Students’ Voices

Conclude your discussion by inviting students to step back and consider what is at stake in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and in the midst of widespread protests. Ask students to imagine that they have the chance to communicate directly to one or more of the key figures in this story, such as George Floyd’s family, the chief of police in Minneapolis, the mayor of any city where protests are taking place, Joe Biden (the presumptive Democratic nominee for president), President Donald Trump, or another national leader. What questions would they want to ask? What perspectives would they want to share? If students would like to share reflections publicly, our partners at the New York Times’ The Learning Network are inviting comments in their Student Opinion section: What Is Your Reaction to the Days of Protest That Have Followed the Death of George Floyd?

Citations

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Reflecting on George Floyd’s Death and Police Violence Towards Black Americans

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This Teaching Idea is a guide for teachers to begin conversations with their students about George Floyd’s death and the events that surround it.

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Teaching Ideas and Resources to Help Students Make Sense of the George Floyd Protests (Published 2020)

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Putting the demonstrations into a larger context, with help from The Times and other news and educational organizations.