Anti-Racism and Civil Rights Resources

What is Anti-Racism?

Anti-Racism: Anti-racism is "the work of actively opposing racism by advocating for changes in political, economic, and social life. Anti-racism tends to be an individualized approach, and set up in opposition to individual racist behaviors and impacts." (National Education Association - Racial Justice in Education)

The anti-racism movement is built upon the struggles and progress of the 19th and 20th century American civil rights movements.

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi coined the term antiracist and founded the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research.

Ibram X. Kendi Interview

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi has done substantial work in distinguishing the concepts of racist, not-racist, and anti-racist.

Here is an interview where he answers questions about these ideas.

"The heartbeat of racism is denial, and really the heartbeat of anti-racism is confession, is the recognition that to grow up in this society is to literally at some point in our lives probably internalize ideas that are racist, ideas that suggest certain racial groups are better or worse than others, and because we believe in racial hierarchy, because Americans have been systematically taught that black people are more dangerous, that black people are more criminal-like, when we live in a society where black people are 40 percent of the national incarcerated population, that's going to seem normal to people. When we live in a society in a city like Minneapolis where black people are 20 percent of the population but more than 60 percent of the people being subjected to police shootings, it's going to seem normal. And so to be anti-racist is to believe that there's nothing wrong or inferior about black people or any other racial group. There's nothing dangerous about black people or any other racial group. And so when we see these racial disparities all around us, we see them as abnormal, and then we start to figure out, OK, what policies are behind so many black people being killed by police? What policies are behind so many Latinx people being disproportionately infected with COVID? How can I be a part of the struggle to upend those policies and replace them with more antiracist policies?"