RACIAL JUSTICE RESOURCES

Last Updated August 25, 2023, 10:00 a.m.
 

Dance/NYC seeks to dismantle white supremacy in dance and amplify the voices and autonomy of the African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) community. Please refer to Dance/NYC’s Racial Justice Agenda to learn more about our work. 

Dance/NYC’s vision for a just, equitable, and inclusive dance ecology is short- and long-term and encompasses changes to policy, investments, programs, attitudes, and actions impacting ALAANA artists, cultural workers, and audiences. Dance/NYC recognizes that racial justice does not exist individually or siloed from additional equity areas and interrelated forces of oppression (e.g., disability, immigrant matters, economic justice) in its work nor in the lives of its constituents. Instead, racial justice requires an intersectional* approach that builds upon multiple areas that together create a more just, equitable, and inclusive dance ecology. 

Below you can find a list of anti-racism resources and advocacy action items for how you and your organization can take steps towards  justice, equity, and inclusion. 

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RESOURCES

Dance/NYC Racial Justice Information

• Dance/NYC has a full glossary and resource directory on Justice, Equity & Inclusion
  • Racial Equity Tools for Organizational Impact Assessments
  • Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization
  • Essay by Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility
  • Dance/NYC Racial Justice Agenda
• May 29, 2020: Open Letter To The Dance Community in Response to the Murders of Black People
• June 10, 2020: Open letter To The Dance Community On Taking Action in Support of Black Lives
• March 20, 2021: Take Action in support of the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander community

 

Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Partner Resources

• The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) provides diverse art, music and cultural genres from the global African Diaspora and showcases music, artistry and other creative expressions in African and Caribbean culture.
• The Black Report by the International Association of Blacks in Dance
• Confronting Prejudice: How to Protect Yourself and Help Others

For Black Folks

• Actors Equity: The Healing with The Actors Fund Group for Black-Identified Entertainment Professionals begins July 23. Learn more and request an interview.
• Angela’s Pulse and their associated organizations
• Audre Lorde Project – One of NYC’s longest standing LGBTQ advocacy groups for people of color
• Black AIDS Institute - Working to end the Black HIV epidemic through policy, advocacy, and high quality direct HIV services.
• Black Dance Changemakers
• Black Girl Pilates also on Instagram @commandofitnesscollective
• Black Lives Matter, Aging Adults, & Senior Care
• Black-Led Dance Companies and Arts Organizations (also listed below in the Donate section)
• Black Men Matter – Examining Mental Health Issues Among Black Men – A Guide To Freedom
• Coalition for Diasporan Scholars Moving
• Dancers Amplified
• Financial Literacy in the Black Community
• Jar of Love Fund from Artnoir
• Love Letters to Black People from Alesha Harris’ What to Send Up When It Goes Down
• Queer Dollar Project is providing financial support to Black queer/trans artists
• Therapy Fund for Black Women and Girls - Raising funds to provide free therapy sessions for Black women and girls.
• Mental Health:
  • BEAM – A Black-led emotional and mental health collective.
  • Liberate is a subscription-based meditation app that includes practices and talks designed for the BIPOC community.
  • National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network
  • Therapy for Black Girls has resources and a therapist network
  • Zencare lets you filter therapists by racial identity, gender, and specialty
  • 44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in This Country by SELF

 

For LGBTQ+ Folks

• Audre Lorde Project – One of NYC’s longest standing LGBTQ advocacy groups for people of color.
• Callen Lorde Community Health Center provides sensitive, quality health care and related services for New York’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community
• Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS) provides post-incarceration support for trans New Yorkers, as well as career training, housing referrals, and clothing referrals
• Queer Detainment Project assists folks coming out of immigration detention in securing structural, health/wellness, educational, legal, and housing services
• Marsha P. Johnson Institute - A nonprofit dedicated to protecting and defending the human rights of Black transgender people and continuing the legacy of Marsha P. Johnson
• Revolutionary Hope: A Conversation Between James Baldwin and Audre Lorde
• The Ali Forney Center provides LGBTQ young people housing and a continuum of supportive services to help them thrive and prepare them for independent living
• The Trevor Project provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth ages 16–25 with their 24/7 helpline
• Trans Lifeline peer support service run by trans people, for trans and questioning callers, as well as microgrants for trans BIPOC to fund documentation changes

 

For BIPOC Folks

• Actors Equity: The Healing with The Actors Fund Group for Non-Black POC Entertainment Professionals begins July 30. Learn more and request an interview.
• Join the artEquity community as they share strategies for interfacing with white leadership and cultivating BIPOC solidarity.

 

READINGS
 

On Racism, White Supremacy and Anti-Blackness

• a word for white people in two parts by adrienne maree brown
• A Open Letter to White Non-Profits by Ysabel Y. Gonzalez
• An Open Letter to Arts Organizations Rampant with White Supremacy by Nana Chinara
• Breaking the Chain: Healing Racial Trauma in the Body with Resmaa Menaken
• Critical Race Theory - Harvard/The Bridge
• “Dear White Boss…” by Keith A. Caver and Ancella B. Livers
• Decolonizing Antiracism by Bonita Lawrence and Enakshi Dua
• Diving into Racial Equity: The MAP Fund’s Exploration by Vanessa Whang
• Enough Already with the Statements of “Solidarity,” Arts World by Kaisha S. Johnson
• I Said, Can You Hear Me Now by the International Association of Blacks in Dance
• Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
• Non-Black People of Color Need to Start Having Conversations About the Anti-Blackness in Our Communities by Sharon Park 
• On Racial Justice: A Letter From Billie Holiday Theatre Artistic Director Dr. Indira Etwaroo
• Peeling Back the Skin of Racism: Real History and Race in Dance Education by Julie Kerr-Berry 
• Policy Platforms from Movement for Black Lives
• Re-Imaging America | Magazine by Thelma Golden with Garrett Bradley
• Talking About Race by The National Museum of African American History and Culture
• The Deafening Silence of Dance Organizations by Gregory King
• Want To Have Better Conversations About Racism With Your Parents? Here’s How by NPR
• White People Must Save Themselves from Whiteness by Venita Blackburn
• White People! Move to the Back of the Line! by Amy Smith
• White Privilege in the Arts: The Tip of the Iceberg? by Justin Laing
• white supremacy culture by Tema Okun
• Yup. Non-profit culture and performative activism perpetuate ableism and anti-Blackness by Amber Butts
   

On Anti-Asian Racism

• Anti-Racism College Guide for AAPI Students and Allies
• Chinese Massacre of 1871 
• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 
• Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II 
• Fighting anti-Asian racism from the American Friends Service Committee
• Tips on bystander intervention to learn more about how you can help build the safe and peaceful communities we all deserve.
• Stop AAPI HATE resource compiled by Playbill
   

For Parents and Families 

• Children’s books on race and racial justice compiled by Caroline Pryor
• Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners, a list of children’s books on Black culture in America
• Museum Resources for Talking About Racism with Children by The Association of Children’s Museums
• Parenting for Liberation podcast
• Parenting is Political podcast
• Systemic Racism Explained by act.tv
• White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America by Margaret A. Hagerman
• Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup by Pretty Good
   

On Asian Americans and Black Solidarity

• Asian Communities Must Desert the American Empire and Protect Black Lives by Xoài Pham
• Black Power, Yellow Peril: Towards a Politics of Afro-Asian Solidarity by Diane Wong, Professor at NYU
• Black and Asian-American Feminist Solidarities: A Reading List by Black Women Radicals and the Asian American Feminist Collective
• South Asians and Black Lives by Deepa Iyer 
• Talking to your Asian immigrant family about race by Eda Yu and Heji Rashdi
   

On Latino/a/x Experiences and Black Solidarity

• Dismantling Anti-Blackness Together by Lorgia García Peña
• Latinx: The New Force in American Politics and Culture by Ed Morales
• Rosa Clemente on Allyship and Confronting Anti-Blackness by Latino USA
• The Latino Community is Finally Coming to Grips with Its Own Racism by León Krauze
• En español: ¿Qué tiene que ver George Floyd con el Perú?
• Not A Proud Latina by Dash Harris Machado
• In Panama, a Youth Soccer Group Leads the Charge Against Racism & Economic Impacts of COVID-19 
• The Afro-Peruvian Women Leading the Black Movement in South America: 
• Activists Across Latin America Are Marching in Solidarity With 'Black Lives Matter' Protests in the US:  
   

On Arab Americans, Afro-Arabs, and Black Solidarity

• “Arab-Black” Solidarity Shouldn’t Erase Afro-Arabs and the Racism They Face in the Arab World by Lama El-Hanan
• Arabs and African Americans: A complicated relationship between solidarity and bigotry by Ali Harb
• Reciprocal Solidarity: Where the Black and Palestinian Queer Struggles Meet by Sa’ed Atshan and Darnell L. Moore
   

On Jewish Identity and Whiteness

• Jews for Racial and Economic Justice in NYC
• The Miseducation of Castlemont High by B.A. Parker for This American Life
• The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity by Eric L. Goldstein
   

On Disability and Race

• Disability Solidarity: Completing the ‘Vision for Black Lives’ by the Harriet Tubman Collective
• Jina Kim discusses Disability, Race, and Infrastructural Neglect by the Wesleyan Argus
• Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC): July 26, 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Join MAC throughout the month of July to celebrate this landmark civil rights legislation and its impact on the arts.
• Police Violence Frequently Targets Black People–and we hardly ever talk about it by Rachel Anspach
• Response: Concerns re Disability/Deaf Rights Communities’ Response to Policing System’s Violence, and other publications by Talila A. Lewis
• Disability and Access by Showing Up for Racial Justice
• Voices of Black disabled people and resources for accessible protests by Alice Wong
   

Books

• Anti-Racism Reading List from The Millions
• Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis
• Black Liberation Reading List by NYPL Schomburg Center Staff
• Black Dance Scholarship by Black Dance Scholars from the Dance Studies Association
• Black Futures by Jenna Wortham
• Black History Month Library compiled by Charles Preston
• Books for Black Dance Legacy compiled by the International Association of Blacks in Dance
• Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
• Citizen by Claudia Rankine
• Dance Pedagogy for a Diverse World by Nyama McCarthy Brown
• Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance: Dance and Other Contexts by Brenda Dixon Gottschild
• Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
• From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America by Elizabeth Hinton
• Imagoes: A Queer Anthology compiled by Jamal Jones
• My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Friere 
• Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• 40+ Books for Anti-Racist Teachers
• 50 Amazing Books By Black Authors From The Past 5 Years
• 10 Black-Owned Online Bookstores to Support While at Home
• You can order from these Black-Owned book stores
• Updated List of Resources with Free Books

EMBODIED LEARNING 

Guided Self-Reflection

• AWAKE to WOKE to WORK: Building a Race Equity Culture by Equity in the Center
• Dismantling Racism Works Web Workbook 
• Expressive Writing Prompts to Use If You’ve Been Accused of White Fragility, Spiritual Bypass or White Privilege by Leesa Renee Hall
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
• Notice the Rage, Notice the Silence by Resmaa Menakem
• The Guide to Allyship

Trainings & Consultation

• Alia Lahlou, Affiliate Consultant/Trainer, Interaction Institute for Social Change 
• Allied Media Projects
• Alternate ROOTS’ + Arts and Activism Tools
• Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance (AORTA)
• Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative
• Cultural Equity Learning Community - Specifically for non-Black arts administrators
• D5 | A five-year coalition to grow philanthropy's diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Grantmakers in the Arts Racial Equity Community of Practice for Experienced Practitioners Workshop
• Healing from Internalized Whiteness through Everyday Feminism
• HMD/The Bridge Project Public Dialogue Series
• House of Bea: Equity Diversity & Inclusion Workshops
• PISAB - People’s Institute for Undoing Racism
• PURPOSE Productions
• Race Forward
• Service Never Sleeps Allyship Workshop through Dance/USA - Sign up to be added to the waitlist
• Sonny Singh, Social Justice Educator and board member of TakeRoot Justice 
• The BIPOC Project
• The Blind Spot
• Urban Bush Women
• Right to Be Bystander Intervention Training

SUPPORT

Donate

• ActBlue - A fund to split donations between 70+ community bail funds, mutual aid funds, and racial justice organizers.
• Black Lives Matter Movement
• Donate to Black Visions Collective
• For the Gworls - Actively fighting to reduce homelessness rates in the Black transgender community, as well as lowering the risk of affirmative surgeries being done in ways that put them at greater health risks
• Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS)
• LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund - Posts bail to secure the release and safety of LGBTQ+ people held in jail or immigration detention
• Here is a running list of additional Black-led Dance/Arts Orgs you can support (please note this is an independently compiled starting list and will grow with time)
• Invest in Black Communities 
• Operation Obsidian: Housing for Black Trans Men by Trans in Color
• Support Black Culture in NYC
• The Okra Project
• Trans Lifeline
• Trans Women of Color Collective
• Asian American Arts Alliance
• Red Canary Song
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice
• Stop AAPI Hate
• Act to Change 
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta
• Final Bow for Yellow Face
   

Background Information on Reparations

• H.R. 40 bill: Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act 
• "H.R. 40 is not a Symbolic Act.  It's a Path to Restorative Justice by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, U.S. House of Representatives for the ACLU
• Reparations - Has the Time Finally Come? by Nkechi Taifa for the ACLU
• Ta-Nahesi Coates' Opening Statement on Reparations at House Hearing 
• The Case for Reparations by Ta Nehisi-Coates
• Policy Platform on Reparations from the Movement for Black Lives
• Cultural Reparations One-Pager from the Movement for Black Lives
• ReparationsNYC project by FABnyc will produce reparations-related programming
• ‘Why We Can’t Wait’ letter to Congress
• NowThis: Working on a National Plan for Reparations
   

Watch

• History of US Policing with Khalil Gibran Muhammad on Democracy Now
• Intangible Roots by Moncell Durden
• Is the Dance Community Silent? | Virtual Town Hall hosted by SOLE Defined 6/4/2020
• Living Room Protest by Staceyann Chin and daughter Zuri on YouTube
• On Whiteness by Claudia Rankine
• Race in America: Reimagining Capitalism with Darren Walker
• Radical Self Care by Angela Davis
• Robin DiAngelo on "White Fragility"  
• Peru is Diversity Black & Proud in Peru 
• Mujer Afro/Black Woman 
• Kick & Punch: Afro-Ecuadorian Communities of Valle del Chota
• Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Were Important to Black People Outside of the U.S.
• The Father of Black History was Puerto Rican
• AfroCubans were Integral in the African-American Harlem Jazz Scene
• The Myth of the Disappearing Afro-Argentines
• NEGRO: An AfroPeruvian Perspective on 'Django Unchained' and Peruvian Media
• NEGRO: Finding Identity - Ryan
• Whiteness Project
   

Listen

• Black History for White People 
• History of US police from Slavery to Today on NPR’s Throughline
• Forest 404 podcast staring Pearl Mackie on BBC Radio
• Dancers Amplified podcast
• 1619 Project Podcast from the New York Times
• NPR Code Switch
• Nice White Parents by NPR
• Intersectionality Matters! with Kimberlé Crenshaw
• Teaching While White
• The Limitations of an Anti-Racist Reading List by Linda Holmes and Lauren Michelle Jackson
• Seeing White by NPR
• Raising an Anti-Racist | All Of It
• Rough Translation by NPR
   

For Organizations: Recreating Systems

• Action Tools from Dismantling Racism
• Adaptive Leadership - Cambridge Leadership Associates
• Arts Leadership: Creating Sustainable Arts Organizations by Kenneth Foster
• BlackSpace Manifesto
• Beyond the Streets – Accessible Version
• Broadway Advocacy Coalition - Reimagining Equitable Productions
• Building Accountable Communities – Dean Spade
• White Supremacy Culture by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun 
• Crises as a Catalyst - A Call for Race Equity & Inclusive Leadership by ProInspire
• Decolonizing Wealth by Edgar Villanueva
• Diversity Style Guide
• Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute
• Fractured Atlas’ Culture of Experimentation, a conversation with Shawn Anderson, Tim Cynova, Lauren Ruffin, and Pallavi Sharma
• Guidance for Reporting and Writing About Racism from Syracuse University
• How to Manage When Things Are Not Okay (And Haven’t Been for Centuries) by the Management Center
• How White People Conquered the Non-Profit Industry And why they won’t be going anywhere, anytime soon by Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
• Is Your Company Actually Fighting Racism, or Just Talking About It? by Kira Hudson Banks and Richard Harvey
• Mapping Our Roles in Social Change Ecosystems by Deepa Iyer
• Not Just Money: Equity Issues in Cultural Philanthropy
• Racial Equity Readiness Assessment for Workforce Development from Race Forward
• REAL TALK!, a guided response to Creating New Futures: Working Guidelines for Ethics & Equity in Presenting Dance & Performance, a tentatively-titled, living document-in-progress
• Recognizing Systemic Racism in the Dance Field by Alicia Mullikin
• So You Want to Be an Anti-Racist Organization. Now What? by Nicola Carpenter
• State of the Arts: Anti-Racist Pedagogy in Theatre and Dance Programs with Khalid Long
• Wildcat Manual for Tactical Self-Enfranchisement by Wildcat!
• Confronting Prejudice: How to Protect Yourself and Help Others
   

Additional Resource Lists:

• Activist Organizations and Resources for Racial Justice
• Anti-racism resources for white people 
• Justice in June - Anti Racism actions in 10/25/45 minutes a day
• Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources

 

ADVOCACY RESOURCES

Take Action

• Donate Memorabilia: The New-York Historical Society is actively collecting materials related to the pandemic and to the Black Lives Matter protests through their ongoing History Responds initiative. They seek to preserve signs, flyers, political face masks, protective gear, artwork distributed to protesters, and the stories connected to those items, before they disappear.
• H.R. 40: Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act - The bill was introduced to the House in January 2019 and needs to be considered by committee before it can be sent on to the House or Senate as a whole.

  • Call or write to Congress

  • Send a Message to Congress through the ACLU

• H.R. 7120 George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 - The bill would hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct in court, improve transparency through data collection, and reform police training and policies. The House passed this bill on June 25, 2020.
• (S 3985) JUSTICE Act passed. The act would: discourage, but not ban, tactics such as chokeholds and no-knock warrants, require local law enforcement agencies to report all officer-involved deaths to the FBI and encourage broader use of body-worn cameras.
• Join the Movement for Black Lives National Call to Action by texting ActionNOWPLEDGE to 90975
• Sign Black Lives Matter Petitions 
• Sign on to the International Association of Blacks in Dance open letter calling out white supremacy in the dance field entitled Dear White American Dance Community.
• Sign on to Jazz Dance - Call to Action Letter
• Sign on to Open Letter from Arts and Cultural Workers of NYC, Demanding the Defunding of the Police and Investment in BIPOC Communities
• Sign on your organization to Nonprofits' Open Letter to the City to Center Black and People of Color Led Organizations in Reallocating Policing Funds
• Ways You Can Help by Black Lives Matter 
• Follow the NYC chapter of Showing Up For Racial Justice
• Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice by the White Accomplices
• A Community-Centered Response to Violence against Asian American Communities
  • As an Organization
  • As an individual

Celebrate Juneteenth

• A National Collaboration Unites Black Museums in Celebration of Juneteenth: 6 Black museums commemorate the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth

 

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