Allies, Accomplices & Co-conspirators

Antiracist Resources for Education & Action 

“Are you racist? 'No' isn't a good enough answer.”
— Marlon James

Crescendo stands in solidarity with the movement for Black lives.  

In conjunction with these efforts, it is not only Crescendo’s responsibility to educate and engage with our community, but also challenge privileged individuals in our network and personalize the stakes.


“Antiracist” is not a title. Nor is it an arrival or an achievement. It is a constant pursuit in minimizing the harm we continually cause to oppressed groups. It is also a daily endeavor to actively interrupt and dismantle systems of oppression that have exploited Black and Brown communities for centuries. This resource page, directed toward White people and focusing on anti-Black racism specifically, is a working effort towards providing that space. 

This page would not exist without the efforts of several Black, Brown and Indigenous individuals and the tools here draw directly ideas and content developed by them. Please make note of the many individuals and organizations linked throughout this page and follow them. Share their perspectives. Donate to their cause. Purchase their books. Subscribe to their mailing lists, podcasts and newsletters. Make an effort to integrate their work into your ongoing education. 

We want to acknowledge that this list is neither perfect nor complete. It is constantly evolving and growing as we, and you, engage more with this movement. We hope it is a starting point, and we hope it challenges you to take your own next steps toward meaningful antiracist action.

The proceeds from our antiracist materials are going directly to Black creators and non-profit organizations that support Black communities. The organizations we are currently supporting are Freedom Schools (via. Black Lives Matter Toronto), The Okra Project, and Black Voters Matter Fund.

Tier One: Antiracist Allies

🔻 Who are Antiracist Allies? (Click here)

Allies are those of us pursuing a deeper understanding of the creation and history of racism, our own systemic advantages as a result of that history, and how our lives and our relationships are impacted by it.

We read and consume media to self-educate. We attend events and demonstrations. We are aware of politics that impact communities of color and the local organizations that address them. Our actions may not disrupt the status quo, but we are alert and informed and make an effort to share that with awareness with others.

Videos
White Workshop Participants on Race & Privilege (NBC News) 
Engaging Family in Difficult Dialogue about Race (Shereen Marisol Meraji, Code Switch)
Less Allies. More Co-conspirators (Bettina Love & Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, C-SPAN)

Articles
Black People Are Not Here to Teach You (Kali Holloway, Salon)
When White People Are Uncomfortable, Black People Are Silenced (Rachel Cargle, Harpers Bazaar)
Confronting Racism is Not About the Needs and Feelings of White People (Ijeoma Oluo, The Guardian)
Peer Permission: Code Switch on White Permission to Act (Gene Demby, Code Switch) 
Your Privilege is Showing: Common Detours for Allies (Debra Leigh)
From Words to Action: Showing Up for Black Trans Women (Janette Johnson, TGI Justice Project)
Six Action Items for White People at Work (Amanda Gelener, Medium)
How to Support Black Trans Lives Right Now (Chelsea Sanchez, Harpers Bazaar)
Performative Allyship is Dead (Holliday Phillips, Medium)
Decentering Whiteness and Creating Equitable Spaces (N. Aruliah, S. Balajee, S. Butler, B. Calhoun, D. Goodman, S. Leiderman, E. Morrison, and M. Potapchuk)
Talking to Our Own People (Showing Up for Racial Justice)
Intersectional Allyship for Trans People at Work  (Tuck Woodstock, NPR)
Raising Better White Kids (Jennifer Harvey, NPR)
Talking Antiracism With Children (Lisa Tolin & Jason Reynolds, USA Today)

Tools
Becoming White Accomplices (Jonathan Osler)
Maps/Links to SURJ Chapters and Additional Antiracist Organizations (Showing Up for Racial Justice; Jonathan Osler)
Petitions to Sign and Support (Color of Change)
Letter Template for Engaging Your Own Family (Letters for Black Lives)

Tier Two: Antiracist Accomplices

🔻 Who are Antiracist Accomplices? (Click here)

Accomplices routinely work to balance reading and thinking with doing and acting. Accomplices understand the historical and contemporary stakes of undoing racism, and pursue opportunities for tangible action connected to that knowledge.

We actively work to decenter ourselves from leadership. We organize other privileged peoples in our lives in an effort to deepen their learning and strengthen their action. We routinely disrupt discrimination and prejudice when we witness it, and are often educators in spaces dominated by Whiteness.

Videos
White Workshop Participants on Race & Privilege (NBC News) 
Engaging Family in Difficult Dialogue about Race (Shereen Marisol Meraji, Code Switch)
Less Allies. More Co-conspirators (Bettina Love & Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, C-SPAN)

Articles
Black People Are Not Here to Teach You (Kali Holloway, Salon)
When White People Are Uncomfortable, Black People Are Silenced (Rachel Cargle, Harpers Bazaar)
Confronting Racism is Not About the Needs and Feelings of White People (Ijeoma Oluo, The Guardian)
Peer Permission: Code Switch on White Permission to Act (Gene Demby, Code Switch) 
Your Privilege is Showing: Common Detours for Allies (Debra Leigh)
From Words to Action: Showing Up for Black Trans Women (Janette Johnson, TGI Justice Project)
Six Action Items for White People at Work (Amanda Gelener, Medium)
How to Support Black Trans Lives Right Now (Chelsea Sanchez, Harpers Bazaar)
Performative Allyship is Dead (Holliday Phillips, Medium)
Decentering Whiteness and Creating Equitable Spaces (N. Aruliah, S. Balajee, S. Butler, B. Calhoun, D. Goodman, S. Leiderman, E. Morrison, and M. Potapchuk)
Talking to Our Own People (Showing Up for Racial Justice)
Intersectional Allyship for Trans People at Work  (Tuck Woodstock, NPR)
Raising Better White Kids (Jennifer Harvey, NPR)
Talking Antiracism With Children (Lisa Tolin & Jason Reynolds, USA Today)

Tools
Becoming White Accomplices (Jonathan Osler)
Maps/Links to SURJ Chapters and Additional Antiracist Organizations (Showing Up for Racial Justice; Jonathan Osler)
Petitions to Sign and Support (Color of Change)
Letter Template for Engaging Your Own Family (Letters for Black Lives)

Tier Three: Antiracist Co-conspirators

🔻 Who are Antiracist Co-conspirators? (Click here)

Co-conspirators leverage and utilize their privilege to directly challenge institutional racism, interfering with or blocking racist individuals, practices and systems. Our actions are informed by, and in collaboration with Black, Brown and Indigenous leadership.

We prioritize action. We routinely call in and call out friends, family, community and leadership at our places of work. We study the movements of organizers of color, and build events and recruit others in that tradition. We pursue interracial coalitions in our personal and professional lives. We broadcast our values about antiracist work publicly and hold others accountable on their journeys toward antiracist action.

Orgs to Support & Follow: 

Books to Read:

Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

Eloquent Rage by Brittany Cooper
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
White Like Me by Tim Wise

White Rage by Carol Anderson
Me & White Supremacy by Layla Saad
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon

Podcasts to Subscribe to:

 
 

Series & Films to Watch:

13th
Black Power Mixtape
I Am Not Your Negro

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Fruitvale Station
Notes from the Field

Do the Right Thing
When They See Us
The Hate You Give