Learning Resources

Join a SURJ DC reading group. Join a small group to explore white privilege and systems of oppression, deepen your analysis, hear others’ insights, and sharpen your vision for collective liberation—with the goal of moving from education to action! Check the weekly email and social for reading groups or email surj.readinggroups@gmail.com.

Read/watch/listen to current favorites from SURJ DC members. This list grows and changes.

  1. See SURJ National educational resources below, like Racism 101.

  2. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh is a classic in anti-racism literature for white people that makes white privilege concrete. Questions for reflection: This was written 30 years ago. What updates would you make? What is still the same? (Thanks Taryn!)

  3. White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun, a list of characteristics of white supremacy culture that show up in our organizations—and their antidotes. Culture is powerful precisely because it is so present and at the same time so very difficult to name or identify. Questions for reflection: How did you learn these characteristics? How are they used to support white supremacy? What would it feel like to not be burdened by them?

  4. Rachel Cargle is a public academic, writer, and lecturer. Her activism and academic work are rooted in providing intellectual discourse, tools, and resources that explore the intersection of race and womanhood. Check out her social syllabi, The Great Unlearn, Unpacking White Feminism, and Instagram.

  5. Seeing White, a documentary podcast exploring whiteness in America—where it came from, what it means, and how it works. (Thanks Laura!)

  6.  White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo describes how white people can build the emotional muscles to talk about race and deal with conflicts around race. This video from DiAngelo also has some of the article's points. (Thanks Kali!)

  7. The White Ally Toolkit helps anti-racism allies do their part in the fight against racism by empowering and equipping them with best practice communications skills based on listening, storytelling, and compassion— to become more persuasive in conversations with racism skeptics. (Thanks Caitlyn!)

  8. Naming and Framing Racism is to explicitly and publicly use language and analysis that describes an issue as a matter of racial justice, explaining how it privileges white people and disadvantages BIPOC. Unless we clearly talk about and educate people about the existence of racism as a current and critical issue, we will allow racist institutions to perpetuate the myth throughout society that racism is no longer relevant, undermining our ability to dismantle it.

  9. Wondering why Juneteenth matters? Check out this article  from Vox.

  10. Antifascism Resources compiled by a SURJ DC member to help us understand the connection between anti-racism and anti-fascism.

  11. Books (thanks Sarah!)

Action Resources

  1. Mutual Aid in DC
    We encourage you to plug in to your local mutual aid group as a way to practice “we keep us safe.”

  2. Talking About Race in Social Justice Movements Guide
    A sample script to engage white folks at social justice actions in thinking about race and racism.

  3. Alternatives to Calling the Police DC  Flow Chart, Resource Guide and Facilitation Guide
    Thanks to the SURJ DC Policing team for creating the resource guide and to the folks with Petworth Immigrants' Rights & Police Accountability for creating the facilitation guide! Have questions about the guide or interested in hosting a workshop? Contact alternativestopolicedc@gmail.com

Healing Resources

The Healing Team offers opportunities for people socialized as white to unlearn and shift patterns of white supremacy culture and anti-Black racism that are deeply embedded in our bodies and hearts, in addition to our minds. Becoming familiar with dehumanizing and toxic responses, then practicing more holistic ways of being, we can show up for racial justice in more authentic, healthful ways and more effectively contribute and organize in pursuit of collective liberation. Check the weekly email, news page, and social for healing opportunities or email surjdc+healing@gmail.com

Read this essay So You Want to Be a White Ally: Healing from white supremacy by SURJ DC Healing Team member Caitlin Duffy to learn more about the importance of healing ourselves from the damage of white supremacy and reclaiming our humanity as we work for collective liberation.

Participate in a training like Healing from Internalized Whiteness by Re-Becoming Human, an online educational platform developed by Sandra Kim that supports you in addressing everyday oppression in a humanizing way at the personal, relationship, and community level.

SURJ National Resources

SURJ National has designed a series of political education sessions to educate yourself or others, including those linked below. For an introduction to Race and Racism, see PBS site “What is Race.”

Know of a great resource that belongs here? Contact surjdc+comms@gmail.com