Social Justice (External) Resources

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Use the resources below to educate yourself and others and be an active supporter in the fight toward eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

Contact state and local leaders

Requesting justice, accountability and/or policing changes

Sign a petition

  • Justice for George Floyd on change.org
    • This petition aims to “reach the attention of Minneapolis Mayor Frey and District Attorney Mike Freeman to beg to have the officers involved in this disgusting situation fired and for charges to be filed immediately.” As of June 1, more than 10 million have signed.
  • Justice for Breonna Taylor on change.org
    • This petition calls for the justice of Taylor, an unarmed black woman who died in her apartment after being shot at least eight times by Louisville, Kentucky, Metro Police in March.
  • NAACP Legal Defense Fund petition for George Floyd
    • This petition insists “that officials ensure safe policing in times of unrest.”

Support Local Organizations

Give your time or donate to help them with their work
  • YWCA Greater Green Bay
    • Support us and the work we do to empower women and eliminate racism. Volunteer, share your talents, or donate.
  • The Privilege Institute
    • The Privilege Institute provides challenging, collaborative and comprehensive strategies to empower and equip people to work for equity and justice through self, organizational and social transformation.
  • We All Rise
    • The vision of We All Rise is to create and help restore a vibrant African American community. Through uplifting, skill building, and intentionally targeting root causes of systemic oppression, we actively promote the healing of all.
  • Casa ALBA Melanie
    • Our mission is to nurture the well-being and wholesome development of all members of the Hispanic community living in the greater Green Bay area.
  • Black Lives United-Green Bay (Facebook)
    • Black Lives United (BLU) is a community group in Green Bay, WI with a mission to unite folks of color and our comrades in building a beloved community.
  • United ReSisters of Green Bay, Wisconsin
    • The United ReSisters are a group of young Somali-American women who have a passion for creating a more tight-knit Green Bay community, and overall a more peaceful world.
  • COMSA
    • COMSA is a resource center that provides culturally accommodating and customized services for Somali refugee and other immigrant communities in Northeast Wisconsin.

Support National Organizations

Give your time or donate to help them with their work
  • The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
    • Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans.
  • The Bail Project
    • The Bail Project, Inc. is a non-profit organization designed to combat mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system ? one person at a time.
  • Black Table Arts
    • Black Table Arts gives access to quality, art based programs that center education, social justice and artistic development to uplift black lives. Our mission is to raise volume in black life through the arts and organize toward livable futures.
  • Black Girls Code
    • To increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology. To provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040.
  • United Nations “Let’s Fight Racism” initiative
    • Racism, xenophobia and intolerance are problems prevalent in all societies. But every day, each and every one of us can stand up against racial prejudice and intolerant attitudes.

Be an Anti-racist

Simply not being a racist is not enough.
  • Combat racist actions, statements, and microaggressions
    • Microaggressions are comments or actions that subtly express a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group. While these are often unintentional or subconscious, they can cause harm. Addressing these statements directly can help people realize the real meaning behind their “jokes” and comments.
    • Avoid being silent. Name, interrupt, and counter racist ideas and actions.
      • Use “I” statements to describe how they impacted you and made you feel
      • Clarify the person’s stance, and speak to them quietly and without aggression
      • Online, you can engage people as you would in person, share links that expose the holes in their thinking, or simply block or delete them.
    • Educate others preemptively on how racism and systems of oppression affect marginalized groups.
  • Understand privilege
    • As white people remember that you can never fully “get it” no matter how much you read, study, think or learn, or how many people of color you have in your life. That shouldn’t stop you, however, from working to educate yourself on how racism and oppression shows up around you.
    • To better understand privilege, ask yourself questions to determine if you’ve ever been negatively impacted because of your race, class, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. Also consider your own possible implicit racial biases.
  • Work toward equality in the workplace
    • Eliminate hiring bias
      • www.shrm.org offers some tips – search “eliminate racism”
    • Arrange ongoing meetings to discuss workplace equality rather than just a one-time training.
  • Urge schools to integrate diversity into the curriculum
    • Teachers can help educate students on racism, incorporating diversity and inclusion into their curriculum.
      • Black Lives Matter at School has activity guides with kid-friendly language
      • The D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice website also has resources for kids and teens.
    • Study the stories and contributions of people who have fought against discrimination
    • Bring diverse voices into schools or volunteer to be a speaker
      • “Invite people of other races or colors who are active in community work to speak to the class about what they do,” the United Nations also suggests.
  •  Accept you’ll make mistakes and sincerely apologize when you do. Just work to keep learning and growing.
  • Don’t perform antiracism
    • It is important, especially for white people, to be sure we are not performing antiracism and allyship. Antiracism is a series of intentional and ongoing actions, not badges, identities, or trends.
  • Be aware of overt versus covert racism
    • Overt racism is over-the-top and in your face. We can see overt racism and work to correct it.
    • Covert racism can be more problematic as it is hidden and presents more in the form of microaggressions. For example, “Wow, you’re amazingly articulate for a black guy.” It isn’t as obvious and offers a false sense of security. We don’t have to have active hatred in our hearts or be “bad people” to be engaging in racism.
  • Vote for politicians supporting and working towards racial justice and equality

Educate Yourself with Media

Articles

Books

You can find these books and many other great resources at Lion’s Mouth Bookstore, a small business located right here in Green Bay. Use code YWCA in the PO field at checkout for a small discount.

  • Nonfiction
    • “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism” by Robin DiAngelo
    • “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
    • “Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do” by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
    • “So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo
    • “The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement” by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris
    • “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption” by Bryan Stevenson
    • “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin
    • “Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race” by Reni Eddo-Lodge
    • “They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, And A New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement” by Wesley Lowery
    • “Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism” by bell hooks
    • “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    • “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
    • “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander
  • Fiction
    • “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead
    • “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
    • “Passing” by Nella Larsen
    • “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
    • “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
    • “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith
    • “An American Marriage” by Tayari Jones
    • “The Mothers” by Brit Bennett
    • “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
  • Books for Young Children
    • “The Colors of Us” by Karen Katz
    • “Let’s Talk About Race” by Julius Lester
    • “The Skin I’m In: A First Look at Racism” by Pat Thomas
    • Sesame Street’s “We’re Different, We’re the Same” by Bobbi Jane Kates
    • “Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice” by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard
    • “I Am Enough” by Grace Byers
    • “Happy in Our Skin” by Fran Manushkin and Lauren Tobia
    • “Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement” by Carole Boston Weatherford and Ekua Holmes
    • “Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America” by Jennifer Harvey
    • “Daddy Why Am I Brown?: A healthy conversation about skin color and family” by Bedford F. Palmer
    • “A Terrible Thing Happened” by Margaret Holmes
    • “Antiracist Baby” by Ibram X. Kendi
  • Books for Teens
    • “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas
    • “Harbor Me” by Jacqueline Woodson
    • “This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work” by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand
    • “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson
    • “Dear White People” by Justin Simien

Podcasts

  • Earn Your Leisure
  • ForAllNerds
  • About Race
  • Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
  • Intersectionality Matters!

Movies and TV

  • “13th” written and directed by Ava DuVernay
  • “The Hate U Give” directed by George Tillman Jr. based on the novel by Angie Thomas
  • “If Beale Street Could Talk” directed by Barry Jenkins based on the novel by James Baldwin
  • “Moonlight” written and directed by Barry Jenkins from the unpublished story written by Tarell Alvin McCraney
  • “Fences” directed by Denzel Washington based on the play by August Wilson
  • “When They See Us” written and directed by Ava Du Vernay
  • “Little Fires Everywhere” based on the novel by Celeste Ng
  • “Watchmen” TV series based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
  • “Insecure” created by Issa Rae
  • “Roots” based on the novel by Alex Haley