Below is a group of resources (many of which are used as study materials in our online courses) that can provide a foundational understanding of the themes listed. Neither the themes, nor the resources themselves, are meant to be exhaustive. Political education is a lifelong practice.
Foundational Political Analysis
- Our Analysis – Eleanor Hancock (15 min read)
- A Liberal vs Radical Analysis of Racism – David Dean (14 min watch; This presentation was given in our 2021 “Before We Were White” course)
- What is White Supremacy – Elizabeth Martínez (15 min read)
- Understanding Antisemitism as Ruling Class Strategy – Excerpts from Essays by April Rosenblum and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
- Why the Working Class? – Vivek Chibber (10 min read)
- White Anti-Racism Must Be Based in Solidarity, Not Altruism – Jesse Myerson (15-20 min read)
- Solidarity for Survival: An Interview with Ian Haney López – David Dean (50 min interview)
Whiteness as a Tool for Capitalism (and stories of white racial assimilation)
- Roots Deeper than Whiteness: Remembering who we are for the well-being of all – David Dean (35-45 min read). You can also listen to the audio version of this article here.
- Birth of a White Nation – Jacqueline Battalora (37 min watch)
- Anti-Black Racism, the Minstrel Show, and the Making of Whiteness – Chris Crass (10 min read)
- Address at the End of the Selma to Montgomery March – Martin Luther King, Jr. (7-10 min)
- White immigrants weren’t always considered white – Brando Starkey (10-20 min read)
- How Jews Became White Folks — and May Become Nonwhite Under Trump – Karen Brodkin (7-10 min read)
- Anti-Asian Racism Creates Inequality for All – Excerpt from an Essay by Viet Thanh Nguyen (5 min read)
- Coded Racism as a Political Weapon and Its Impact Today – David Dean (15 min watch)
European Roots and Earth-based Traditions
- The Vast and Beautiful World of Indigenous Europe – Lyla June (20 min read)
- Dancing in the Streets, Excerpt from a Book Review – Book by Barbara Ehrenreich (5-7 min read)
- The Magical World of Aradia – This is a passage from the 1998 translation by Mario Pazzaglini and Dina Pazzaglini (20 min read)
- Earth Based Judaism- Reclaiming Our Roots, Reconnecting to Nature – Rabbi Zelig Golden (7-10 min read)
- The Burning Times: Notes on a Crucial Period of History – From Dreaming the Dark, a book by Starhawk (35 pages)
- Wales: the first and final colony – A lecture by Adam Price MP (30-40 min read)
- The World Turned Upside Down – song by Leon Rosselson; popularized by Billy Bragg (video and short reading)
- Ancient Spirit Rising Practices – An excerpt from Ancient Spirit Rising, by Pegi Eyers
- Qallunology 101: A Lesson Plan for the Non-Indigenous – Derek Rasmussen (10-15 min read)
Building Working Class Power
- Where We Stand – Bread and Roses Caucus of the DSA (5 min read)
- Selections from “Socialism Made Easy” – Written in 1909 by James Connolly (20-30 min read)
- Building the Power to Win – Jane McAlevey (5 min watch)
- Nothing More Powerful Than a Strike – Jane McAlevey (2 min watch)
- Organizing to Win a Green New Deal – Jane McAveley (15-20 min read)
- Oakland has a school-to-prison pipeline. The teachers’ strike is our best hope to end it. – Shane Ruiz (15-20 min read)
- The Most Effective Way to Stop Police Terror is at the Point of Production – Jacobin interview with Clarence Thomas (labor leader) (10-12 min read)
Coalition-Building and Race-Class Organizing
- Democrats can win by tackling race and class together. Here’s proof. – Ian Haney López, Anat Shenker-Osorio and Tamara Draut (5-7min read). If it works better for your learning style, feel free to instead read this infographic-filled document that covers the same content: Race-Class: A Winning Electoral Narrative.
- If Progressives Don’t Try to Win Over Rural Areas, Guess Who Will – George Goehl (7-10 min read)
- Learning How to Listen – Michigan – Episode Two of “To See Each Other,” a podcast by People’s Action (28 min listen)
- Shared Foundations – Sarah Ngu (10-15 min read)
- “No One’s Ever Asked me Before” – Down Home North Carolina Report
- Building Accountable Relationships with Communities of Color – Pax Christi Anti-Racist Team (20-25 min read)
- Catalyst Project’s Anti-Racist Organizing Strategy – Chris Crass (10 min read)
Challenging Colonialism and US Imperialism
- “Forging Settler-Indigenous Alliances” Training Materials – This White Awake training by Lyla June (artist and community organizer of Diné [Navajo] and Tsétsêhéstâhese [Cheyenne] lineages) offers concrete skills for those of us who are white to act in solidarity with Indigenous communities.
- How to support Standing Rock and confront what it means to live on stolen land – Berkeley Carnine & Liza Minno Bloom (15 min read)
- The Wellbriety Journey to Forgiveness (documentary) – whitebison.org (the video title is linked to an edited version for White Awake workshops; the full documentary can be streamed on Youtube here. Content Warning: Descriptions of childhood abuse)
- Indigenous Socialism in Bolivia: A Model For Us All – David Griscom (10 min watch)
- We Are Here Because You Were There: Refugees at the US-Mexican Border – H. Patricia Hynes (10 min read)
- This is why they hate us – Ben Norton on the history of US backed “regime change”
Legacies of Multiracial Resistance in the US
- The Other America: Claiming and carrying forward a legacy of multiracial resistance — David Dean (17 min watch)
- St. Patrick’s Batallion infographic
- War Happens in Dark Places, Too – Keri Leigh Merritt (15 min read)
- Remembering the US soldiers who refused orders to murder Native Americans at Sand Creek (10-15 min read). Content warning: this story includes descriptions of and reference to the horrific violence of the Sand Creek massacre.
- Building the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign (From “King in the Wilderness” documentary; 2 min watch from cued start time)
- The 1969 Rainbow Coalition: Documentary Trailer and Description and Fred Hampton’s Speech to the Young Patriots
- In Freedom Seder, Jews And African-Americans Built A Tradition Together (5-7 min read; embedded video optional)
Healing Ourselves and Building a Healthy Movement Culture
- Excommunicate Me from the Church of Social Justice (7-15 min read)
- The Evolution of Identity Politics: An Interview with Eric Ward (15-20 min read)
- Embracing Rootedness and Radical Genealogy – Aurora Levins Morales (10 min read)
- Fighting injustice can trigger trauma – we need to learn how to process it and take healing action – Kazu Haga (10 min read)
Joining a Political Organization
- How to get involved in an activist organization and become a valuable volunteer–starting today – Laura Casado (10-20 min read)
- Political Organizations to Consider Joining – White Awake (15+ min of reading/research)
- Building the Labor Movement Inside & Outside Your Workplace – White Awake (5-7 min read)