"What Is Systemic Racism?" is an 8-part video series that shows how racism shows up in our lives across institutions and society: Wealth Gap, Employment, Housing Discrimination, Government Surveillance, Incarceration, Drug Arrests, Immigration Arrests, Infant Mortality… yes, systemic racism is really a thing.

A colorblind approach allows us to deny uncomfortable cultural differences.

A photographer at Fordham asked her peers to write down the microaggressions they've encountered. Here is what they had to say.

Have you ever experienced someone insulting you in a way that felt a little bit racist, but you couldn’t quite figure out why?

Why Fighting Microagressions can Feel Like Treading Water

Another unarmed Black man was killed by reckless and unnecessary use of excessive force. The plague of lethal police violence against Black people continues to traumatize communities of color in America, adding urgency to the need for reform.

Ibram X. Kendi, Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, reflects on being a Black male in the United States and how black identity is tied to fear - both fear of Black people and the fear Black people have due to police and other white citizens. "Americans don’t see me, or Ahmaud Arbery, running down the road—they see their fear."

Say Her Name is intended to serve as a resource for the media, organizers, researchers, policy makers, and other stakeholders to better understand and address black women’s experiences of profiling and policing. In addition to stories of black women who have been killed by police and who have experienced gender-specific forms of police violence, say her name provides some analytical frames for understanding their experiences and broadens dominant conceptions of who experiences state violence and what it looks like.

Despite the importance of understanding how race intersects with police use of force, little research has used police administrative data to investigate whether or not disparities exist. Because the dominant narrative around race and law enforcement is that crime rates drive police behavior, we used data from the National Justice Database — Center for Policing Equity’s project to provide national-level data and analyses on police behavior—to investigate racial disparities in use of force benchmarking against demographics of local arrest rates.

Policing has laid bare the fault lines in America — and our report, New Era of Public Safety, is about the possibility of healing and transformative reform. This report serves as a guide forward. It aspires to redefine public safety in such a way that serves every person and every community. The report does so by asserting that real transformation — transformation that can take root and thrive — must involve stakeholders working together, bridging deep divides, and committing to the promise of safe, fair, and effective policing.

A guide of resources to investigate statistics regarding criminal justice

We believe the data represented on this site is the most comprehensive accounting of people killed by police since 2013. This information has been meticulously sourced from the three largest, most comprehensive and impartial crowdsourced databases on police killings in the country: FatalEncounters.org, the U.S. Police Shootings Database and KilledbyPolice.net. We've also done extensive original research to further improve the quality and completeness of the data; searching social media, obituaries, criminal records databases, police reports and other sources to identify the race of 90 percent of all victims in the database.

In a country devastated by the deaths and injuries of hundreds of people, many of them unarmed, at the hands of police officers, drastic changes are needed in our approach to public safety. Such excessive force by police is particularly disturbing given its disproportionate impact on people of color. CLRP envisions and fights for a country where law enforcement treats all communities with dignity, employs restraint on police power, and uses only the degree of force necessary to maintain the community’s safety.

AMA (American Medical Association) policy recognizes that physical or verbal violence between law enforcement officers and the public, particularly among Black and Brown communities where these incidents are more prevalent and pervasive, is a critical determinant of health and supports research into the public health consequences of these violent interactions.

#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.

In February of 2015, two of the original Ferguson Freedom Riders, Decide to initiate the chapter and file the official paperwork necessary for Philadelphia to have a official chapter. Months later in May, BLM Philly hold the first local chapter meeting at the St. Paul’s Baptist Church. Since then, the chapter has flourished launched a number of initiatives including, letter campaigns, Black Joy and Healing circles, vigils, and forums.

The women of Black Lives Matter are not bending to the demands of respectability politics. They are carving out space for black women to fight for justice. A growing number of Black Lives Matter activists—including the women behind the original hashtag—have been refocusing attention on how police brutality impacts black women and others on the margins of today’s national conversation about race, such as poor, elderly, gay, and trans people.

Has Black Lives Matter influenced police lethal use-of-force? A difference-in-differences design finds census places with Black Lives Matter protests experience a 15% to 20% decrease in police homicides over the ensuing five years, around 300 fewer deaths. The gap in lethal use-of-force between places with and without protests widens over these subsequent years and is most prominent when protests are large or frequent. This result holds for alternative specifications, estimators, police homicide datasets, and population screens; however, it does not hold if lethal use-of-force is normalized by violent crime or arrests. Protests also influence local police agencies, which may explain the reduction. Agencies with local protests become more likely to obtain body-cameras, expand community policing, receive a larger operating budget, and reduce the number of property crime-related arrests, but forego some black officer employment and college education requirements.

Compilation of reading and teaching resources intended to help you, your families, and colleagues/friends (better) understand and discuss the myriad ways white supremacy, structural racism, and systems of oppression affect our lives.

Born as a Twitter hashtag, Black Lives Matter has evolved into a potent alternative to the political paralysis and isolation that racial jus­tice proponents have faced since the election of Obama. In just over two years, the young move­ment has reinvigorated confrontation politics, giving voice to a popular and righteous rage, establishing a new touchstone of grassroots resistance, and ending the acquiescence that has crippled progressive forces in the age of Obama. The upsurge, which has centered on the crucial, galvanizing issue of police misconduct, also shows signs of addressing larger questions of social inequity. With continued momentum, Black Lives Matter may help reverse the coun­teroffensive against workers and people of color that has defined the long aftermath of the 1960s and 1970s liberation struggles.

The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities.

The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

Founded in 1996, The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) is an innovative think tank that connects academics, activists and policy-makers to promote efforts to dismantle structural inequality. We utilize new ideas and innovative perspectives to transform public discourse and policy. We promote frameworks and strategies that address a vision of racial justice that embraces the intersections of race, gender, class, and the array of barriers that disempower those who are marginalized in society. AAPF is dedicated to advancing and expanding racial justice, gender equality, and the indivisibility of all human rights, both in the U.S. and internationally.

Comic books have always been political. They are both a reflection and a barometer of our times. From the first appearance of Captain America in March 1941 punching the face of Hitler, to recent titles like I am Alfonso Jones and MARCH - titles tackling police brutality, #BlackLivesMatter, and the life story of Congressman John Lewis - comic books have been and continue to be vitally important avenues to visually tell our stories, to share our histories, and to show experiences and multiple perspectives while engaging both sides of our brain.

A Thesis by Robin Hoecker (2001) submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in Bachelor of Philosophy with interdisciplinary honors in Communications and African and African-American Studies.

In April of 2001, members of Penn State’s Black Caucus and their supporters occupied the student union building for ten days. The protest was initially caused by overt racism in the form of death threats to black student leaders, although the underlying reasons for protest were ongoing problems concerning racial tensions on campus as well as curriculum deficiencies at the university. Black student protests occur at Penn State on an approximate ten-year cycle that began as early as 1948, with major disturbances in 1960, 1968, 1979, 1988, and 2001. This study used document analysis to examine each set of protests with regards to the national context, the racial climate at the university, the initial cause, the chronology of events, and the results. This historical perspective reveals many similarities among the demonstrations, and establishes a pattern. Some possible causes for the protests are the demographic characteristics of Pennsylvania, the rural location of the university, and the failure of the majority white community to understand alienation felt by many black students. A photo-documentary of events from the 2000-01 academic year shows the personal struggles of the black students involved and emphasizes the need for university and community action.

Expansive Google Drive with resources on a wide range of topics related to Black History - from the Black Panther Party to music to tons of individuals.

The United States of Anxiety works to connect the present with the past. Underlying almost every cultural divide and fervent debate as we approach the 2020 election is one basic question: Who is the USA for? Who’s allowed to live here? Who has control over whose body? Who gets to vote? Who gets access to a good public education? Who sets the definition of justice?

What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for! Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race head-on. We explore how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between. This podcast makes ALL OF US part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story.

3 1/2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS dissects the aftermath of the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis and the trial of Michael Dunn who, in 2012, shot him repeatedly at a Florida gas station for playing his music too loudly.

Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, WHOSE STREETS? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising. When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of St. Louis, Missouri. Grief, long-standing racial tensions and renewed anger bring residents together to hold vigil and protest this latest tragedy. Empowered parents, artists, and teachers from around the country come together as freedom fighters.

An investigation into the disputed cause of death of black activist Sandra Bland, who died in police custody in Waller County, Texas, after a routine traffic stop by state trooper Brian Encinia.