Anti-Racism Resources

Diversity Within the Jewish Community

• What is Jewish About Respecting Differences?
• Passport to Peoplehood for Families
• Israel Resource Cards: Diversity
• 7 Jewish Books for Kids That Promote Diversity
• URJ: Essays from Jews of Color
• The Black Jews Are Tired
• Be’chol Lashon: Judaism and Race

URJ Voices of Jews of Color

• Discussion Guide
• Video: A Message from Yolanda Savage-Narva (password: URJ5780)
• Video: A Message from Evan Traylor (password: URJ5780)
• Video: A Message from Deitra Reiser (password: URJ5780)
• Video: A Message from Three Jews of Color (password: URJ5780)

Resources for Parents Educating Their Children

• URJ Statement: Witnessing Protests, Rage, and Our Torah’s Unbending Demand for Justice
• Beyond the Golden Rule: A Parent’s Guide to Preventing and Responding to Prejudice
• George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. What Do We Tell Our Children?
• How to Talk to Kids about Racism
• YouTube: The Atlantic: How to Talk to Kids about Race
• YouTube: Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester
• National Museum of African American History and Culture: Talking About Race
• 10 Tips for Teaching and Talking to Kids about Race
• Definitions of Racism
• 100 Race-Conscious Things You Can Say to Your Child to Advance Racial Justice
• Teaching Tolerance: Race and Ethnicity
• Race and Ethnicity – What’s the Difference?
• Repair the World: Racial Justice Service Learning
• Jewish Perspectives on Racial Justice
• Picture Books that Teach Kids to Combat Racism
• A Jewish Anti-Racist Reading List for Children of All Ages
• 31 Children’s Books to Support Conversations on Race, Racism, and Resistance
• Iconic Black Jewish Writer Julius Lester Should Be on Every Parent’s Radar
• Sesame Street: Lupita Nyong’o Loves Her Skin
• YouTube: A Kids Book About Racism by Jelani Memory
• Best Moments from CNN and Sesame Street’s Town Hall on Racism for Kids and Parents
• Talking to Kids about #blacklivesmatter

Resources for Educating Yourself

• A Guide to Talking to Your White Jewish Family About Anti-Black Racism
• Who Counts? Race and the Jewish Future
• Mixed Multitude: On Judaism and Racial Justice
• I Helped Coin the Term ‘Jews of Color.’ It’s Time for a History Lesson
• My Jewish Learning: Blacks and Jews Entangled
• My Jewish Learning: Jews in the Civil Rights Movement
• Jewish Multiracial Network: Privilege Checklist
• The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah Explains our Social Contract
• Glossary of Bias Terms
• Racial Equity Tools Glossary
• Definitions of Race
• Definitions of Racism
• White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (Peggy McIntosh)
• What Is White Privilege, Really?
• How Monique Melton Is Helping You Be An Anti-Racist
• The New York Times: The 1619 Project
• ADL: George Floyd, Racism and Law Enforcement
• Jewish Social Justice Resources

Queer Jews of Color

• Queer Jews of Color Resource List
• Keshet: LGBTQ Jews of Color Resources
• What It’s Like To Be a Black, Gay, Professional Jew
• Black, Gay, and Jewish: Passover Lamb and Sweeping Statements
• Michael Twitty, Black Jewish Foodie, Talks ‘Culinary Justice’
• He Is Black, Gay and Jewish — and He Sings in Yiddish!

Articles to Read

• Why You Need to Care About Black Lives Matter: A Young Jew of Color Speaks to White Jews
• I’m a Black and Jewish Woman. My Identity Matters
• A Day in a Life: How Racism Impacts Families of Color [Info-graphic]
• Try to See Me
• For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies
• How White Women’s Tears Threaten Black Existence
• The Souls of White Folk
• What Do We Do with White Folks?
• White Space
• Discourse and Debate: Is Performative Activism Inherently Bad?
• When Feminism Is White Supremacy in Heels
• Message to White Allies from A Black Anti-Racism Expert: You’re Doing It Wrong
• Why Seeing Yourself Represented on Screen Is So Important
• ‘Believe Us’: Black Jews Respond to the George Floyd Protests, in Their Own Words

Books with Jews of Color for Adults to Read

• Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness: Memoir of a White Mother of Black Sons by Jane Lazarre
• Black, Jewish and Interracial: It’s Not the Color of Your Skin, But the Race of Your Kin, and Other Myths of Identity by Katya Bibel Azoulay
• Black, White and Jewish by Rebecca Walker
• Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk about Race and Identity by Lise Funderbergs
• Lovesong: Becoming a Jew by Julius Lester
• Oreo by Fran Ross
• Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother by Jana Wolff
• Shades of Community and Conflict: Biracial Adults of African-American and Jewish-American Heritages by Josylyn C. Segal
• Under One Canopy: Readings in Jewish Diversity by Karen Primack
• The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
• The Beautiful People of the Book: A Tribute to Ethiopian Jews in Israel by Colette Berman and Yosef Miller
• Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption by Barbara Katz Rothman
• 20 Books by Black Jewish Authors You Should Read
• You Can Order Today from these Black-owned Independent Bookstores

Books with Jews of Color for Children to Read

• Book List from the Jewish Multiracial Network – Go to the website above for more information about each book and for more book recommendations.
• I Love Jewish Faces by Debra Darvick (ages 5 and under)
• A Turn for Noah: A Hanukkah Story by Susan Remick Topek (preschool)
• Clap and Count! Action Rhymes for the Jewish Year by Jacqueline Jules (preschool)
• Maccabee Jamboree: A Hanukkah Countdown by Cheri Holland and Rosalyn Schanzer (preschool and kindergarten)
• What Makes Someone A Jew by Lauren Seidman (preschool and kindergarten)
• Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco (elementary school)
• Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron (elementary school)
• Abuelita’s Secret Matzahs by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso (elementary school)
• It’s Challah Time! It’s Sukkah Time! It’s Hanukkah Time! It’s Purim Time! A Photographic Holiday Series by Latifa Berry Kropf (preschool)
• Elijah Angel: A Story for Chanukah and Christmas by Michael Rosen (elementary school)
• Day of Delight, A Jewish Sabbath in Ethiopia by Maxine Rose Schur (elementary school)
• Four Sides, Eight Nights: A New Spin on Hanukkah by Rebecca Tova Ben-Zvi (elementary school)
• Jalapeno Bagels by Natasha Wing (elementary school)
• God’s Paintbrush by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso (elementary school)
• Jewish Holidays All Year Round: A Family Treasury by Ilene Cooper (elementary school)
• Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester (grades 1–5)
• Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence (elementary and middle school)
• The Storyteller’s Beads by Jane Kurtz (upper elementary and middle school)
• Stealing Home by Ellen Schwartz (upper elementary and middle school)
• Let My People Go: Bible Stories by a Freeman of Color by Patricia and Fredrick McKissack (middle school)
• Always an Olivia by Carolivia Herron, Illustrated by Jeremy Tugeau (ages 7–10, grades 2–4)
• Daughters of the Ark by Anna Morgan (ages 10 and up)
• Black Mirror by Nancy Werlin (Ages 12 and up)
• Zack by William Bell (teens)
• Chloe Leiberman (Sometimes Wong) by Carrie Rosten (teens)
• Bluish by Virginia Hamilton
• Celebrate Hanukkah With Light, Latkes, and Dreidels by Deborah Heiligman
• Chag Sameach: A Jewish Holiday Book for Children by Patricia Schaffer

Books to Read about Racism

• How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
• So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Color of Love by Mara Gad
• Divided Sisters by Midge Wilson and Kathy Russell
• The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts
• Locking Up Our Own by James Forman
• The Miner’s Canary by Lani Guiner and Gerald Torres
• The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
• Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly About Racism in America by George Yancy
• Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice by Paul Kivel

Films/Shows to Watch

• Off and Running (2010)
• Hidden Figures (2016)
• Do The Right Thing (1989)
• 13th (2016; Netflix)
• Selma (2014)
• Cesar Chavez (2014)
• The Visitor (2007)
• American Son (2019; Netflix)
• Dear White People (Netflix)
• If Beale St Could Talk (2018; Hulu)
• King in the Wilderness (2018; HBO)
• See You Yesterday (2019; Netflix)
• The Hate You Give (2018; Cinemax)
• When They See US (2019; Netflix)
• Black Panther (2018; Disney+)
• Remember the Titans (2000; Disney+)
• Ruby Bridges (1998; Disney+)
• Glory Road (2006; Disney+)

Podcasts about Race and Racial Injustice

• Code Switch: “Members of Whose Tribe?”
• Code Switch: “A Tale of Two School Districts”
• Scene on Radio: Seeing White: “How Race Was Made”
• 1619
• We Live Here: “At the Table and Dismissed”
• The Daily: “A Weekend of Pain and Protest”
• The Diversity Gap: “Why Are All of the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria”
• Unlocking Us with Brene Brown: “Brené with Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist”

Jews of Color on Social Media

• 13 Jews of Color to Follow on Social Media Right Now

Ways to Help

• NFTY: Racial Justice
• Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism: Racial Justice
• Ways Reform Jews Can Act Now for Racial Justice
• What Non-Black Jews Can Do to Combat Anti-Black Racism
• 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
• I’m a Black Reverend Whose Grandfather Marched with King and Heschel. Here’s How White Jews Can Support Black People Right Now
• Guidelines for Being Strong White Allies
• 5 Tips For Being An Ally
• Black Lives Matter: List of Ways to Help
• Jews for Black Lives: 3 Actions You Can Take Right Now
• URJ: Audacious Hospitality Pilot Toolkit

Organizations

• Be’chol Lashon
• Dimensions
• Jews in ALL Hues
• Jewish Multiracial Network
• Jews of Color: Field Building Initiative
• Jews of Color Caucus
• Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
• Bend the Arc
• National Council of Jewish Women
• ADL
• NAACP
• Communities United against Police Brutality
• Equal Justice Initiative
• Color of Change
• The Loveland Foundation
• We Need Diverse Books

Links to Resources from Other Synagogues

• Antiracism Resources for Temple Beth-El, San Antonio, Texas
• Rabbi Ruth Zlotnick, Creation Through Teshuvah: Reckoning with the Sins of Slavery & Racism, Yom Kippur 5779
• Rabbi Ruth Zlotnick’s Readings (accompanying Yom Kippur 5779 sermon)