Just Us by Claudia Rankine - This multidisciplinary book by "Rankine—a Yale professor, renowned poet, and MacArthur fellow whose groundbreaking book Citizen: An American Lyric (2014) won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award—resists being pigeonholed, particularly by White critics....Throughout this potent book, the author ably conveys the urgency of the stakes regarding race in America, which many White people fail to acknowledge as an issue. The way she challenges those close to her, risking those relationships, shows readers just how critical the issues are to her—and to us. Rankine examines how what some see as matters of fact—e.g., “white male privilege” or “black lives matter”—seem to others like accusation or bones of contention, and she documents how and why this culture has been able to perpetuate itself.  A work that should move, challenge, and transform every reader who encounters it. " Rankine, C. (2020, September 8). Just Us. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved October 30, 2021, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/claudia-rankine/just-us-rankine/.

Claudia Rankine’s “Help” brings the topic of white privilege to the stage

Two years ago, just after the start of previews for Claudia Rankine’s play, “Help,” New York’s theaters shut down. Now with the pandemic easing, the show is finally opening. PBS NewsHour Weekend sat down with Rankine two years ago and met with her again to see how recent events have reshaped her work, which examines white privilege through the eyes of a Black woman.

Author Claudia Rankine answers your questions about ‘Citizen’

Claudia Rankine, author of our July pick for the News Hour - New York Times book club, Now Read This, joins Jeffrey Brown to answer reader questions about “Citizen: An American Lyric.”

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman - The award-winning and ground-breaking series that takes on race and equality has been adapted to a television series now streaming. The series, suitable for age 12 and up is an alternate reality fiction based in a 22nd-century parallel universe which "postul[ates] a world in which the supercontinent Pangaea never broke up, leading to African nations gaining the evolutionary and geo-political advantage – and ultimately, control – over Europeans. ... Against this backdrop, Blackman throws a pair of star-crossed young lovers – Sephy, the daughter of a powerful Cross politician, and Callum, a nought whose mother works as her nanny until she is unfairly dismissed. However, whilst the young people’s developing and emotionally authentic relationship is at the heart of the series, this is no sweet teen romance."  Teachwire. (2018). Noughts and crosses Book review. Teachwire. Retrieved October 30, 2021, from https://www.teachwire.net/school-books/bookreviews/noughts-and-crosses. (All the Noughts and Crosses books in order:  Book 1: Noughts and Crosses (2001)/Book 2: Knife Edge (2004)/Book 3: Checkmate (2005)/Book 4: Double Cross (2008)/Book 5: Crossfire (2019)/Novella: An Eye for An Eye (2003)/Novella: Nought Forever (2019))

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett - "Mallard, a fictional town in Louisiana, is a liminal “third place”. Established in 1848, it is inhabited by light skinned African Americans “who would never be white but refused to be treated like Negroes”. In 1938 it’s the birthplace of “creamy skinned, hazel eyed” identical twins, Stella and Desiree Vignes. ... Those within the community marry to maintain the lightness of bloodlines and to ensure that “the darkest ones [are] no swarthier than a Greek”. ... The girls are convincingly characterized as polar opposites. Stella is bookish, biddable and somewhat dependent on her twin. Desiree is more headstrong and spirited. As they make their perilous way in the Big Easy, their unity is unsettled. Stella soon deserts Desiree, disappearing into a life in which she constructs a new identity and “passes” as white. ... Bennett is a gifted storyteller. This generous, humane novel has many merits, not least its engrossing plot and richly detailed settings, from smoky small-town diners to gleaming laboratories. The handling of Stella’s secret struggles is, however, an especial achievement. Stella’s lie takes her into a deep and jagged introspection that threatens the life she has so painstakingly built. Yet the novel proves to be a timely testament to the redemptive powers of community, connection and looking beyond the self."  Donkor, M. (2020, June 4). The vanishing half by Brit Bennett Review – a twin's struggle to 'pass' for white. The Guardian. Retrieved October 30, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/04/vanishing-half-brit-bennett-review-twin-struggle-pass-white-new-orleans.

BRIT BENNETT INTERVIEWED BY GLORY EDIM

Belle is a 2013 British period drama film directed by Amma Asante, written by Misan Sagay and produced by Damian Jones. It stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Sam Reid, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Sarah Gadon, Tom Felton, and James Norton.  The film is inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle beside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray at Kenwood House, which was commissioned by their great-uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, then Lord Chief Justice of England. Very little is known about the life of Dido Belle, who was born in the West Indies and was the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of Mansfield's nephew, Sir John Lindsay. She is found living in poverty by her father and entrusted to the care of Mansfield and his wife. The fictional film centres on Dido's relationship with an aspiring lawyer; it is set at a time of legal significance, as a court case is heard on what became known as the Zong massacre, when slaves were thrown overboard from a slave ship and the owner filed with his insurance company for the losses. Lord Mansfield ruled on this case in England's Court of King's Bench in 1786, in a decision seen to contribute to the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. (Wikipedia)

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution / YEAR 2015 /SECTION Doc Premieres/COUNTRY U.S.A. /RUN TIME 116 min / Ready or not, change was coming to America. The fault lines were no longer ignorable—cities were burning, Vietnam was exploding, disputes raged over women's rights, gay rights, and civil rights. Many of the youth that came of age in the Sixties were set on tearing down the world that Dick and Jane built and reconstructing their own American Dream. A new revolutionary culture was emerging, and it sought to drastically transform the system. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense would, for a short time, put itself at the vanguard of that change.  The story of the Black Panthers is often told in a scatter of repackaged parts, often depicting tragic, mythic accounts of violence and criminal activity. Master documentarian Stanley Nelson goes straight to the source, weaving a treasure of rare archival footage with the voices of the people who were there: police, FBI informants, journalists, white supporters and detractors, and Black Panthers who remained loyal to the party and those who left it. An essential history, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, is a vibrant, human, living and breathing chronicle of this pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975   "The real content of any kind of revolutionary thrust lies in the principles and the goals that you are striving for—not in the way you reach them," activist and professor Angela Davis said in a jail cell in California in 1972, while explaining why one can expect violence during the revolution. The Black Power Mixtape is a "treasure," of sorts that was found in a Swedish basement and offers never-before-seen interviews with leaders of the Black Power Movement.

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind / Rated: PG  /Where to Watch: Netflix /This is another film based on a true story. The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is about 13-year-old William Kamkwamba and how he discovers a way to save his Malawian village from famine. The movie explores themes around poverty and political unrest.

Coco  / Rated: PG /Where to Watch: YouTube, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ / This animated film features an all-Latino cast and shares the story of Miguel, a 12-year-old Mexican boy who is an aspiring musician. Miguel goes into the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather and the movie highlights many details of daily life in Mexico.

Come See the Paradise - 20th Century Fox (133 min.)  One of the few American films to deal with the tragic story of the internment of Asian-Americans during World War II; ...opens in the late 1930s, as Jack McGurn (Dennis Quaid) is working as a union organizer in New York City. Jack finds himself on the wrong side of the law flees to Los Angeles, where Hiroshi Kawamura (Sab Shimono) gives him a job as a projectionist in L.A.'s Little Tokyo. Jack soon meets Hiroshi's beautiful daughter Lily (Tamlyn Tomita) and it's love at first sight. Jack and Lily decide to get married, but Hiroshi opposes the match and California law prevents mixed-race couples from obtaining a marriage license. Jack and Lily move to Seattle, where they are wed and soon have a daughter.  But before long the United States enters World War II, and the Kawamura family is sent...to an internment camp.

Daughters of the Dust (1991)  Director: Julie Dash  - Runtime: 112 min   Julie Dash's daring landmark film - the first made by an African-American to have a wide release - is a poignant portrait of three generations of Gullah women (descendants of West African slaves) in the early 1900s, and their decision to migrate from their sea island home off the coast of South Carolina to mainland America. Although Dash's film was unjustly overlooked by critics at the time, it is said to have influenced Beyoncé visual album Lemonade - Dust's poignant, historical imagery having inspired part of its aesthetic. Prolific filmmaker Ava duVernay has described Dash as "the queen of it all".

East Lake Meadows  /by Sarah Burns and David McMahon: Learn the history of East Lake Meadows, a former public housing community in Atlanta. Stories from residents reveal hardship and resilience, and raise critical questions about race, poverty, and who is deserving of public assistance. Available on PBS.

Fruitvale Station (2013)  /This film based on a real incident by Ryan Coogler, tells the story of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Black man who was shot to death by police at an Oakland, California, metro station.

Golden Venture - New Day Films (70 min.) 2006  The film chronicles the ongoing struggles of passengers who were aboard the Golden Venture, a immigrant smuggling ship that ran aground near New York City in 1993. Passengers had paid at least $30,000 to be brought to the U.S. from China's Fujian Province, expecting to arrive indebted but unnoticed. But a seemingly golden opportunity quickly evolved into a hellish descent through the cruel whims of U.S. immigration policy. The Golden Venture crash fed a media circus and became a symbol of a growing national concern over illegal immigration.  At a time when the immigration issue has led to furious debate and high stakes political maneuvering, the fate of the Golden Venture passengers is more relevant than ever.

GOOK -Justin Chon's movie Gook didn't make a lot of money at the box office, but it did make waves on the indie film circuit. The movie is about Korean American brothers who befriend a young black girl in Los Angeles just in time for the infamous 1992 LA riots.  Gook is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime.

Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018)  Director: RaMell Ross - Runtime: 76 min   Critics have described this avant-garde style film as "pure cinematic poetry." Two Black men learn to live within the social constructs of society and explore Black people's deep-rooted history and culture. The film captures elements of life that stem from racial injustices placed on Black people.

THE HATE U GIVE / Based on the popular young adult novel by Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give emphasizes how issues of racism and police brutality are not simply adult problems—rather, they infect the upbringing of black children and teenagers across the country. 16-year-old Starr Carter lives in a traditionally black neighborhood and attends a predominantly white prep school, but everything changes for her when her childhood friend is wrongfully murdered before her very eyes during a routine traffic stop. Despite her efforts to keep her home persona and her school persona separate, Starr is thrust onto the national stage when she speaks out against her friend’s murder. The film then follows her journey as a nascent activist for racial justice, in all its up and downs. If you’re looking to educate the teens and pre-teens in your household about racism and police brutality, sit them down for a screening of The Hate U Give.

Hidden Figures  / Rated: PG/ Where to Watch: YouTube, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, and Hulu / Hidden Figures is based on the incredible true story of three female mathematicians who dealt with many challenges around race and gender as they became an important part of NASA and the U.S. space program.

I Am Not Your Negro / Premiered January 15, 2018  By  Raoul Peck- I Am Not Your Negro envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, a radical narration about race in America, using the writer’s original words, as read by actor Samuel L. Jackson. Alongside a flood of rich archival material, the film draws upon Baldwin’s notes on the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. to explore and bring a fresh and radical perspective to the current racial narrative in America.  Raoul Peck’s Oscar-nominated documentary is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter. It is a film that questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond. And, ultimately, by confronting the deeper connections between the lives and assassination of these three leaders, Baldwin and Peck have produced a work that challenges the very definition of what America stands for.

Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959) / The lead black character, Annie, plays housekeeper to the lead white one, Lora, but they are also both single mothers and best friends. Through their lifelong relationship, issues not only of race but of identity, female independence and interdependence, and socioeconomic realities play out. The most interesting character may be Annie’s light-skinned daughter, Sarah Jane, through whom we can witness society’s brutal hypocrisy (like when she is beaten by a white boyfriend who discovers she is black).

Just Mercy  / Where to Watch: YouTube, Vudu, Google Play, and Amazon Prime Video/ This movie, starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, is a legal drama that tells the true story of a young defense attorney named Bryan Stevenson who helped appeal a murder conviction for an incarcerated Alabama man named Walter McMillian.

Loving - about the couple at the center of the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case that invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage, is not really a triumphant legal drama, it’s more like a romance that happens to have a Supreme Court case in the mix. In making the political personal, the movie infuses an easily politicized story with complexity and quiet passion. Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga star as Richard Loving, a white bricklayer, and his wife Mildred Jeter, a woman of African American and Native American descent, who drew the wrath of the law when they married. It’s a quiet, slow film; the Lovings are reticent to seek the spotlight, and the movie is fully aware that while much in the law has changed, the sentiments haven’t shifted as easily.

MOOZ-LUM (2010)   The movie Mooz-lum is filmmaker Qasim Basir's effort to bring images of Muslims to the screen that are both nuanced and universally identifiable images that he says are lacking in today's entertainment climate.

Passing (2021)  For her debut as a writer-director, Rebecca Hall adapts Nella Larson’s 1929 novel about two Black women, Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga), whose light skin allows them to “pass” as white … and who make very different life choices. Set during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, PASSING explores repression, the dynamics of identity and how one falsehood can turn into a lifetime of them. (U.S., 2021, 98m)

To Sleep with Anger is a 1990 American drama film written and directed by Charles Burnett.

A slow-burning masterwork of the early 1990s, this third feature by Charles Burnett is a singular piece of American mythmaking. In a towering performance, Danny Glover plays the enigmatic southern drifter Harry, a devilish charmer who turns up out of the blue on the South Central Los Angeles doorstep of his old friends. In short order, Harry’s presence seems to cast a chaotic spell on what appeared to be a peaceful household, exposing smoldering tensions between parents and children, tradition and change, virtue and temptation. Interweaving evocative strains of gospel and blues with rich, poetic-realist images, To Sleep with Anger is a sublimely stirring film from an autonomous artistic sensibility, a portrait of family resilience steeped in the traditions of African American mysticism and folklore.

Pinky is a 1949 American drama film directed by Elia Kazan and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, from a screenplay by Philip Dunne and Dudley Nichols, based on Cid Ricketts Sumner's 1946 novel Quality. It stars Jeanne Crain as the title character, a young light-skinned black woman who passes for white. It also stars Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters and William Lundigan.

Race - The Power of an Illusion / Directors  Christine Herbes-Sommers, Jean Cheng, Larry Adelman, Llewellyn Smith, Tracy Strain / Supplier California Newsreel  2003  /  The division of the world's peoples into distinct groups - "red," "black," "white" or "yellow" peoples - has become so deeply imbedded in our psyches, so widely accepted, many would promptly dismiss as crazy any suggestion of its falsity. Yet, that's exactly what this provocative, new three-hour series by California Newsreel claims. RACE - THE POWER OF ILLUSION questions the very idea of race as innate biology, suggesting that a belief in inborn racial difference is no more sound than believing that the sun revolves around the earth.  Yet race still matters. Just because race doesn't exist in biology doesn't mean it isn't very real, helping shape life chances and opportunities.

Selma by Ava DuVernay and Paul Webb: Selma is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches initiated and directed by James Bevel, and led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Hosea Williams and John Lewis. Available on Amazon.

Seven Seconds by Veena Sud: When 15-year-old black cyclist Brenton Butler dies in a hit-and-run accident — with a white police officer behind the wheel of the vehicle — Jersey City explodes with racial tension. This crime drama explores the aftermath of the accident, which includes an attempted cover-up by the police department and a volatile trial. Assistant prosecutor KJ wants to prosecute the hit-and-run as a hate crime, in addition to a negligent homicide. The longer the case drags on without a resolution, the more tense the situation becomes. Emmy winner Regina King stars as Brenton’s churchgoing mother, Latrice. Available on Netflix.

The Shot Heard Round the World - produced by Christine Choy (68 min.) 2006  When Yoshi Hattori, a Japanese high school exchange student, was shot to death one October night by a suburban homeowner, the  whole world was shocked once again at America's gun culture. Christine Choy, director of the multi-award -winning film Who Killed Vincent Chin?, spent three years researching the event and the ensuing criminal and civil trials. ... The film does not take sides regarding his claim that he was defending his rights as a homeowner. Avoiding simple answers, it serves up a complex picture, letting the audience draw their own conclusions about one of the most controversial criminal cases in recent years.

The Talk: Race in America by Sam Pollard: The Talk is a documentary about the increasingly necessary conversation taking place in homes and communities across the country between parents of color and their children, especially sons, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police. Available on Amazon.

Textured Waves - Textured Waves is a group of Black Women working to “propagate the culture and sport of women’s surfing towards women of color and underrepresented demographics through representation, community, and sisterly camaraderie.”  The film was produced by The Gnar Gnar Honeys,  a creative collective amplifying diversity and representation behind and in front of the lens. This group of BIPOC women unearth compelling stories with high production value content.

Vincent Who?- Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (40 min.) 2009  In 1982, Vincent Chin was beaten to death in Detroit by two white auto workers at the height of anti-Japanese sentiments. The culprits received a $3,000 fine and 3 years probation, but no jail time. Outraged by this injustice, Asian Americans around the country galvanized to form a pan-Asian identity and civil rights movement....VINCENT WHO? explores this important legacy through interviews with the key players at the time as well as a new generation of activists impacted by Vincent Chin. It also looks at the case in relation to the larger Asian American narrative, in such events as Chinese Exclusion, Japanese American Internment, the 1992 L.A. Riots, anti-Asian hate crimes, and post-9/11 racism....Ultimately, the film asks how far Asian Americans have come since the Chin case, and how far they have yet to go.

Wadjda / Rated: PG /Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and Netflix / Wadjda is the first Saudi Arabian movie to be directed by a woman, and it centers on a feisty, independent girl who wants to ride a bicycle, wear sneakers, and be able to compete against her best friend—a boy in the neighborhood. The movie explores the various religious traditions and laws that many Muslim girls and women have to follow, especially when it comes to dress and submitting to men in authority. It is subtitled, so better suited for older kids and teens.

White Like Me: Race, Racism, and White Privilege in America by Tim Wise: This movie shows how white privilege has perpetuated racial inequality and race-driven political resentments in ways most white people simply aren’t aware of. Featuring Tim Wise, Michelle Alexander, Charles Ogletree, Imani Perry, Martin Gilens, John H. Bracey, Jr. and Nilanjana Dasgupta. Available for rent through Vimeo.

Within Our Gates (1920)   Director: Oscar Micheaux - Runtime: 79 min   "Within Our Gates" follows a mixed-race woman who ventures North during the Jim Crow era in hopes of raising money for a Black school in the South. Oscar Micheaux, the first major African American feature-filmmaker, portrays racial violence and strict contrasts between the Black people who lived in rural areas to those who migrated to urban cities. The silent film is highly critiqued to be a response to D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation," and a turning point for African American cinema.

TED Talks

“The Difference between being “not racist” and antiracist.” Ibram X. Kendi [Video]There is no such thing as being "not racist," says author and historian Ibram X. Kendi. In this vital conversation, he defines the transformative concept of antiracism to help us more clearly recognize, take responsibility for and reject prejudices in our public policies, workplaces and personal beliefs. Learn how you can actively use this awareness to uproot injustice and inequality in the world -- and replace it with love. (This virtual interview, hosted by TED's current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers and speaker development curator Cloe Shasha, was recorded June 9, 2020.)

How to Deconstruct Racism One Headline at a Time, TED2019, April 2019: Emmy nominated writer, activist and comedian Baratunde Thurston explores the phenomenon of white Americans calling the police on black Americans who have committed the crimes of … eating, walking or generally “living while black.” Available on TED.

How We Can Make Racism a Solvable Problem – and Improve Policing, TED 2019, April 2019: When we define racism as behaviors instead of feelings, we can measure it — and transform it from an impossible problem into a solvable one, says justice scientist Phillip Atiba Goff. In an actionable talk, he shares his work at the Center for Policing Equity, an organization that helps police departments diagnose and track racial gaps in policing in order to eliminate them. Available on TED.

The Urgency of Intersectionality, TEDWomen 2016, October 2016: Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, is a leading authority in the area of civil rights, Black feminist legal theory, and race, racism and the law. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term “intersectionality” to describe the phenomenon of the combination of race and gender bias ; as she says, if you’re standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you’re likely to get hit by both. Available on TED.

We Need to Talk about an Injustice, TED2012, March 2012: Human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson shares some hard truths about America’s justice system, starting with a massive imbalance along racial lines: a third of the country’s black male population has been incarcerated at some point in their lives. Available on TED.

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A Conversation With Latinos on Race | Op-Docs

In this short documentary, Latinos grapple with defining their ethnic and racial identities. 

While talking with Latino people we find out the understanding of their personal identity as well as what they deal with in their every day lives. Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/1UzNpR3

A Conversation With Black Women on Race | Op-Docs

In this short documentary, black women talk about the challenges they face in society. Subscribe on YouTube: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n

Black women talk about the multilayers of race and the culture of being a black women in America. They talk about racism and stereotypes that they face every day.

Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/1lY7vqH

A Conversation With Native Americans on Race | Op-Docs

 “A Conversation With Native Americans on Race,” the latest installment in our wide-ranging “Conversation on Race” series. Directed by Michèle Stephenson and Brian Young, the film grapples with the racist contradictions of a country that, many feel, would prefer it if Native Americans didn’t exist.

A Conversation With White People On Race | Op-Docs | The New York Times

This short documentary features interviews with white people on the challenges of talking about race. Produced by: Michèle Stephenson and Blair Foster Read the story here: http://nyti.ms/1R5rf9u