Children Will Light Up the World if We Don’t Keep Them in the Dark

A TED Talk by Lucretia Berry (14 minutes)

“Why are we so bad at talking to kids about skin tone and race? We can do better, much much better”

Dismantling White Supremacy from the Inside Out

“Learn why white Americans resist engaging or even acknowledging systemic racial injustice, and how to help them get past that and work to dismantle racist patterns and systems” with Rev. J. C. Austin from Auburn Seminary. (60 minutes)

Inside the AC360 doll study

“Children take a test on their attitudes and biases toward race.”  (Multiple 5 minute segments-YouTube)

What I Am Learning from My White Grandchildren: Truths About Race

“Anthony Peterson, a Black American, draws from current research and from conversations with his Anglo American grandchildren to address truths about race in 21st century America.”

(19 minutes-Tedx on YouTube)

 Bryan Stevenson’s Remarkable Speech on How to Change the World

Bryan Stevenson, author of the book Just Mercy, is a civil rights attorney who has dedicated his life to representing those on death row who have been unjustly convicted. He believes we can change the world, and shares 4 keys to keep in mind as we go about working for social justice. (13 minutes-You Tube)

Finding Myself in the Story of Race

“This talk is designed to be a 101 for white people about what white privilege and institutional racism are and how they manifest.” The speaker, Debby Irving, is also author of the book Waking Up White, which was the catalyst that started Jan and Ellie on their journey.

Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors

‘Rudine Sims Bishop uses “Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors” as an analogy to discuss the importance of diversity in books and the authors who write them. We need books in which children can see reflections of themselves – but also look through and see other worlds.”

This is a short intro a longer article by the same name, which she wrote in 1990.

(2 minutes-You Tube)

Mirrors, Windows, & Sliding Glass Doors

Akhand Dugar, an American high school student of Indian descent, discusses the profound effects that reading diverse literature has had on his life and the lives of other children and teens.  It is a real world testament to the power of the analogies created by Rudine Sims Bishop: books can serve as mirrors to see ourselves, windows to observe the lives of others, and sliding glass doors that allow readers to enter in and share the experience of characters who are different than themselves.

Building the Troost Wall: Structural Racism in Kansas City

Take a driving tour of Kansas City, Missouri, to experience where, when, how, and why segregation developed and continues to divide us from one another to this day.

(13 minutes-YouTube)