This toolkit provides resources to support community members working towards racial justice and gender equity, and indeed injustice in its many forms.
These how-to materials can be used for taking action to address systemic racism and gender equity. We hope the resources available through the links below can bolster your own efforts.
DIRECT ACTION
Taking direct action can be an effective vehicle for change. Actions you can take include:
- Registering Voters
- Encouraging Census Participation
- Writing Letters to Elected Officials
- Writing Letters to the Editor
- Seeking Enforcement of Existing Laws or Policies
- Lobbying Decisionmakers
- Conducting a Petition Drive
- General Rules for Organizing for Legislative Advocacy
- Developing and Maintaining Ongoing Relationships with Legislators and their Aides
- Organizing Public Demonstrations
- Initiating Legal Action
- Organizing a Boycott
- Using Social Media for Digital Advocacy
- Advocacy Over and For the Long Term
SKILLS FOR ADVOCATES
The resources below cover key skills for advocates. Feel free to explore these resources and make use of them to support your own advocacy efforts.
Developing a Plan for Advocacy
Demonstrating Economic Benefit or Harm
Conducting Research to Influence Policy
WORKING TOGETHER FOR RACIAL JUSTICE AND INCLUSION
Understanding Culture and Diversity in Building Communities
Building Relationships with People from Different Cultures
Healing from the Effects of Internalized Oppression
Strategies and Activities for Reducing Racial Prejudice and Racism
Learning to be an Ally for People from Diverse Groups and Backgrounds
Creating Opportunities for Members of Groups to Identify Their Similarities, Differences, and Assets
Building Culturally Competent Organizations
Transforming Conflicts in Diverse Communities
Understanding Culture, Social Organization, and Leadership to Enhance Engagement
Building Inclusive Communities
UNDERSTANDING RACIAL JUSTICE
The Equal Justice Initiative challenges poverty and racial injustice, advocates for equal treatment in the criminal justice system, and creates hope for marginalized communities. Learn about the history of racial injustice in the U.S., criminal justice reform, and public education, including the Just Mercy documentary film, on EJI’s website.
This video illustrates EJI's Reconstruction in America report, which "examines the 12 years following the Civil War when lawlessness and violence perpetrated by white leaders created an American future of racial hierarchy, white supremacy, and Jim Crow laws—an era from which our nation has yet to recover." View the Reconstruction in America report.
In this video, Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative describes how the U.S. can face its history of racism.
The Segregated by Design video above examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy.
TED Talk: The difference between being "not racist" and antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (video)
University of Washington professor Dr. Robin DiAngelo reads from her book "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism," explains the phenomenon, and discusses how white people can develop their capacity to engage more constructively across race.
Learn more about what causes racial inequity by reading the Racial Equity Institute's Groundwater theory. The Groundwater approach observes that racial inequity looks the same across systems, socio-economic difference does not explain the racial inequity, and inequities are caused by systems, regardless of people’s culture or behavior.
ADDITIONAL RACIAL EQUITY RESOURCES
Community Science Webinar: How to Ensure Equitable Development as We Rebuild
Equitable Development as a Tool to Advance Racial Equity