Justice Action Toolkit | Community Tool Box

Image of protestors in a crowded street holding a sign with a photo of Martin Luther King, Jr., saying, "I have the same dream."

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:

Image of protestors marching, carrying a banner that says, "We who believe in freedom cannot rest."

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.

Survival Skills for Advocates

Recognizing Allies

Developing a Plan for Advocacy

Identifying Opponents

Requesting Accountability

Demonstrating Economic Benefit or Harm

Documenting Complaints

Acting as a Watchdog

Conducting Research to Influence Policy

Working with the Media

Toolkit - Building strength for the long haul toward liberation

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

Multicultural Collaboration

Transforming Conflicts in Diverse Communities

Understanding Culture, Social Organization, and Leadership to Enhance Engagement

Building Inclusive Communities

5 Ways to Call Out Racism & Hate (Twitter video)

Community actions can support racial healing, health equity: New policy papers chart roadmap

Interview: Bringing an Anti-Racist Approach to Collective Impact

Building Community Power to Achieve Health and Racial Equity: Principles to Guide Transformative Partnerships with Local Communities

Why Community Power Is Fundamental to Advancing Racial and Health Equity

Actively Addressing Systemic Racism Using a Behavioral Community Approach

Racial Equity Toolkit

Exploring Community-led Racial Healing Models to Deepen Partnerships between Community Development and Healthcare

What Does Antiracist Community Development Look Like in Practice?

The People's Practice

Solidarity Mural in Dubuque, IA, USA

Solidarity Stories

UNDERSTANDING RACIAL JUSTICE

Infused throughout all aspects of our society, racism corrupts our entire social fabric. To improve intergenerational well-being and equity in our communities, we must first acknowledge our legacy of racism and understand the role that interpersonal, institutional, and structural racism play in creating avoidable disparities. Community Commons’ Racial Justice Journey Library offers a place to start: a compilation of resources and tools for people, communities, and organizations to learn, reflect, and take action to address racism in their work and lives.

To build a healthier America for all, we must confront the systems and policies that have resulted in the generational injustice that has given rise to racial and ethnic health inequities.” Learn about racism as a serious threat to the public’s health on the CDC’s Racism and Health webpage.

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.

This video (above) from the National Museum of African American History & Culture explains that "intersectionality" is a concept articulated by Kimberle Crenshaw to explain the multifaceted and compounding discrimination experienced by individuals who belong to multiple groups that experience systemic discrimination and oppression (for example, a Black lesbian with a disability will face discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation and ability).

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.

This article, How Present-Day Health Disparities for Black People Are Linked to Past Policies and Events, shares how today’s health and health care disparities are rooted in a long history of U.S. policies and events and reflect the ongoing impacts of racism at multiple levels, including in systems, structures, policies, and interpersonal interactions.

This ColorCode “Housing Is Health Care” podcast delves into how housing — and today’s housing crisis — intersects with health. It also explores how racial discrimination has played a part in causing this crisis, as well as present-day housing segregation on Long Island.

In Solidarity Podcast Series - Unjust and Unfair: Consequences of the Racial Wealth Divide

Hosts Ericka Burroughs-Girardi and Beth Silver interview authors, activists and scientists to investigate the history of the racial wealth divide, its insidious and far-reaching implications for the health of Black Americans in particular, and the evidence-based solutions that could close the divide. Each discussion centers on how our lives and fates are interconnected and what that means for improving health and well-being for everyone.

Race in America (video)

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.