This is a name that will persist in agony. It is the name whereby a residential school in British Columbia is known, a school where the remains of 215 children were found buried in unmarked graves.
As we struggle to engage the deep wound that this discovery makes clear, we also have to recognize how deep the wounding of indigenous communities by Christian communities who operated residential schools remains.
In the days to come we will post more resources, but here is a basic set to begin with.
Several of us use the power flower exercise in our work, and here are two updated versions of the exercise. One from We Rise and one from the Greater Toronto area community board.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice has been holding powerful bystander trainings to help people interrupt hate. You can find a list of the trainings, and ways to register at their website. Many of them are even free!
Every year different groups come out with lists of books to engage over the summer. This list, from the YWCA of Boson (which is deeply committed to dismantling racism) has put out a really interesting list for this summer. I’ve loved many of the books on this list, which drives me to read the ones I have not yet read.
Here is a powerful introduction to the push for abolition of police and prisons. Wherever you stand currently on this question, Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor’s essay is profoundly informative.
Our hearts continue to break, this time in relation to the shootings in Atlanta. Here are some resources for engaging in fighting racism that are specific to Asian and Asian American communities:
Stop AAPI Hate: www.stopaapihate.org
Asian Pacific Environmental Network: http://apen4ej.org/
Asian Americans Advancing Justice: https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/
Asian Mental Health Collective: https://www.asianmhc.org/
Children’s book on fighting anti-Asian racism during COVID-19: https://www.youngproudsungjee.com/
House Judiciary holds a hearing on the history of anti-Asian discrimination and rise in anti-Asian hate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=547JYf-VA_Q
Here’s a powerful set of short story films created by Black filmmakers about their favorite neighborhood spots: Stories in Place.
We’ve talked about the power flower exercise before, here is another version of it that is part of the LGBTQIA+ toolkit.
With the advent of the powerful new PBS series on the Black Church, we are reminded of the excellent resources put together back in 2015 on the #BlackChurchSyllabus site.