Jump to navigation Jump to main content
In this 3 1/2 minute video, Ramsey -- comedian, blogger and creator of MTV Decoded -- defines an ally is 'a person who wants to fight for equality for a marginalized group they're not a part of.' She defines privilege, encourages listening, learning and speaking up.
An information-packed film about race, our broken justice system and the effects of mass incarceration. DuVernay's film is based heavily on Michelle Alexander's book “The New Jim Crow." Both demonstrate that our criminal justice system is an extension of slavery and Jim Crow laws and as such are a racialized system of control. Usually only available with a Netflix subscription, in April 2020 Netflix put the full film on YouTube for free as an aid to educators. Unfortunately, this film has never been available to buy on DVD or Blu-ray (which is why the library does not own it.)
Recommended by YWCA Madison and Nehemiah: Center for Urban Leadership Development.
NYC radio host's TEDx 12 minute talk on how to verbally address someone's racist remark -- encouraging a 'what they did' not 'what they are' conversation. The second half of the video deals with how to respond intelligently to being told you've done or said something racist.
Goffman is a UW-Madison professor of Sociology and author of On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City. Here she shares what she saw first-hand in her six years reporting on and documenting the survelliance and routine stops young black and latino men in one Philadelphia neighborhood -- and how it translates nationwide.
Recommended by YWCA Madison
Maya Wiley is from the Center from Social Inclusion.
Recommended by YWCA Madison
This seven minute video shares in an accessible way the report from Race Forward on mainstream media's errors in the way they report on race. By analyzing more than 1,200 newspaper articles and television segments, they found seven main categories that need improvement: individualizing race; false equivalencies; diversion from race; focus on 'government overreach'; prioritizing intent over impact; coded language and silencing history.
Weekly videos released by MTV that typically run 5 minutes or less on race and racism in popular culture. Examples in the series include "The Suprisingly Racist History of 'Caucasian'", "How Do You Handle a Racist Joke", "Everything You Know about Thanksgiving is Wrong" and more.
In a lyrical, hip-hop style, classroom teacher Clint Smith describes the children he teaches as living in a 'food desert'.
In this 2013 seven minute segment that is part of the StoryofAmerica series, Dr. Reverend Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, spells out the history of voting rights in America, and specifically describes the attacks across history on the voting rights of African-Americans. The '3rd Reconstruction' refers to the 'fusion politics' that fueled the election of President Obama that Barber believes can respond to recent developments in attempts to restrict voting and voting rights.
In this eight minute segment, Alan Alda visits with two researchers working on the subconcious mind and participates in experiments associated with the 'Implicit Association Test' which reveal hidden gender and racial biases.
Recommended by YWCA Madison
The history of slavery includes the creation and perpetuation of the myth of racial difference. In this 6 minute video Bryan Stevenson narrates the history of slavery and how laws and culture post-slavery continued a system of racial bias as Molly Crabapple draws and paints a visuals to accompany his narrative.
Documentary film on the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. Includes Stevenson's own story and the work of EJI, including their current work creating the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which is dedicated to the more than 4,400 African American victims of lynching.
Recommended by MOSES Madison
In her 18 minute TEDx talk, Myers addresses what to do about our subconcious biases and stereotypes. She offers concrete actions for individuals to do including to be done with denial and colorblindness. Instead her slide show and talk ask us to 'stare at awesome black men' to see both their color and character and 'if you see something, say something.' She also challenges white parents to address the issue of racism with their children by talking about it.
Recommended by YWCA Madison
Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of Just Mercy: a Story of Justice and Redemption. In his 24 minute TED Talk he shares details about his upbringing, including stories about his mother and grandmother, and how he came to work as an attorney for those on death row and children in prison. The United States' relationship to the death penalty and death row is explored from the vantage point of someone who is working within the criminal justice system for change.
Recommended by YWCA Madison