July 17 - 23, 2020

In honor of Juneteenth 2020, I've committed to educating myself on systemic racism, discrimination, and bias. Every day from June 19, 2020 to June 18, 2021, I will read an article or book chapter, listen to a podcast, watch a movie or documentary, view a webinar, or do something substantive to educate myself in these areas. As part of that commitment, I will post to this blog each Friday with a list of what I've done over the past week as well as any pertinent thoughts or reflections.

Today's post covers the week of July 17-23, 2020.

When and How to Respond to Microaggressions

This 3-5 minute article from the Harvard Business Review defines and gives examples of microaggressions and provides a framework for Black employees and non-Black allies to confront microaggressions in the workplace.

History of the Black Experience (July 16)

The third week of Dr. Leonard Moore's class at UT-Austin covers the two large migrations of Black Americans from the South to other parts of the country. Dr. Moore discusses the push and pull of these migrations and the obstacles faced by Blacks in their new communities. He also introduces the concept of White Flight and ties the rise of suburbs to the construction of new highways. The lecture is 90 minutes total.

How to Deconstruct Racism, One Headline at a Time

In this 16 minute TED talk, Baratunde Thurston examines news headlines of violence and oppression toward Black people and uses the technique of diagramming sentences to show how we can change those events if we choose to do so.

Pac-12 Perspective

This 50-minute podcast hosted by Ashley Adamson of the Pac-12 Network features a conversation among three current Stanford student-athletes and an alumna about their experiences with racism and their hopes for the future.

The Egalitarian Brain

This essay, a 5-7 minute read by NYU psychologist David Amodio, looks at how the brain is wired for survival and how it also can overcome bias. The neocortex has developed, over time, to override impulses of the subcortex. If people work toward recognizing and correcting their own prejudice, they can teach their neocortex how to respond without bias.

Breonna Taylor Can't Tell Her Story of Police Abuse, But I'm Here to Tell Mine

SMU Professor Sanderia Faye pens this 10 minute piece for The New Yorker about her experience when the Dallas police broke down her door looking for the drug dealers next door.

What Anti-Racist Teachers Do Differently

This 5-7 minute article in The Atlantic was written by Pirette McKamy, the first Black principal at San Francisco's Mission High School. She also taught English and history and led an anti-racist teaching committee from 2005-2016. The article touches on ways faculty can reach Black students by tying their own success to that of all students, especially students of color.