Political Education: Resources for Study & Training

Our Analysis – Eleanor Hancock (15 min read)

A Liberal vs Radical Analysis of Racism – David Dean (14 min watch; This presentation was given in our 2021 “Before We Were White” course)

Understanding Antisemitism as Ruling Class Strategy – Excerpts from Essays by April Rosenblum and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice

Why the Working Class? – Vivek Chibber (10 min read)

White Anti-Racism Must Be Based in Solidarity, Not Altruism – Jesse Myerson (15-20 min read)

Solidarity for Survival: An Interview with Ian Haney López – David Dean (50 min interview)

Roots Deeper than Whiteness: Remembering who we are for the well-being of all – David Dean (35-45 min read). You can also listen to the audio version of this article here.

Birth of a White Nation – Jacqueline Battalora (37 min watch)

Anti-Black Racism, the Minstrel Show, and the Making of Whiteness – Chris Crass (10 min read)

Address at the End of the Selma to Montgomery March – Martin Luther King, Jr. (7-10 min)

White immigrants weren’t always considered white – Brando Starkey (10-20 min read)

How Jews Became White Folks — and May Become Nonwhite Under Trump – Karen Brodkin (7-10 min read)

Anti-Asian Racism Creates Inequality for All – Excerpt from an Essay by Viet Thanh Nguyen (5 min read)

Coded Racism as a Political Weapon and Its Impact Today – David Dean (15 min watch)

The Vast and Beautiful World of Indigenous Europe – Lyla June (20 min read)

Dancing in the Streets, Excerpt from a Book Review – Book by Barbara Ehrenreich  (5-7 min read)

The Magical World of Aradia – This is a passage from the 1998 translation by Mario Pazzaglini and Dina Pazzaglini (20 min read)

Earth Based Judaism- Reclaiming Our Roots, Reconnecting to Nature – Rabbi Zelig Golden (7-10 min read)

The Burning Times: Notes on a Crucial Period of History – From Dreaming the Dark, a book by Starhawk (35 pages)

Wales: the first and final colony – A lecture by Adam Price MP (30-40 min read) 

The World Turned Upside Down – song by Leon Rosselson; popularized by Billy Bragg (video and short reading)

Ancient Spirit Rising Practices – An excerpt from Ancient Spirit Rising, by Pegi Eyers

Qallunology 101: A Lesson Plan for the Non-Indigenous – Derek Rasmussen (10-15 min read)

Where We Stand – Bread and Roses Caucus of the DSA (5 min read)

Selections from “Socialism Made Easy” – Written in 1909 by James Connolly (20-30 min read)

Building the Power to Win – Jane McAlevey (5 min watch)

Nothing More Powerful Than a Strike – Jane McAlevey (2 min watch)

Organizing to Win a Green New Deal – Jane McAveley (15-20 min read)

Oakland has a school-to-prison pipeline. The teachers’ strike is our best hope to end it. – Shane Ruiz (15-20 min read)

The Most Effective Way to Stop Police Terror is at the Point of Production – Jacobin interview with Clarence Thomas (labor leader) (10-12 min read)

Democrats can win by tackling race and class together. Here’s proof. – Ian Haney López, Anat Shenker-Osorio and Tamara Draut (5-7min read). If it works better for your learning style, feel free to instead read this infographic-filled document that covers the same content: Race-Class: A Winning Electoral Narrative.

If Progressives Don’t Try to Win Over Rural Areas, Guess Who Will – George Goehl (7-10 min read)

Learning How to Listen – Michigan – Episode Two of “To See Each Other,” a podcast by People’s Action (28 min listen)

Shared Foundations – Sarah Ngu (10-15 min read)

“No One’s Ever Asked me Before” – Down Home North Carolina Report 

Building Accountable Relationships with Communities of Color – Pax Christi Anti-Racist Team (20-25 min read)

Catalyst Project’s Anti-Racist Organizing Strategy – Chris Crass (10 min read)

“Forging Settler-Indigenous Alliances” Training Materials – This White Awake training by Lyla June (artist and community organizer of Diné [Navajo] and Tsétsêhéstâhese [Cheyenne] lineages) offers concrete skills for those of us who are white to act in solidarity with Indigenous communities.

How to support Standing Rock and confront what it means to live on stolen land – Berkeley Carnine & Liza Minno Bloom (15 min read)

The Wellbriety Journey to Forgiveness (documentary) – whitebison.org (the video title is linked to an edited version for White Awake workshops; the full documentary can be streamed on Youtube here. Content Warning: Descriptions of childhood abuse)

Indigenous Socialism in Bolivia: A Model For Us All – David Griscom (10 min watch)

We Are Here Because You Were There: Refugees at the US-Mexican Border – H. Patricia Hynes (10 min read)

This is why they hate us – Ben Norton on the history of US backed “regime change”​

The Other America: Claiming and carrying forward a legacy of multiracial resistance — David Dean (17 min watch)

St. Patrick’s Batallion infographic 

War Happens in Dark Places, Too – Keri Leigh Merritt (15 min read)

Remembering the US soldiers who refused orders to murder Native Americans at Sand Creek (10-15 min read). Content warning: this story includes descriptions of and reference to the horrific violence of the Sand Creek massacre.

Building the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign (From “King in the Wilderness” documentary; 2 min watch from cued start time)

The 1969 Rainbow Coalition: Documentary Trailer and Description and Fred Hampton’s Speech to the Young Patriots 

In Freedom Seder, Jews And African-Americans Built A Tradition Together (5-7 min read; embedded video optional) 

Excommunicate Me from the Church of Social Justice (7-15 min read)

The Evolution of Identity Politics: An Interview with Eric Ward (15-20 min read)

Embracing Rootedness and Radical Genealogy – Aurora Levins Morales (10 min read)

Fighting injustice can trigger trauma – we need to learn how to process it and take healing action – Kazu Haga (10 min read)

How to get involved in an activist organization and become a valuable volunteer–starting today – Laura Casado (10-20 min read)

Political Organizations to Consider Joining – White Awake (15+ min of reading/research) 

Building the Labor Movement Inside & Outside Your Workplace – White Awake (5-7 min read)