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Become a Better Therapist! Check out our Antiracism Resources

¡Conviértete en un mejor terapeuta! Consulte nuestros recursos contra el racismo

Racial and Social Justice Pledge: RECAMFT is committed to equity including addressing structural racism and systemic injustice. We endeavor to be inclusive and value individuals from all ethnicities, ages, races, sexual orientations, genders, languages, abilities, religions, citizenship statuses, and socioeconomic backgrounds into our chapter and into treatment.

We strive to advocate, educate, collaborate, and strategize for positive racial and social justice change within our membership and our community.

Take the pledge and the first step here!

Here are some great resources to read and watch to help you become a better therapist. 

Here are three great videos you can watch in your quest to become a better therapist! 

1. First watch "13th" on either YouTube or Netflix. The address is: https://youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8

2. Consider watching "Healing Racialized Trauma: A Conversation with Resmaa Menakem and Tara Brach". He is a fellow therapist, and this video includes a very powerful experiential exercise. 

https://youtu.be/UQRkJecRBmw

Ibram X. Kendi

Podcast: Brene Brown speaks with Ibram Kendi about how to be an anti-racist. 

https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-ibram-x-kendi-on-how-to-be-an-antiracist/

3. Consider watching or listening to this interview of Dr. KennethKenneth Hardy Hardy, starting at 45 minutes into the program. Here are notes for the talk. Image of Dr. Hardy found here 

https://vimeo.com/427600351?ref=em-v-share

James Baldwin's 1963 classic novel, The Fire Next Time, being read aloud. 

Anerican Psychiatric Association logo.

The American Psychiatric Association has issued its own apology to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color for its support of structural racism in Psychiatry. MORE...

Read the APA apology for "APA’s Role in Promoting, Perpetuating, and Failing to Challenge Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Human Hierarchy in U.S."

American Psychological Association logo.The American Psychological Association failed in its role leading the discipline of psychology, was complicit in contributing to systemic inequities, and hurt many through racism, racial discrimination, and denigration of people of color, thereby falling short on its mission to benefit society and improve lives. APA is profoundly sorry, accepts responsibility for, and owns the actions and inactions of APA itself, the discipline of psychology, and individual psychologists who stood as leaders for the organization and field.  MORE...


Here are some articles you can read to help you become a better therapist! 


Here are some great books you can read to help you explore antiracism! 

We encourage you to shop at a Black or minority-owned bookstore such as The Collective Oakland

Antiracism

book cover: How to Be a Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist 

by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

A college professor, Dr. Kendi describes his journey along with fascinating and enlightening history. #1 NY Times best seller. 

So You Want to Talk About Race book coverSo You Want to Talk About Race

by Ijeoma Oluo

#1 NY Times Bestseller. Author discusses multiple issues of white supremacy, and Black Lives Matter. Free on Audible.   

My Grandmother’s Hands 

by Resmaa Menakem

A Minneapolis psychotherapist who teaches Cultural Somatics examines how cultural trauma manifests at a cellular level. NY Times best seller. 

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of our Racial Divide

by Carol Anderson

#1 NY Times Bestseller, winner of multiple awards. Book links to YouTube audiobook. 

Me and White Supremacy

by Layla Saad

British, Arab, Muslim author's 28 day challenge to help readers understand systemic racism. NY Times Bestseller. 

Black / slavery

Caste: The Origins of our Discontents book cover

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

by Isabel Wilkerson

#1 NY Times bestseller. Author links caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany.

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Toni Morrison says this book is the best book on the subject of race in the US (NY Observer). #1 NY Times bestseller. 

On Juneteenth

by Annette Gordon-Reed

Harvard law professor's Texas recollections. Ranked as one of the "Ten Best Books of 2021" - NY Times.

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome book coverPost Traumatic Slave Syndrome

by Dr. Joy DeGruy

Social worker, researcher Dr. DeGruy put forth a theory to explain survival behaviors in Black people. Multiple awards.  

Keenah's First Speech book cover Keenah's First Speech: Our Blackness Will Never Fade

by Dianna Grayer RECAMFT member! A child copes with her emotions by channeling it into doing something positive. 

A Black Women's History of the United States

by DR Berry & KN Gross

2021 NAACP Award - Outstanding Literary Work, and other awards.

The New Jim Crow

by Michelle Alexander

Considered one of the most influential books in the last 20 years, author examines mass incarceration. 

Medical Apartheid

by Harriet Washington

Multiple award winning author covers shocking lack of medical and psychological care for black people. 

Fearing the Black Body book coverFearing the Black Body

by Sabrina Strings

Multiple sociology awards. Author argues fat phobia stems from racist, classist and anti-feminist viewpoints.

The Yellow House book cover

The Yellow House

by Sarah Broom

Journalist author tells the story of her grandmother's shotgun house in New Orleans. Multiple awards. NYT Bestseller.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks book coverThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

by Rebecca Skloot

HBO movie starring Oprah. Ms. Lacks cells were used without consent leading to breakthroughs.

The 1619 Project

by N. Hannah-Jones et al.

Pulitzer Prize winning author for NY Times reframes US history from the POV in 1619 the first slaves arrived building the US. 

The Color of Law book coverThe Color of Law

by Richard Rothstein

Author exposes how the American government has engineered segregation. Multiple awards.   

"They Can't Kill Us All"

by Wesley Lowery

An award winning reporter for 60 Minutes, CBS, GQ, Wes Lowery uses interviews to examine his topics. 

Long Time Coming book coverLong Time Coming

by Michael Eric Dyson

NY Times bestselling author examines how the summer of 2020 brought about the biggest racial protests ever. 

Fearing the Black Body book coverFearing the Black Body

by Sabrina Strings

Multiple sociology awards. Author argues fat phobia stems from racist, classist and anti-feminist viewpoints.



Black creative writing, prose, essays, poetry

Heavy book coverHeavy: An American Memoir

by Kiese Laymon

Best Book of the Year 2018 - New York Times and Audible. Personal essays about growing up in Mississippi.  

Citizen: An American Lyric

by Claudia Rankine

Award winning poet weaves poetry, images and racial microaggressions. 2015 NY Times Bestseller. 

Breathe book coverBreathe: A Letter to my Sons

by Imani Perry

Princeton professor writes a letter to her two sons, rich in prose, with stories of her ancestors. Multiple awards.   

The Fire Next Time

by James Baldwin

This 1963 classic text gave touched off the civil rights movement in America. Listen to it on YouTube below - free. 

Sister Outsider book cover

Sister Outsider

by Audre Lorde

A collection of 15 essays and speeches which take on all the  -isms. A classic seminal work by Lorde.     

The Fire This Time

by Jesmyn Ward

Essays, poems by Tulane U. creative writing professor examine race since James Baldwin's 1963 classic text. 

Latinx

Inventing Latinos

by Laura Gómez

How Latinx became a constructed "race" by a professor and expert in race, law, and society 

An African American and Latinx History of the United States

by Paul Ortiz

Author uses key source materials to tell history from the point of view of BIPOC.  

The Undocumented Americans

by Karla Villavicencio

National Book Award finalist. Author is one of the first undocumented persons to graduate from Harvard.  

Indigenous

An Indigenous People's Hiistory of the US book coverAn Indigenous People's History of the United States

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Human Rights Campaign recommends this as a must-read for Thanksgiving. 

The Other Slavery book cover.The Other Slavery

by Andrés Reséndez

Makes a case that mass slavery of indigenous people, rather than illnesses decimated them. Multiple awards. 

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

by Dee Brown

I970 classic text has been made into a movie. Click the book image to be taken to the YouTube movie rental link.   

Anti Asian

They Called Us Enemy book coverThey Called Us Enemy

by George Takei

NY Times Bestseller about the author's time in a Japanese internment camp in WWII. Graphic novel. 

Fairest book cover by Meredith TalusanFairest

by Meredith Talusan

Oprah acclaimed memoir of the author's journey with albinism, transition, migrating from the Philippines, graduating Harvard.

We Too Sing America book coverWe Too Sing America

by Deepa Iyer

The story of South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh immigrants in a post 9-11 America, facing overt racism and hate crimes.

Sigh, Gone book coverSigh, Gone

by Phuc Tran

Immigrating from Vietnam in 1975, author finds his way as a young child growing up in PN.  

Minor Feelings book cover

Minor Feelings

by Cathy Park Hong

Korean-American author has been named one of Time's 100 most influential people of the year. Multiple Awards. 

Beautiful Country

by Qian Julie Wang

President Obama - one of his 2021 favorite books. Story of family's move to NYC from China. NY Tmes Notable. 

Yellow book coverYellow

by Frank Wu

Author addresses the myth of the "model minority" and how it hurts Asian Americans. NYT Bestseller.

America for Americans

by Erika Lee

Author explores America's xenophobia, inc. her experience as a 2nd generation Chinese American. Multiple awards.   

Bestiary book coverBestiary

by K-Ming Chang

A novel of 3 generations migration from Taiwan, queer lineage. Oprah-Best book of year, NYT Editors Choice. 

The Making of Asian America book coverThe Making of Asian America

by Erika Lee

Named on of 2015's best non-fiction books of the year by NY Times and Kirkus Reviews. Multiple awards. 

Anti-semitism

People Love Dead Jews book coverPeople Love Dead Jews

by Dara Horn

Multiple awards, author reflects when her children report swastikas drawn on their desks on dead Jews in writing. 

Jews Don't Count book coverJews Don't Count

by David Baddiel

British comedian contends Jews haven't been considered as part of the racism that occurs throughout Europe and the US.

How to Fight Anti-Semitism

by Bari Weiss

Although a small percent of the population, over half the hate crimes in America are directed at Jews. NY Times author; awards.

LGBTQ+ Intersectionality

Queer Jihad book coverQueer Jihad

by Afdhere Jama

Born in Somalia, now a film maker in SF, Jama examines LGBTQ and the struggles of the intersection with Muslim faith.

The Last One

by Fatima Daas

Author is a young Muslim lesbian growing up in a tough neighborhood in Paris. Multiple awards.   

Black on Both Sides book coverBlack on Both Sides

by C. Riley Snorton

Multiple awards. Author explores the intersection of blackness and transness both historically and in today's society.

Queer (In)Justice book coverQueer (In)Justice

by Joey Mogulet al.

Authors examine queer criminal archetypes and demonstrate policing of sex and gender further engrains inequalities.

You Exist Too Much

by Zaina Arafat

A Palestian-American lesbian girl struggles between worlds as she grows. Oprah named one of the best books of the year.   

Anti European 

Working Toward Whiteness book cover

Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White

by David Roediger

The story of European immigrants becoming "white".

Treason to Whiteness is Loyalty to Humanity book coverTreason to Whiteness is Loyalty to Humanity

by Noel Ignatiev

A post-humous collection of 60 yrs of essays when the author was a lone voice speaking out. 

Una Storia Segreta

by Lawrence Distasi

The story of Italian Americans in California facing searches, seizures, internment and evacuation during World War II.  

How the Irish Became White book coverHow the Irish Became White

by Noel Ignatiev

The author is a long-standing voice against the concept of "whiteness" believing "treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity".

USA Today has a good list of books, non-fiction and fiction, for both kids and adults that address the topics of racism and anti-racism here


Here are some videos you can watch to help you become a better therapist! 

Systemic Racism Explained (4 min)

https://youtu.be/YrHIQIO_bdQ

Racism is Real (3 min)

https://youtu.be/fTcSVQJ2h8g

"13th" (1 hr 40 min) available on either YouTube or Netflix.  https://youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8

Ta-Nehisi Coates explores America's racial divide in new book written to his 15 year old son.  https://youtu.be/XJXHFh4qbBM


Layla F. Saad's Ted Talk on how reading books by authors of color help us regain our humanity.  https://youtu.be/0CsMQJzBQiw


Lee Mun Wah's film, "The Color of Fear" is a classic, and available here for $15. 

"The Color of Fear" movie photo.

Resmaa Menakem, MSW talks about his time in Afghanistan, assessing the mental health of soldiers when a communal trauma occurred, the five types of intelligence, how trauma impacts the body, and finding resources.  https://youtu.be/omyzEvVvjog

Dr. Robin DiAngelo discussing her book, White Fragility. 

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's Ted Talk.  https://youtu.be/KCxbl5QgFZw


Over 12 million views! Daryl Davis' Ted Talk on why he, as a black man, attends KKK rallies. https://youtu.be/ORp3q1Oaezw



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