Social Justice Resources

Village Theatre is starting an intentional journey from behaving as a non-racist organization—one that believes in equality and views itself as open-minded and non-discriminatory—to an anti-racist organization—one that takes action against inequity and to dismantle structural and institutional racism. We invite you, Village’s supporters and audience members, to read, learn, and grow with us. Read Village Theatre’s racial equity plan ▸

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Resource Collections from Others

Learn more about racial equity with these tips, tools, research, and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working toward justice at every level: in systems, organizations, communities, and the culture at large.

Check out this list that includes articles and books to read, podcasts to listen to, videos, films, and tv shows to watch, and organizations to follow on social media.

Find resources to talk to kids about race, curated by Issaquah School District

Thinking About Social Justice Through Crafts and Conversation, a resource guide for parents, families, and caregivers by the Anti-Defamation League

Read

Articles

“Building Trust After Inclusivity Failed: Lessons for the Theater” by Helen Shaw in Vulture

“First, Listen. Then, Learn: Anti-Racism Resources For White People” by Julia Wuench in Forbes

“Enough Already with the Statements of ‘Solidarity,’ Arts World” by Kaisha S. Johnson, Founding Director of Women of Color in the Arts, on Medium

“Four Black Artists on How Racism Corrodes the Theater World,” interviews in The New York Times by Laura Collins-Hughes, Michael Paulson and Salamishah Tillet

“You shouldn’t need a Harvard degree to survive birdwatching while black” by Samuel Getachew, the 17-year-old Oakland youth poet laureate 2019, in The Washington Post

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s anti-racist action plan, phase one, published in June 2020

“I’m Black. My Mom is White. This Is The Talk We Had To Have About George Floyd’s Killing” by Kimberly J. Miller in HuffPost

Ethnic Report on New York City Stages, a study conducted by the Asian American Performers Action Coalition

“What is Juneteenth?” by Derrick Bryson Taylor in The New York Times

Books

So You Want To Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo — Readers of all races are guided through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo — A book on challenging racism by working against and understanding what the author terms “white fragility,” a reaction in which white people feel attacked or offended when the topic of racism arises.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilderson — The story of the Great Migration and the Second Great Migration of movement of African Americans out of the Southern United States to the Midwest, Northeast, and West from approximately 1915 to 1970.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Renni Eddo-Lodge

This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa

Biased by Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt

Watch

Find out where you can stream some of these movies and more.

The 1965 debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley at Cambridge University on the question: “Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?”

13th — Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated documentary looking into the history of systemic racism and racial inequality in America following the abolishment of slavery (except as punishment).

American Son — Based on the Broadway play of the same name, an estranged interracial couple (Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale) await news of their missing teenage son as time passes and tension mounts in a Florida police station.

Brian Banks — A biopic starring Aldis Hodge as the titular NFL linebacker who spent time in prison after high school when he was falsely accused of rape. The movie follows his story from the time of his release as he attempts to clear his name and pursue a professional football career.

A Class Divided, a Frontline documentary — The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, Jane Elliott, a teacher in a small, all-white Iowa town, divided her third-grade class into blue-eyed and brown-eyed groups and gave them a daring lesson in discrimination. This is the story of that lesson, its lasting impact on the children, and its enduring power 30 years later.

Fruitvale Station — Ryan Coogler’s feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man who was killed in 2009 by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in Oakland, California.

The Hate U Give — Based on the 2017 young adult novel of the same name and directed by George Tillman, Jr., The Hate U Give stars Amandla Stenberg as a high school student who witnesses her friend’s murder at the hands of the police.

I Am Not Your Negro — This 93-minute feature documentary is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and is inspired by James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House, a collection of notes and letters written by Baldwin in the mid-1970s. The memoir recounts the lives of his close friends and civil rights leaders Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Medgar Evers.

Just Mercy — Michael B. Jordan portrays legendary civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson in this biopic that focuses on the true case of Walter McMillian (played by Jamie Foxx), an African-American man wrongfully convicted for the murder of a white woman in 1980s Alabama.

The Murder of Fred Hampton — This documentary is about a 21-year-old Black Panther leader from Chicago who was one of the great inspiring speakers of the 20th century and was cut down in his youth by the FBI and the Chicago police department. It explores how black dissent and black protest have been systematically quashed for decades.

Notes from the Field — A filmed version of Anna Deavere Smith’s play of the same name that draws upon more than 200 interviews with students, parents, teachers, and administrators about the school-to-prison pipeline.

The Secret Life of Bees — A teenage girl in search of the truth about her mother runs away to a small town in South Carolina and finds a family of independent women who can connect her to her past. Starring Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Dakota Fanning, and Sophie Okonedo.

Selma — Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-winning historical drama that stars David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. during his marches for equal voting rights in Alabama in 1966.

Whose Streets? — An unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising after unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed by police, told by activists and leaders. As the National Guard descends on Ferguson with military-grade weaponry, young community members become the torchbearers of a new resistance.

Listen

1619 from The New York Times
“In August of 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. America was not yet America, but this was the moment it began.” Hosted by recent Pulitzer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, the 1619 audio series chronicles how black people have been central to building American democracy, music, wealth, and more.

Code Switch, an NPR podcast tackling race from all angles.

Floodlines from The Atlantic
An audio documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Floodlines is told from the perspective of four New Orleanians still living with the consequences of governmental neglect. As COVID-19 disproportionately infects and kills Americans of color, the story feels especially relevant. “As a person of color, you always have it in the back of your mind that the government really doesn’t care about you,” said self-described Katrina overcomer Alice Craft-Kerney.

Hear To Slay, “the black feminist podcast of your dreams,” with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom.

Intersectionality Matters! from The African American Policy Forum
Hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a leading critical race theorist who coined the term “intersectionality,” this podcast brings the academic term to life. Each episode brings together lively political organizers, journalists and writers.

Jemele Hill is Unbothered, a podcast with award-winning journalist Jemele Hill.

Seeing White, a Scene on Radio podcast.

Still Processing, a New York Times culture podcast with Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris.

Throughline from NPR
Every week at Throughline, pals Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei “go back in time to understand the present.” To better understand the history of systemic racism in America, listen to “American Police,” “Mass Incarceration,” and “Milliken v. Bradley.”