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Anti-racism: if not now, when?

A page of resources to help us all on the path of change.

“We each have racist conditioning. Being anti-racist means having the courage, honesty, caring and dedication to uproot that conditioning in ourselves and our world.” – Tara Brach

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” – William Faulkner

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” – Angela Y. Davis

Topics

(click to jump down to a topic)

 

“Witnessing the callous brutality of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes 46 seconds – indifferent to his pleading for air, until he expired – broke something inside many of us and changed everything.

The lid on the core wound of centuries of violence against indigenous, black, brown and Asian bodies, hearts and minds has been lifted. The call for radical change is not new: it is now urgent and immediate. We are all called to action. Justice can no longer be postponed – if not now, when?

We, as white therapists, are committed to end our complicity towards our own unconscious biases, as well as the systemic, structural and institutional racism that exists within our profession and society. There is no doubt that we will make mistakes on this path. Nonetheless, we are committed to acknowledging our failings and making the necessary repair.

For a kinder and wiser world we aspire to live in, we need to acknowledge the harm that has been done already, and challenge the harm that continues to be done, by acts of commission via systemic racism, and by acts of omission from the absence of recognition, apology and reparation.

As part of our action plan we have collated this resource page with reading lists, talks, videos and many other tools to assist us all on the path of change within our own lives and communities.”

Dianne and Doron Levene,

Relational Spaces Ltd.

History

Books, essays, articles

Disrupting the curriculum

  • Aashna is a unique therapeutic space offering individuals from all backgrounds the opportunity to come together to nurture our voices and support each other to facilitate change.
  • Let’s Get Uncomfortable (educational programme by Aashna).
  • Let’s Get Uncomfortable library of resources (by Aashna).
  • The Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (UK’s largest independent organisation to specialise in working psychologically, informed by an understanding of intersectionality, with people who identify as Black, African, South Asian and Caribbean).
  • Tell MAMA (organisation supporting victims of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate).
  • BME Voices Talk Mental Health (website).
  • Nafsiyat is an intercultural therapy centre, committed to providing effective and accessible psychotherapy and counselling services to people from diverse religious, cultural and ethnic communities in London.
  • The Ubele Initiative is an African Diaspora-led intergenerational social enterprise founded in 2014. Their primary mission is to help build more sustainable communities across the UK. Ubele in Swahili means ‘The Future’.
  • Black Psychoanalysts Speak (video).
  • Health and mental health statistics (overview from the Institute of Race Relations about ethnic minorities’ experience of health, access to healthcare and mental health).

Essential listening

Racial trauma

Undoing racism

Vision arts and justice