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Anti-Racism Reading List June 2025
10+ inspiring articles to promote learning and action on anti-racism
Sharon Hurley Hall
June 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes
Hello friends,
There are a few recurring themes in this month's curation - community, erasure, hidden history, rollbacks and more. Of those, the first is where I see a way forward for all of us - and it's something I've had many conversations about in the past six months. With that, let's dive in ...
1. Matriarchy Is Not a Mirror of Patriarchy by Lovette Jallow
One of the things I love about publishing this newsletter is the opportunity it gives me to surface perspectives that are counter to the narratives we commonly hear. This essay about the true nature of matriarchy is one example. As a plus, it also talks about ancestral wisdom on neurodivergence:
"ancient African societies didn’t view neurodivergent people as broken. They were often recognized early, trained, and assigned roles aligned with their strengths—not pathologized into silence."
2. Unlearning Division — A Decolonial Series on Racism Between Races by Michele Price
Michele Price writes from an Indigenous lens and I always find something appealing in the way she draws many threads together in an anti-oppression and decolonial stance. I've read many of her series (she tends to cover topics in depth over several articles). This one really resonated, which is why I've included an extended quote:
“Colonialism didn’t just conquer land. It conquered minds. It implanted hierarchies between oppressed peoples. It turned communities of care into communities of competition.
So when we see anti-Blackness in Asian, Latino, or Indigenous communities… When we see anti-immigrant rhetoric in Black communities… When we see colorism, casteism, or internalized supremacy passed down…
That’s not just “division.” That’s strategic fragmentation, cultivated to uphold whiteness.”
3. They See It and Don’t Want It to Exist: The bell hooks Truth About DEI Pushback by Effenus Henderson
I love me some bell hooks, so the title of this piece drew me in. It's not a long read, but for all that it's powerful, naming what's happening while vowing to stay the course:
"In the America of 2025, where demographic tides are shifting and the inevitability of a minority-majority nation draws closer, those in power are not blind. They are not unaware. In fact, they are acutely aware—and they are afraid. They see the brilliance, creativity, and resilience of Black and Brown communities. They see the courage and visibility of LGBTQ+ individuals. They see the innovation of those with disabilities who break molds daily. They see the rise of inclusive language, policy, and representation.
And they don’t want it to exist."
4. Primary Sources: The Black History Hidden in Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' by Michael Harriott
Have you seen Sinners yet? I finally got the chance to do so recently. In watching it, there was a double horror - that driven by the conventions of the genre, and that driven by knowing that when white folks took against Black folks it couldn't end well. I was aware of some of the historical references - this article fills some of the gaps.
"Tenant farming plays a prominent part in Sinners. While many are familiar with the exploitative post-slavery institution, Coogler repeatedly referenced a little-known part of the sharecropping system. Instead of paying wages to Black tenant farmers, former enslavers used vouchers, coupons or tokens that could only be redeemed at the landowners' “plantation stores.” Smoke thought the vouchers perpetuated a state of quasi-slavery, a feeling shared by many."
5. “They keep putting me on the race things”: Raceification of Black Brit-ish academics within the EDI industrial complex by Fezile Joy Sibanda
Remember when #BlackInTheIvory was trending? The hashtag was about the experience of academics racialised as Black inside academic institutions mostly peopled, at the decision-making level, by those racialised as white. That's what came to mind when I came across this study: (h/t Dr Penny Rabiger)
"This paper draws on the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI)industrial complex, as well as anti-racist and decolonial discourses taking place in Higher Education (HE) in England. It introduces raceification as a process in which Black academics are produced and reproduced as perpetual race experts within HE.This framing occurs through a colonial gaze and hegemonic whiteness, shaping how Black academics and their knowledges are seen. Coloniality in academia is explored through the lived experience of Black Brit-ish academics working in HE in England. Central to this discussion is ‘Brit-ish’identities, a hyphenated term, reflecting the complex, tenuous belonging of Black people living within the metropole and working in colonial institutions like universities."
6. For Black Girls Who’ve Considered Quitting: The Canaries Part 2 by Shari Dunn
The title of this piece drew me in, because the number of times we (and I) have considered stepping away from it all must be legion, even if that thought is only fleeting. This article looks at intersectionality, "shadow elevation" and the reasons why sometimes it's exhausting.
"Black women aren’t just leaders — we’re often the early warning system. We see the cracks in institutions long before others do. We name the harm while still trying to hold the place together. But too often, our clarity is recast as conflict, our leadership as defiance, our ambition as aggression."
7. The Future of DEI and Anti-Racism – Why it isn’t a Want, But a Need for Black Communities by Black Equity Organisation
As the pushbacks and rollbacks continue, not just in the USA, but in the UK and elsewhere, it was refreshing to see this call to stay the course and take action from Black Equity Organisation:
"At BEO, we reject the idea that the continued delivery of DEI and anti-racism policies are simply a corporate “nice to have”. They are a moral, economic and strategic imperative. We unapologetically call on businesses and institutions to do more, not less to dismantle structural racism. Failure to continue to address inequity will lead to financial risk, deeper systemic inequality, and reputational harm."
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