Anti-Racism Reading List September 2025

"We often think about inclusion in macro terms - policy changes, public pledges, big DEI initiatives. But inclusion also lives in much smaller places. It’s shaped not only by what’s said in the spotlight, but by the small, nearly invisible language habits we carry with us every day.

And often, it’s the smallest words that land the deepest and can have a big impact on those around us."

"the Manhattan Institute’s senior fellow wrote a study on critical race theory based on “research” from a Manhattan Institute senior fellow who has never actually studied or researched the subject on which he’s cited as an expert. Even though Rufo fits the right’s definition of an unqualified diversity hire, the failed filmmaker-turned-”far-right propagandist” does have a well-known plan to address CRT:

Just make stuff up."

"We need system change, not a reset or reform. Instead of project technicians tinkering around an aid system designed for a world that doesn’t exist anymore, we need system architects embedded everywhere to create the conditions for far more justice-based alternatives to emerge. We need to rapidly upskill with the tools and paradigms of systems-thinkers and movement-mobilisers, to practice defaulting every decision to whomever is most affected by that decision, to build braver accountability mechanisms where they don’t exist, to align the values we espouse to the actions that make lasting, effective, structural change."

"The value of this type of rich data outside of improved speech recognition tools is a preservation and archive of Black American culture during a time when Black history is being actively erased. In the wrong hands though, this type of data could be used in nefarious ways, furthering the use of Black AI influencers and digital Blackface, training AI products without the compensation or credit (and in some cases the knowledge) of those whose data was used to train these products, and expanding the use of surveillance technology that disproportionately harms and targets Black people."

“We must be able to fight for justice because not only were our forebearers exploited in terms of not being paid, but the profits that were generated were repatriated to Europe and to North America to build out their economies, and they left our countries bereft of important social institutions, hospitals, schools, and they also did not develop the infrastructure within our countries.”

"One way we can easily identify colonial patterns within degrowth discourse is through the concepts it considers as fundamental, while intentionally ignoring basic decolonial objectives and approaches such as anti-oppression and justice, let alone self-determination and care. It assumes that modern Western civilisation (and therefore white supremacy culture) will remain relevant and dominant."

"for Black families, what happened between 2007 and 2013 wasn’t a crisis. It was a heist. A deliberate, predatory extraction of wealth from generations of hard-earned stability. It was the coup de grâce after decades of redlining, disinvestment, and predatory finance.—this time wrapped in slick suits, mortgage-backed securities, and a cold, calculated strategy to rob Black America blind under the guise of deregulated capitalism."

"Benin has long been working to reconcile with its legacy of complicity. It has openly acknowledged its role in the slave trade, a stance not shared by many other African nations that participated.

In the 1990s, it hosted an international conference to examine how and where enslaved people were sold. In 1999, then-President Mathieu Kérékou apologized to African Americans during a visit to a church in Baltimore."

"One of the most striking findings from our research was the dual experience of growth and burden that Black trainees encountered during their journey through the program. While the training provided them with valuable professional development, it also exposed them to the emotional labor of navigating predominantly white spaces. This paradox underscores the necessity for coaching programs to provide technical training while also creating psychologically safe environments where trainees can process their experiences and build resilience.”

"The diagram below roughly illustrates the Empire’s playbook; it is not new. The hashtag #hegemony has been carefully constructed and bolstered by these concepts and theories. This playbook has been wielded, refined, and reinforced to justify all atrocities, to plunder and pillage resource-rich countries in the hashtag#Global_South for more than five centuries."