Antiracism : A Guide to Stories, Perspectives, and Connections

On July 10, 2015, Sandra Bland, a vibrant 28-year-old African American from Chicago, was arrested for a traffic violation in a small Texas town. After three days in custody, she was found hanging from a noose in her cell. Bland’s death was quickly ruled a suicide, sparking allegations of a murder and cover-up, and turning her case and name into a rallying cry nationwide. From the Oscar®-nominated, Emmy®- and Peabody Award-winning team of directors/producers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland examines this story in depth, revealing previously unknown details. The film follows the Bland family and legal team from the first weeks after her death as they try to find out what really happened in that jail cell in Texas. Embedded with the family and their lawyers, the filmmakers tracked the story for two years, drawing on key documents, jail footage and interviews with those closest to the events.

Jack Johnson, whose dominance over his white opponents spurred furious debates and race riots in the early 20th century, enters the ring once again in this provocative PBS documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. The Emmy Award–winning two-part film follows Johnson’s journey from his beginnings as the son of former slaves, to his entry into the brutal world of professional boxing, where he was able to battle his way up through the ranks and become the first African-American Heavyweight Champion of the World.

This two-part, four-hour series tells the story of an American icon whose life-long battle for first class citizenship for all African Americans transcends even his remarkable athletic achievements. “Jackie Robinson,” Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.” Directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon.

The upstart Bowery Slam Poetry Team, made up of five young African-American, Afro-Hispanic and queer poets, prepares for the national championships. Mentored by a demanding coach who pushes them past their personal boundaries to write from a painfully honest place, the poets break down, break through, and compose their best work ever. Will their soul-searching pieces about police violence and the whitewashing of Black culture be able to compete against choreographed crowd-pleasers for the title?

"Oscar-winner for Best Picture, MOONLIGHT is a moving and transcendent look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places."

An entire country watched as a poised, beautiful African-American woman sat before a Senate committee of 14 white men and with a clear, unwavering voice recounted the repeated acts of sexual harassment she had endured while working with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Anita Hill's graphic testimony was a turning point for gender equality in the U.S. and ignited a political firestorm about sexual harassment and power in the workplace that resonates still today. Against a backdrop of sex, politics, and race, ANITA reveals the story of a woman who has empowered millions to stand up for equality and justice.

(Drama/Feature Film) Fed up with her abusive family situation, lack of school prospects and the "boys' law" in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her style, drops out of school and starts stealing to be accepted into the gang. When her home situation becomes unbearable, Marieme seeks solace in an older man who promises her money and protection. Realizing this sort of lifestyle will never result in the freedom and independence she truly desires, she finally decides to take matters into her own hands.

Alarmingly, African American girls are the fastest-growing population in the juvenile justice system and the only group of girls to disproportionately experience criminalization at every education level. The film underscores the challenges Black girls face with insights from multiple experts across the country who have worked extensively in the fields of social and criminal justice, gender equality and educational equity, giving context to the crisis and providing a roadmap for how our educational system and those who interact with Black girls can provide a positive rather than punitive response to behaviors that are often misunderstood or misrepresented.

Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds: the poor, mostly black, neighborhood where she lives and the rich, mostly white, prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressures from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what's right.

STEP documents the senior year of a girls' high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore. As each one tries to become the first in their families to attend college, the girls strive to make their dancing a success against the backdrop of social unrest in the troubled city.

In the midst of a world health crisis, Perry sits down with top medical experts Carlos del Rio, MD Executive Associate Dean, Emory School of Medicine at Grady Health System, and Kimberly Dyan Manning, MD Professor of Medicine at Grady Health System to address the public's concerns and fears about the COVID-19 vaccine.

The half-hour special provides helpful and factual information for viewers looking to protect themselves and their families from this unprecedented crisis. Tackling issues head-on, Perry asks the hard-hitting questions to help the community gain insight into the vaccine.

“COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community A Tyler Perry Special” joins BET’s roster of informative specials that address the impacts of COVID-19 on the Black community and answers questions about the vaccine.

Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.

Documenting Hate: Charlottesville is the first in a series of two films from FRONTLINE and ProPublica that investigates and exposes the resurgence of white supremacists and Neo-Nazis involved in the 2017 Unite the Right rally. This film shows how some of those behind the racist violence went unpunished and continued to operate around the country.

HEALING FROM HATE provides a riveting inside look at the bold work of the group Life After Hate - an organization founded by former skinheads and neo-Nazis who have dedicated themselves to transforming racist, white-supremacist attitudes. The film places special emphasis on Life After Hate's explicit engagement with issues of masculinity, giving voice to white men who say the primary reason they turned to hate groups was to validate their sense of manhood after experiencing a deep sense of inadequacy and shame. Healing From Hate is at once a stunning document of hatred, racism, and white male grievance in America, and a deeply human portrait of a group of people working together to de-radicalize White Nationalists and heal communities torn apart by white male rage, racial hatred, and division.

An Oscar-nominated documentary narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO explores the continued peril America faces from institutionalized racism. A radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin's original words and flood of rich archival material. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO is a journey into black history that connects the past of the Civil Rights movement to the present of #BlackLivesMatter.

Part 1, "The Difference Between Us," examines the contemporary science - including genetics - that challenges our common sense assumptions that human beings can be bundled into three or four fundamentally different groups according to their physical traits. Part 2, "The Story We Tell," uncovers the roots of the race concept in North America, the 19th century science that legitimated it, and how it came to be held so fiercely in the western imagination. The episode is an eye-opening tale of how race served to rationalize, even justify, American social inequalities as "natural." Part 3, "The House We Live In," asks, If race is not biology, what is it? This episode uncovers how race resides not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It reveals how our social institutions "make" race by disproportionately channeling resources, power, status and wealth to white people.

Are racists born or made? Pioneering scientists have recently revealed that they can detect whether a person is subconsciously racist through a series of tests that are as ground-breaking as they are simple to do. This fascinating and revealing documentary showcases the latest scientific developments that can detect, measure, and change racist impulses in the brain.

Recent high school graduates Priya Vulchi and Winona Guo traveled to all 50 US states, collecting personal stories about race and intersectionality. Now they're on a mission to equip every American with the tools to understand, navigate and improve a world structured by racial division. In a dynamic talk, Vulchi and Guo pair the personal stories they've collected with research and statistics to reveal two fundamental gaps in our racial literacy -- and how we can overcome them.

Colin Kaepernick, an NFL quarterback known for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality during the 2016 football season, said, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder. If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right. I love America. I love people. That’s why I’m doing this. I want to help make America better." After the 2016 season, Kaepernick was never hired for an NFL team again. He became the face and voice of a Nike ad campaign that drew both praise and criticism. In an award-winning Nike ad called "Dream Crazy," Kaepernick said, "Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything."