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Methodist Theological School in Ohio
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This anti-racism toolkit provides general information and serves as a starting point to learn about anti-racism, inclusion, allyship, and privilege, as well as exchange knowledge and resources. The MTSO community is welcome to suggest resources, guides, or any other information relevant to this guide by emailing library@mtso.edu. This resource is a living document that serves as a launching platform for more extensive study, conversation, and action. The MTSO Anti-Racism Task Force is pleased to regularly share updates and resources — print, websites, video, podcasts, conferences, workshops, activism opportunities — to inspire critical self-reflection and collective engagement.
This toolkit is maintained by members of the MTSO Anti-Racism Task Force to support MTSO's commitment to challenging and healing divisions in our world based on racism, sexism, heterosexism, able-ism, and religious or cultural difference by offering education and training to do this work. The role of theological education in combatting structural racism in the United States includes encouraging intentional anti-racist work, enhancing the school's capacity (skills and resources) for candid and challenging, yet respectful dialogue and action addressing racial equality and justice within our community and the larger society, and continuing an institutional culture of engagement within and beyond the church to understand, address, and undo racisms (and intersecting oppressions).
Featured Anti-Racism Resources
With Educating For Black Lives, Routledge Education reaffirms its longstanding commitment to social justice and racial equality at this critical moment in history. Created in collaboration with authors, this site makes freely available some of our most powerful and pertinent material—alongside newly written introductions to many readings—as well as a curated collection of additional resources.
Kerry Connelly, author of “Good White Racist? Confronting Your Role in Racial Injustice,” speaks about how white leaders and congregations can deconstruct whiteness and other systems of dominance in order to begin the work of anti-racism in their communities.
To view a replay of the webinar, and gain access to other anti-racism resources and a study guide, click the Presbyterian Outlook resource page.
Terms
Understanding Common Terms
Allyship – Active behavior by a member of a dominant group (in the case of racism, by a white person) to dismantle the oppression of a target group (in the case of racism, people of color)
BIPOC – The acronym BIPOC stands for 'Black, Indigenous, People of Color'. Read more from New York Times
Implicit Bias – Prejudices or stereotypes that we are not aware of which impact decisions, understanding, and actions
Microaggressions – Microaggressions are defined as the everyday, subtle, intentional – and oftentimes unintentional – interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups; the difference between microaggressions and overt discrimination or macroaggressions, is that people who commit microaggressions might not even be aware of them. Read more from NPR
Privilege – Unearned benefits that accrue to dominant groups based upon skin color, gender, sex, class, ability, religion, etc.; awards or advantages given to dominant groups without earning and/or asking for them; Privilege is usually invisible to the receiver
Racial Trauma – Racial trauma or race-based stress comes from dealing with racial harassment, racial violence, or institutional racism; Racial trauma can result from major experiences of racism such as workplace discrimination or hate crimes, or it can be the result of an accumulation of many small occurrences, such as everyday discrimination and microaggressions; It is often compared to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as the symptoms are similar with irritability, hypervigilance, and depression
Stereotypes – A stereotype is any thought widely adopted about specific types of individuals or certain ways of behaving intended to represent the entire group of those individuals or behaviors as a whole; These thoughts or beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality (Judd & Park, Psychological Review)
Systemic Racism – Also called structural racism or institutional racism, this term refers to the complex interactions of culture, policy, and institutions that create and maintain racial inequality in nearly every facet of life for people of color
Upstander - A person who speaks or acts in support of an individual or cause, particularly someone who intervenes on behalf of a person being attacked or bullied (Oxford Dictionary)
Source: UC Davis Racial Equity Resources