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Anti-Oppression Resources

In its research, the Center for Hunger-Free Communities has identified a clear link between experiences of discrimination and food insecurity in Philadelphia and beyond. Because of the pervasive nature of oppression in perpetuating poverty, it is important to ensure that the Center's research, programs, and advocacy, as well as all efforts to address poverty and hunger, are rooted in a framework that acknowledges the many forms of oppression, identifies their impact on individuals and communities, and takes efforts to mitigate those effects and imbalance of power.

Noting the complex nature of oppression, the Center's team has committed to ongoing personal and group education on the various forms of oppression as an essential element of its work in an effort to address the power imbalances present its community and beyond.

The following resources have been found to be helpful.

Center for Hunger-Free Communities Reports

To learn more about the link between lifetime experiences of discrimination and household and child food insecurity, view Children's Health Watch report From Disparities to Discrimination: Getting at the Roots of Food Insecurity as well as an in-depth discussion of and recommendations on four major areas including schools, the workplace, housing, healthcare, public assistance, judicial system, and on the streets in the Center's Discrimination Spotlights.

Policy and Communication Fellow Sabea Evans shares two perspectives in addressing issues of systemic racism and trauma from a healing-centered mindset in her Policy Brief on Systemic Racism and Trauma: Why Healing-centered Two-generation Approaches are Crucial to Poverty Alleviation (June 2019) and her more creative Love Brief: A Third Universe is Possible (June 2019) [PDF].

Additionally, hear first-hand from Witnesses to Hunger members Tiana Gaines-Turner in her Kerner Commission Report (May 17, 2018) and Sherita Mouzon in her opinion article for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hunger and Discrimination Go Hand in Hand (December 3, 2018) and perspective article From Systemic Oppression to Love and Healing (June 2019).

General Anti-Oppression/Racism Resources and Articles

Financial Literacy

Podcasts

Films and TV Series

  • 13th - Netflix
  • American Son - Netflix
  • Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 
  • Clemency
  • Dear White People - Netflix
  • Do the Right Thing
  • Fruitvale Station
  • I Am Not Your Negro
  • If Beale Street Could Talk - Hulu
  • Just Mercy 
  • King In The Wilderness - HBO
  • See You Yesterday - Netflix
  • Selma
  • The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
  • The Hate U Give - Hulu 
  • When They See Us - Netflix

Books

  • Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
  • The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  • Dark Days by James Baldwin
  • Diversify by June Sarpong
  • Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri
  • Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper
  • The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
  • Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis
  • Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
  • How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
  • Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
  • The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs
  • Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold
  • Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
  • Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
  • So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  • They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery
  • This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga
  • The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
  • When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson
  • White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD
  • White Supremacy and Me by Layla F. Saad
  • Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect: Police Violence and Resistance in the United States edited by Joe Macaré, Maya Schenwar, and Alana Yu-lan Price
  • Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde

Poverty and Oppression Resources

Racism and Hunger/Food System Resources

Healing from the Trauma of Oppression

Taking Action

Resources for Parents

Organizations Addressing Oppression and Food Systems

National Organizations Addressing Racism, Oppression, and Inequality

Philadelphia-area Organizations Addressing Racism and Oppression