06/02/2020

The Struggle to Overcome Racism

How to lead social change in this time of inequality

Racism in the United States has been a longstanding crisis that the COVID-19 pandemic has cast into an even harsher light. One of the latest violent examples of this intractable American scourge is the death of George Floyd after a white police officer in Minneapolis pinned his knee against Floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. Before Floyd were many others: Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia; Breonna Taylor in Kentucky; Eric Garner in New York; Michael Brown in Missouri; Tony McDade in Florida; and human being after human being after human being.

After Floyd's murder, something broke in Americans' willingness to shrug off yet another instance of a police killing. Peaceful and violent protests have spread across the country, raising condemnation and sympathy as tensions continue to escalate.

Will racist ideologies continue to poison the United States? Can American society reform itself? To help answer these questions, SSIR's editors have assembled a list of articles, websites and other resources to help leaders of social change and activists trying to put an end to this systemic problem.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Stanford Social Innovation Review.