DEI Resources

• Let’s start from the beginning…

  Accountability — an intentional arrangement that determines whether and how individuals or groups are responsible and answerable for their actions to other individuals and groups.

  Affinity Group/Employee Resource — is a small voluntary group of faculty, students, and staff linked by a common purpose, ideology, or interest. Affinity Groups play a vital role in ensuring an inclusive environment where all are valued, included, and empowered to be visible and succeed, and which serve to support recruitment, retention, education, advocacy, and community building. For example, see: Affinity Groups at It’s Your Yale

  Agency — the ability to make independent decisions and act in one’s own best interests.

  Antiracism/ist — in contrast to nonracism, is the opposite of racism and describes the intentional actions of dismantling racism and bringing the system to an end. Antiracism describes the work and antiracist describes the person or people committed to the tasks.

  Belonging — SUNY Plattsburgh is committed to ensuring that each individual is known and accepted for who they are. It is a part of the founding values of who we are as an institution.

  Bias — any conduct motivated by prejudice (verbal, written, nonverbal) that is threatening, harassing, intimidating, discriminatory, hostile, unwelcoming, exclusionary, demeaning, degrading or derogatory based on a person’s real or perceived identity or group affiliation in a protected class recognized by law including, but not limited to, race/ethnicity, age, disability status, gender, gender identity/expression, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status or religion.

  Bias (unconscious or implicit) — refers to biases that we carry without awareness and which impact our day to day interactions. To learn more about implicit bias and to take an implicit association test online, visit Project Implicit.

  Classism — a system of power and privilege tied to ascribed or achieved economic wealth and social networks. It is a mechanism by which groups of people in similar social networks are considered a unit according to their economic, occupational, or social status.

  Climate — the multidimensional constructs subject to and shaped by polices, practices and behaviors of those within and external to the institution, representing the attitudes, perception and behaviors and expectations regarding issues of diversity, inclusion and equity, and which include history and legacy of inclusion or exclusion, compositional or structural diversity, psychological dimensions, behavioral dimensions, and diversity leadership. (Hurtado et al., 1998)

  Campus Climate — the current attitudes, behaviors and standards of faculty, staff, administrators and students concerning the level of respect for individual needs, abilities and potential.

  Diversity — refers to the range of human experiences such as age, class, ethnicity, race, gender, nationality, disability, religion, sexual orientation, personality, communication style, beliefs/values, work style, and veteran status. Other dimensions of diversity include cross functions and divisions of organizations, hierarchical levels of organizations, variety of operating environments organizations works/competes, advances in products, and shifting customer demographics and community expectations.

  Ethnicity — one’s ethnic quality or affiliation. It is voluntary, self-defined, nonhierarchal, fluid and multiple, and based on cultural difference, not physical ones.

  Equity — the creation of opportunities for historically underrepresented populations to have equal access to and participate in educational, occupational and personal development programs that are compatible of closing the achievements gaps in student success and completion and employee success.

  Equity literacy — a complex understanding of bias and inequity that enables one to make sense of diversity-related dynamics in sophisticated ways. This understanding helps them to effectively respond and do good instead of harm that can come from only enthusiasm and good intentions.

  Inclusive excellence — the pursuit and realization of a set of balanced diversity-related objectives that reposition diversity and inclusion as fundamental to institutional excellence. It includes: Intentional institutional practices that focus on the holistic development of students (intellectual, social, and spiritual) by purposefully developing and utilizing all the organization’s resources to enhance student learning, addressing the cultural differences students bring and how these clash with organizational status quos, and creating a welcoming community that engages all types of diversity in the service of students and organizational growth.

  Intersectionality  — First coined by academic and lawyer Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1989, the concept of intersectionality is an attempt to understand models of discrimination and privilege through studying social and political factors that influence individuals in combination rather than individually. It is the interconnecting nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

  Positionality — the social and political context that creates your identity in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability status. Describes how your identity influences, and potentially biases, your understanding of and outlook on the world. Also refers to how differences in social position and power shape identities and access in society.

  Race — A social construct that artificially divides people into distinct groups based on characteristics such as physical appearance, ancestral heritage, cultural affiliation or history, ethnic classification, and/or the social, economic, and political needs of a society at a given period of time.

  Sex — separate from gender, this term refers to the cluster of biological, chromosomal and anatomical features associated with maleness and femaleness in the human body.

  Social institution — a complex group of interdependent systems/networks that functions together to perform a social role and which through norms and values, shapes the behavior of the groups or people within it and reproduces itself over time (e.g., legal, education, financial/economic, religious).

  Social Justice— According to the United Nations and the National Association of Social Workers, social justice may be broadly understood as the fair and compassionate distribution of the fruits of economic growth. It is the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities. Social justice movements, when successful, open the doors of access and opportunity for everyone, particularly those in greatest need.

  Social systems — various groups of interdependent systems and networks of actors that make up social institutions (e.g., police, courts, banks, legislators/law makers, colleges/universities, K-12 schools).

  Stereotype — blanket beliefs, unconscious associations and expectations about members of certain groups that present an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude or uncritical judgment. Stereotypes go beyond necessary and useful categorizations and generalizations in that they are typically negative, are based on little information and are highly generalized.

• Gender & Sexuality

  Advocate — 1. noun: a person who actively works to end intolerance, educate others, and support social equity for a marginalized group. 2. verb to actively support/plea in favor of a particular cause, the action of working to end intolerance, educate others, etc.

  Agender (adj.) — a person with no (or very little) connection to the traditional system of gender, no personal alignment with the concepts of either man or woman, and/or someone who sees themselves as existing without gender. Sometimes called gender neutrois, gender neutral, or genderless.

  Ally /“al-lie”/ (noun) — a (typically straight and/or cisgender) person who supports and respects members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Active allies are often those people who take action in support of and with respect to others who may be different from them in order to reclaim benefits and privileges for vulnerable populations that they themselves receive freely. “Coming out” as an ally is when you reveal (or take an action that reveals) your support of the LGBTQIA+ community. Being an active supporter can, at times, be stigmatizing, though it is not usually recognized, many allies go through a “coming out process” of their own.

  Androgyny/ous /“an-jrah-jun-ee”; “an-jrah-jun-uss”/ (adj.) — 1. a gender expression that has elements of both masculinity and femininity; 2. occasionally used in place of “intersex” to describe a person with both female and male anatomy.

  Androsexual/androphilic (adj.) — being primarily sexually, romantically and/or emotionally attracted to some men, males, and/or masculinity.

  Aromantic (adj.) — experiencing little or no romantic attraction to others and/or has a lack of interest in romantic relationships/behavior. Aromanticism exists on a continuum from people who experience no romantic attraction or have any desire for romantic activities, to those who experience low levels, or romantic attraction only under specific conditions, and many of these different places on the continuum have their own identity labels (see demiromantic). Sometimes abbreviated to “aro” (pronounced like “arrow”).

  Asexual — a person who is not sexually attracted to any gender. This does not mean that they don’t have sexual feelings, but those feelings are not connected to another person. Someone identifying as asexual will still engage in sexual acts, but those acts will not include anyone else.

  Bigender (adj.) — a person who fluctuates between traditionally “woman” and “man” gender-based behavior and identities, identifying with both genders (and sometimes a third gender).

  Bicurious (adj.) — a curiosity about having attraction to people of the same gender/sex (similar to questioning).

  Biological sex (noun) — a medical term used to refer to the chromosomal, hormonal and anatomical characteristics that are used to classify an individual as female or male or intersex. Often referred to as simply “sex,” “physical sex,” “anatomical sex,” or specifically as “sex assigned at birth.” Often seen as a binary but as there are many combinations of chromosomes, hormones, and primary/secondary sex characteristics, it’s more accurate to view this as a spectrum, which is more inclusive of intersex people as well as trans-identified people. Commonly conflated with gender.

  Biphobia (noun) — a range of negative attitudes (e.g., fear, anger, intolerance, invisibility, resentment, erasure, or discomfort) that one may have or express towards bisexual individuals. Biphobia can come from and be seen within the LGBTQIA+ community as well as straight society.

  Biphobic (adj.) — a word used to describe an individual who harbors some elements of this range of negative attitudes towards bisexual people.

  Bisexual — a person who is emotionally, physically, and/or sexually attracted to males/men and females/women. Remember, sexual orientation is not about your current sexual activities. So, that means a woman can be in a relationship with a man and still identify as a bisexual because she feels an attraction for both men and women.

  Butch (noun & adj.) — a person who identifies themselves as masculine, whether it be physically, mentally or emotionally. ‘Butch’ is sometimes used as a derogatory term for lesbians but is also claimed as an affirmative identity label.

  Cisgender /“siss-jendur”/(adj.) — a person whose gender identity and biological sex assigned at birth align (e.g., man and assigned male at birth). A simple way to think about it is if a person is not transgender, they are cisgender. The word cisgender can also be shortened to “cis.” “Cis” is a Latin prefix that means “on the same side [as]” or “on this side [of].”

  Cissexism (noun) — behavior that grants preferential treatment to cisgender people, reinforces the idea that being cisgender is somehow better or more “right” than being transgender, and/or makes other genders invisible.

  Cisnormativity (noun) — the assumption, in individuals or in institutions, that everyone is cisgender, and that cisgender identities are superior to trans identities or people. Leads to invisibility of non-cisgender identities.

  Closeted (adj.) — an individual who is not open to themselves or others about their (queer) sexuality or gender identity. This may be by choice and/or for other reasons such as fear for one’s safety, peer or family rejection or disapproval and/or loss of housing, job, etc. Also known as being “in the closet.” When someone chooses to break this silence, they “come out” of the closet. (See coming out)

  Coming out — 1. the process by which one accepts and/or comes to identify one’s own sexuality or gender identity (to “come out” to oneself). 2. The process by which one shares one’s sexuality or gender identity with others (to “come out” to friends, etc.). This is a continual, life-long process. Everyday, all the time, one has to evaluate and re-evaluate who they are comfortable coming out to, if it is safe, and what the consequences might be.

  Constellation (noun) — a way to describe the arrangement or structure of a polyamorous relationship.

  Cross-dresser (noun) — someone who wears clothes of another gender/sex.

  Demiromantic (adj.) — little or no capacity to experience romantic attraction until a strong sexual or emotional connection is formed with another individual, often within a sexual relationship.

  Demisexual (adj.) — little or no capacity to experience sexual attraction until a strong romantic or emotional connection is formed with another individual, often within a romantic relationship.

  FtM/F2M; MtF/M2F (abbreviation) — female-to-male transgender or transsexual person; male-to-female transgender or transsexual person.

  Gay — usually ascribed to men who have sexual desire or attraction to men. As we all know, there are several definitions to the word gay, and not all of them are about sexual orientation. However, some women who are attracted to women refer to themselves as gay.

  Gender binary (noun) — the idea that there are only two genders and that every person is one of those two.

  Gender-queer — a gender identity label often used by people who do not identify with the binary of man/woman; or as an umbrella term for many gender non-conforming or non-binary identities (e.g., agender, bigender, genderfluid).

  Gender non-conforming (adj.) — 1. a gender expression descriptor that indicates a non-traditional gender presentation (masculine woman or feminine man) 2. a gender identity label that indicates a person who identifies outside of the gender binary. Often abbreviated as “GNC.”

  Homosexual — the social identity of a person who has sexual attraction to and/or relations with other persons of the same sex.

  Homophobia — hatred and discrimination directed at homosexuals based on societal images and unwarranted, exaggerated fears based on systemic stereotypes about homosexuality.

  Intersex — individuals that possess chromosomal, anatomical, and hormonal exceptions that lie outside of the dimorphic idea of male (XY chromosome, testes, penis, facial hair) and female (XX chromosome, ovaries, vagina, breasts)

  Intersexuality — a set of medical conditions that feature congenital anomaly of the reproductive and sexual system. That is, intersex people are born with “sex chromosomes,” external genitalia, or internal reproductive systems that are not considered “standard” for either male or female.

  Lesbian — when women have sexual desire or attraction to women.

  LGBTQIA+ — sexual orientation acronym for persons that hold these identities: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual. The + serves to recognize that it is not a continuum but an identification of some of the many possibilities that exist.

  Non-binary gender — the idea that there are more than two genders and that every person does not fit one of the biomorphic masculine or feminine gender. A gender expression descriptor that indicates a non-traditional gender presentation (masculine woman or feminine man) and bears a gender identity label that indicates a person who identifies outside of the gender binary.

  Queer — is a political statement, a theory and an identity. Someone who identifies as queer is a person who redefines or plays with gender, or who refuses society’s definitions or expectations assigned to gender altogether. It is often a label that people choose who bend or break their socially assigned gender roles. Queer identity is not a sexual orientation, but it is an identity that allows people to move outside of the boxes for female or male. In the past, queer has been a negative word for people who do not identify as a heterosexual, and some people find it offensive.

  Questioning — allows people to say that they are not sure what their sexual orientation is, or if it is only one way. Someone’s sexual attraction might change several times over their lives. If they don’t want to make an absolute statement about their sexual attraction/orientation, then they will identify as questioning.

  Sexism — a reflection of attitudes of hostility towards women. These are based on common societal assumptions which are played off into attitudes and translated into actions and behaviors.

  Sexism (Hostile) — open prejudice, discrimination and hostility against women

  Sexism (Benevolent) — covert or hidden hostility which comes off as protective attitudes or romantic love objectification. Can be seen as positive but sharing the underlying assumptions of Hostile sexism. Refer to the Understanding Prejudice Ambivalent Sexism Inventory

  Sexual Orientation — describes someone’s continual (not just one time) attraction — it can be a physical, sexual, and/or emotional attraction — to a group of people. The important thing to remember about someone’s sexual orientation is that the definition doesn’t mention any sexual acts. For example, if a guy receives oral sex from another guy BUT he does not have a continual attraction to men, then that one sexual act does NOT define his sexual orientation. However, his behavior does mean that he has had sex with another man (your actions don’t disappear just because you don’t identify as a different sexual orientation.)

  Transgender — a person who has a gender at odds with their physical sex assigned at birth, and a social gender at odds with his or her genitals. Transgender is unique in this “alphabet soup” of sexuality because it doesn’t really refer to a sexual orientation. However, in our society, we tend to put together all “groups” of people that are “different.” So, people who identify as transgender are considered part of the LGBTQQIP2SAA community. Transgender people are those whose psychological self (“gender identity”) differs from the social expectations for the physical sex they were born with. Transgender people may have any sexual orientation

• Oppression, Prejudice & Discrimination

  Ableism — prejudiced thoughts and discriminatory actions based on differences in physical, mental and/or emotional ability.

  anti-Semitism — relating to or characterized by anti-Semitism: feeling or showing hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a cultural, racial, or ethnic group. The use of terminology or phrases that are steeped in historical tradition and significance, and which incite violence against Jews and those who are supportive of Jews.

  Cultural Humility — involves an ongoing process of self-exploration and self-critique combined with a willingness to learn from others. It means entering a relationship with another person with the intention of honoring their beliefs, customs, and values. It means acknowledging differences and accepting that person for who they are.

  Discrimination — the behavioral manifestation of prejudice involving the limitation of opportunities and options based on particular criterion (i.e., race, sex, age, class, disability, national origin etc.).

  Dominance — the systemic or institutional attitudes and behaviors of prejudice, bias, superiority, and self-righteousness of members of one group in relation to others considered outside that group. Group membership can be based on race, ethnicity, national status, mental health status, or occupation.

  Ethnocentrism — the belief that one group/nation/cultural values are right, is used to judge/evaluate others that are different, and must be protected and defended. The negative aspects involve blatant assertion of personal, national, and cultural superiority. “My/our way is the right way, I/we are the leaders and the best.”

  Hate Crime — any criminal offenses (criminal homicide; including murder and non-negligent manslaughter, and manslaughter by negligence, sexual assault; including rape, fondling, incest and statutory rape, robbery; aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson, and any incidents of larceny-theft, simple assault, intimidation, or destruction/damage/vandalism of property that were motivated by bias.

  Macroaggressions — large-scale, overt aggression, (e.g., physical, racially motivated violence), toward those of a different race, culture, gender, etc.; contrasted with microaggression.

  Minoritized (verb) — used in place of minority (noun) to highlight the social oppression that minoritizes an individual. People who are minoritized endure mistreatment, and face prejudices that are enforced upon them because of situations outside of their control.

  Microaggressions — the subtle, stunning and often automatic and non–verbal exchanges which are put-downs insults, dismissals, and casual degradations experienced by marginalized individuals that are meant to diminish some aspect of one’s identity.

  Oppression — the systematic enclosing structure of forces and barriers (unquestioned norms, habits, symbols, consequences of following set rules) which results in the immobilization and reduction of a group or categories of people. May be economic, political, social, psychological, or professional. Should not be stretched to meet the scope of all human experience of limitation or suffering.

  Prejudice — a negative or positive attitude toward a person, group or thing, based on pre-judgment and usually having no merit. Often using a thimbleful of experience to inform an ocean of facts.

  Privilege/Internalized entitlement — unearned entitlements, things that all people should have such as feeling safe in public spaces, free speech, the ability to work in a place where we feel we can do our best work, and being valued for what we can contribute.

  Privilege (White) — the unearned advantages and the concrete benefits of access to resources and social rewards and the ability that it brings to shape the norms and values of society that whites receive, unconsciously or consciously, by virtue of their skin color.

  Racial microaggressions — brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.

  Racism — a system of advantage and disadvantage based on social, historical, and cultural constructions of race and ethnicity where power is misused to benefit, or disadvantage. Occurs at the individual, internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and/or cultural levels; may be overt or covert, intentional or unintentional.

  Racism (Cultural) — the individual and institutional expression of the superiority of one race’s cultural heritage and values over another.

  Racism (Internalized) — the personal conscious or subconscious acceptance of the dominant society’s views, stereotypes and biases of one’s ethnic or racial group. It gives rise to patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that result in discriminating, minimizing, criticizing, finding fault, invalidating, and hating oneself and others in one’s group, while simultaneously valuing the dominant culture.

  Racism (Interpersonal) — actions that perpetuate inequalities on the basis of race during personal or group interaction. Such behaviors may be intentional or unintentional; unintentional acts may be racist in their consequence.

  Racism (Institutional) — laws, customs, traditions, policies, and practices that systematically result in inequalities in a society. It also involves the use of power to oppress those that resist the system’s values. This is the institutionalization of personal racism.

  Racism/Oppression (Internalized ) — the internalization of conscious or unconscious attitudes regarding inferiority or differences by the victims of systematic oppression.

  Retaliation — punitive sanctions enacted for someone asserting their rights to resist oppression (sexism, homophobia, racism, classism, xenophobia, hostile work practices).

  Whiteness — the location of structural advantage, of race privilege, a ‘standpoint,’ a place from which white people look at themselves, at others, and at society.

  White fragility — a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. These moves include the outward display of emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and behaviors such as argumentation, silence, and leaving the stress-inducing situation.

  White Solidarity — the unspoken agreement among whites to protect white advantage and not cause another white person to feel racial discomfort by confronting them when they say or do something racially problematic.

  World view — a framework or set of fundamental beliefs through which we view the world, our calling, and future in it. It is the integrative and interpretative framework by which order and disorder are judged. The standard by which reality is managed and pursued.

  Xenophobia — the fear or hatred of foreigners.

Resources for People of Color to Heal & Cope

• Related Articles & Literature
  • Family Care, Community Care and Self Care Tool Kit: Healing in the Face of Cultural Trauma
  • Self Care for people of color after psychological Trauma
  • New York Association Of Black Psychologist
  • Association of Black Psychologists Directory
  • Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective
  • Inclusive Therapists
  • Innopsych
  • LGBTQ Psychotherapists of Color Directory
  • National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network
  • Psychology Today Directory of African American Therapists
  • Therapy for Black Girls
  • Therapy for Black Men
  • The Asian Mental Health Project
  • Behavioral Health Division of the Indian Health Service
  • Black Men Health
  • Black Mental Health Alliance
  • Black Mental Wellness
  • Black Women’s Health Imperative
  • Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation
  • Brother You’re on My Mind
  • Dear Black Women Project
  • Ebony’s Mental Healthy Resources by State
  • Best Mental Health Apps for POC
  • The Loveland Foundation
  • Melanin and Mental Health

  • My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, Resmaa Menakem

Anti-Racist Resources

• Actor → Ally → Accomplice: Who do you want to be?

  Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice Moving from Actor → Ally → Accomplice

  

  Download the Actor, Ally, Accomplice Guide

• What to Read

  What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

  Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852

  Articles

  • The Law Isn’t Neutral
  • Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?
  • I’m Black. My Mom Is White. This Is The Talk We Had To Have About George Floyd’s Killing.
  • The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying
  • Raising Race-Conscious Children
  • GWS Gazette — Access current and pass issues of the student-produced newsletter of the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at SUNY Plattsburgh. 

  Reports

  • Equal Justice Initiative:
    • Lynching in America:Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror
    • Slavery in America: The Montgomery Slave Trade
    • Segregation in America
  • Other:
    • Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus, JSTOR Daily
    • Becoming an Anti-Racist White Ally: How a White Affinity Group Can Help, UPenn
    • Talking About Race, National Museum of African American History & Culture
    • Anti Racism; Racism: The Challenge of Dismantling Lies in the Dilemma of Definition, Dr. Michelle M Cromwell, The Encyclopedia of Diversity, and Social Justice, pg.64–69.
    • Guidance for Reporting and Writing About Racism, Syracuse University

  Literature

  • Waking Up White, Debby Irving
  • Playing the Race Card: Exposing White Power and Privilege, George J. Sefa Dei, Leene Luke Karumanchery, and Nisha Karumanchery-Luik
  • White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo
  • They Were Her Property, Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
  • Biased, Jennifer Eberhardt
  • Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy, David Zucchino
  • Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens The Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era, Jerry Mitchell
  • The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
  • Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde
  • Race Matters, Cornel West
  • Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, Beverly Daniel Tatum
  • The Autobiography of Malcom X, Alex Haley
  • Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children In A Racially Unjust America, Jennifer Harvey
  • Medical Apartheid, Harriet A. Washington
  • Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine
  • Brutal Imagination, Cornelius Eady
  • I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown
  • Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon
  • My Time Among The Whites, Jennine Capó Crucet
  • I’m Still Here, Austin Channing Brown
  • So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
  • Stamped From the Beginning, Ibram X. Kendi
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
  • White Rage, Carol Anderson
  • Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race, Derald Wing Sue
  • Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald
  • Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real About Race in School, numerous authors
  • Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge
  • Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams
  • Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult
  • It’s Not About the Burqa, Mariam Khan
  • Me and White Supremacy, Layla F. Saad
  • Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Heavy: An American Memoir, Kiese Laymon
  • The Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
  • Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice, Sherwood Thompson
  • The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
  • The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead
  • The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
  • Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, Claude M. Steele
  • An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
  • The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein
  • Uprooting Racism, Paul Kivel
  • Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business, Pamela Newkirk
  • The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice, Fania Davis
  • Black Food Geographies, Ashanté M. Reese
  • Race for Profit, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
  • The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality, Thomas M. Shapiro
  • The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, Mehrsa Baradaran
  • The Strange Career of Jim Crow, C. Vann Woodward (Martin Luther King Jr. called this “the historical bible of the Civil Rights movement.)
  • Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond, Marc Lamont Hill
  • Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattillo Beals
• What to Watch

  Documentaries

  • I am Not Your Negro
  • 13th
  • LA92
  • Two Black Men A Week
  • Back To Natural
  • The Kalief Browder Story
  • Whose Streets?
  • The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

  Films/Mini Series

  • Moonlight
  • When They See Us
  • Malcom X
  • Just Mercy
  • Do the Right Thing
  • Higher Learning
  • Fruitval Station
  • American Son
• What to Listen To

  Podcasts

  • Can one person change the criminal justice system?, Katie Couric Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan, and Bryan Stevenson about Just Mercy
  • Still Processing, a New York Times culture podcast with Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morrison
  • Seeing White, a Scene on the Radio podcast
  • Code Switch, an NPR podcast tackling race from all angles
  • Jemele Hill is Unbothered, a podcast with award-winning journalist Jemele Hill
  • Hear To Slay, “the black feminist podcast of your dreams,” with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom
  • Pod Save The People, organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson explores news, culture, social justice, and politics with analysis from fellow activists Brittany Packnett, Sam Sinyangwe, and writer Dr. Clint Smith III
  • The Appeal, a podcast on criminal justice reform hosted by Adam Johnson
    Justice In America, a podcast by Josie Duffy Rice and Clint Smith on criminal justice reform
  • Brené Brown with Ibram X. Kendi, a podcast episode on antiracism
• Who To Follow
  • Angela Davis
  • Black Lives Matter — Black Lives Matter is a movement calling for action and response to anti-Black racism. It’s also an excellent resource for political action steps and organized peaceful protest information. Find your local chapter to get involved, sign petitions, listen to their podcast “What Matters,” and donate to help the movement end state-sanctioned violence.
  • Rachel Cargle — As an academic, writer, and lecturer, Rachel Cargle explores the intersection of race and womanhood on her public platforms. In addition to following her social accounts, support her on Patreon, where she continues her dedication to facilitating unlearning.
  • Ijeoma Oluo — Ijeoma Oluo is the New York Times bestselling author of “So You Want To Talk About Race,” whose work focuses on race and identity, feminism, mental health, and more. In addition to writing, she hosts classes on Patreon starting at $5 a month for limited access, and for up to $70 for full access.
  • Blair Imani — Historian and advocate Blair Imani’s work centers women and girls, global Black communities, and the LGBTQ community. She’s written two books (“Modern HERstory” and “Making Our Way Home”) and is preparing to launch a 10-week anti-racism course, as well as a podcast called “America Did What.” Subscribe to her on Patreon for access.
  • Ibram X. Kendi — Ibram X. Kendi is the #1 New York Times bestselling author whose works include “The Black Campus Movement,” “Stamped From The Beginning,” and “How To Be An Antiracist.” He is also the Founding Director of The Antiracist Research & Policy Center—be sure to follow along there for new research and events.
  • The Conscious Kid — If you’re wondering how to talk to your children or students about race and racism, The Conscious Kid offers books, resources, and tips for hosting the conversations. This 501(c)(3) nonprofit also goes further on its Patreon, where you can become a monthly contributor for $5 or $10. (If you have limited resources, there is a more accessible pricing tier.)
  • Brittany Packnett Cunningham — The co-founder of Campaign Zero and co-host of “Pod Save The People,” Brittany Packnett Cunningham’s voice spans across many mediums. Follow her on social for real-time leadership and education, listen to the podcast, and donate to Campaign Zero to support its mission to end police violence nationwide.
  • Layla F. Saad — After Layla F. Saad led the “Me and White Supremacy” challenge on Instagram, she turned her work into a bestselling book by the same name. Saad’s work is dedicated to becoming a good ancestor for the generations to come through healing and liberation. Pay for her work on Patreon, listen to her podcast, and invest in her masterclasses, which include lessons on allyship and how to end white centering in BIPOC-only spaces.
  • Ericka Hart — Ericka Hart is a sex educator and cancer survivor who challenges anti-Blackness in medicine, academia, fashion, and everywhere else it shows up. Purchase Ericka’s courses on gender and racial and social justice and listen to her on “Hoodrat to Headwrap: A Decolonized Podcast.”
  • Rachel Ricketts — Rachel Ricketts is a racial justice educator, lawyer, healer, speaker, and author. She offers online courses on spiritual activism (that you can purchase and watch on-demand), resources on grief and anti-racism, and monthly newsletters. Support her work via Patreon, her shop, or directly via PayPal.
  • No White Saviors — To understand that anti-racism work is essential worldwide, No White Saviors is a platform based in Uganda that challenges the White Savior Complex (WSC) and centers and uplifts African people. It identifies and provides critical feedback around the WSC and dismantles harmful systems through public and legal action. You can support the work on Patreon.
  • Austin Channing Brown — The author of “I’m Still Here,” Austin Channing Brown’s writing and speaking combines racial justice, faith, and Black womanhood. She’s also the creator of “The Next Question,” a video series that expands and deepens the conversation about racial justice.
  • DeRay Mckesson — DeRay Mckesson is a leading voice in the Black Lives Matter movement, a co-founder of Campaign Zero, and co-host of “Pod Save The People.” He is also the author of “On The Other Side Of Freedom,” a book that draws from his experience as an activist, organizer, educator, and public official to dismantle racism and build a better world.
  • From Privilege To Progress — This platform was founded in 2018 after the founders witnessed the arrest of two innocent Black men. With a mission to “desegregate the conversation about race” and to further education around anti-racism, From Privilege to Progress recommends resources, amplifies stories, and encourages readers to show up.

  Resource: The Good Trade Blog

• What To Do
  • 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge
  • 106 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice

  Organizations to donate to or get involved with:

  • Soul2Soul Sisters Racial Justice Organization
  • National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
  • NAACP
  • Southern Poverty Law Center
  • United Negro College Fund
  • Black Youth Project 100
  • Color of Change
  • The Sentencing Project
  • Families Against Mandatory Minimums
  • A New Way of Life
  • Dream Defenders
  • George Floyd Memorial Fund
  • Campaign Zero
  • Unicorn Riot
  • The Bail Project
  • Second Tuesday Race Forum

LGBTQ+ Resources

• Get Involved — On-Campus Resources
  • LGBTQ+ Resource Committee — For information, contact: [email protected].
  • LGBTQ+ Peer Support — Organized by the Student Counseling Center. Meets every Wednesday from 3 – 4 p.m. Contact Kristina Moquin at [email protected] for more information.
  • LGBTQ+ 101 Workshop — Request a workshop for your club or organization. Contact: [email protected]

  General Campus Resources

  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Chosen Name Policy
  • Gender Inclusive Bathroom Map

   

• Local Off-Campus Resources
  • Adirondack North Country Gender Alliance — hosts annual North Country Pride Parade and virtual peer support group. Contact [email protected]
• State & National Resources

  National Resources

  • GLAAD
  • GLSEN
  • SUNY Spectrum
  • Matthew Shepard Foundation
  • National Center for Transgender Equality
  • Stonewall Community Foundation
  • The Trevor Project
  • Campus Pride
  • PFLAG
  • Healthline — What are the different types of sexuality? 47 LGBTQIA+ terms to know
  • Human Rights Campaign — National state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans
  • Human Rights Campaign — Coming out resources
  • Human Rights Campaign — Count me in, resources for trans and non-binary populations

  New York Resources

  • Office of Children and Family Services Resources for LGBTQ Youth
  • I Love NY LGBTQ Resources
• LGBTQ+ Resource Committee

  RADIUS, the LGBTQ+ inclusion resource for SUNY Plattsburgh, was formed in the winter of 2016 and was renamed the LGBTQ+ Resource Committee in the fall of 2020.

  The LGBTQ+ Resource Committee has six founding principles.

  1. Promote Resilience — To help us remember that there have been countless successes in our community around inclusion and to continue that success through advocacy, diversity, intersectionality, understanding and self-love.
  2. Advocacy— Change requires empowerment and action with cross-community collaboration and communication.
  3. Diversity — Help us to recognize and validate the multiple identities, experiences and backgrounds of our campus community members.
  4. Intersectionality — To encourage us to acknowledge the interconnected and overlapping nature of the multiple facets of one’s identity, such as race, class, sexuality and gender as they apply to individual experiences of oppression and privilege.
  5. Understanding and Empathy — For others’ experiences and views with an interest in bridging gaps, not creating separations.
  6. Self-Love — Our goal is to support each individual, through the use of equitable resources, to help them feel empowered as they strive to embrace their authentic selves through the practice of self-acceptance and self-love.

  The goals and objectives of the LGBTQ+ Resource Committee are: 

  • Support LGBTQ+ students and employees at SUNY Plattsburgh
  • Cultivate brave and safe spaces for all members of the LGBTQ+ community to be heard, be themselves, and be as visible as they wish
  • Coordinate social activities and events to promote a shared sense of belonging
  • Provide educational events on LGBTQ+ issues
  • Connect students to mental and physical health resources on campus

  For more information:
  Contact the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at [email protected] or call 518-564-5410

Faculty & Staff Resources

• Inclusive Pedagogy
  • Equity-mindedness requires that practitioners pay attention to patterns of inequity that impact student success. Equity-minded practitioners are aware of the social and historical contexts of exclusion in American higher education and how these affect marginalized students.
  • People of Color in STEM: Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in the United States. This library guide seeks to center the voices and lived experiences of people of color (POC) in STEM.
  • Creating Inclusive College Classrooms Developed by the University of Michigan’s Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, this site provides information on building an inclusive classroom (including reviewing course content).
  • Teaching Students with Disabilities Developed by Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching, this site provides information on how accommodations and considerations for all learning abilities is possible.
• Sample Syllabus Statements & Other Resources

  The following syllabus samples are Google Drive and/or Word document files for your own personal use. 

  • Sample DEI and Trauma-Informed Syllabus Statement
  • Interfaith Statement and Observance of Religious Holidays
  • Title IX Syllabus Statement

  TRHT Resources

  • TRHT Touchstones

Anti-Oppression/Prejudice/Discrimination Resources

• What To Read

  LGBTQIA

  • Literature
    • StoneWall, Martin Duberman
    • Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde
    • The Gay Revolution, Lillian Faderman
    • And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts
    • Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity, C. Riley Snorton
    • Love Wins, Debbie Cenziper and Jim Obergefell
    • How to Survive a Plague, David France
    • Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States, Samantha Allen
    • When We Rise, Cleve Jones
    • The Men With the Pink Triangle, Heinz Heger
    • The Lavender Scare, David E. Johnson
    • The Celluloid Closet, Vito Russo
    • Transgender Warriors, Leslie Feinberg
    • Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution, Susan Stryker
    • Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability, Robert McRuer
    • The Stonewall Reader, Edmund White (foreword) and The New York Public Library (edited)

  Stories of people who are immigrants:

  • Articles
    • My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas
  • Literature
    • The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America, edited by Nikesh, Shukla and Chimene Suleyman
    • Unaccompanied, Javir Zamora
    • Call Me American: A Memoir, Abdi Nor Iftin
    • Things are Good Now, Djamila Ibrahim
    • Refuge: A Novel by Dina Nayeri, Dina Nayeri
    • The Refugees, Viet Thanh Nguyen
• What to Watch

  Stories of people who are immigrants

  • Documentaries
    • The New Americans
    • Which Way Home

  LGTBQIA

  • Documentaries
    • Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community
    • The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson

  Intersectional Documentaries

  • G-Dog
  • Forbidden

  Intersectional Films/Mini Series

  • The Perks of Being a WallFlower
  • Unorthodox
  • Pariah
  • The Way He Looks