In Pursuit of Racial Equity
At the University of Nebraska, we strive for excellence in all that we do. True excellence requires that each individual be able to work and learn in an atmosphere of respect, dignity, and acceptance. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion requires each of us to continuously ensure our interactions be respectful, protect free speech, and inspire academic freedom.
We encourage you to read Vice Chancellor Barker’s statement "The Echoing Call for Systemic Change." in response to the ongoing challenges within our nation.
The N2025 Strategic Plan contains six ambitious aims. Each aim represents a purpose or intended outcome. Supporting each aim are strategies and expectations. As part of the Inclusive Excellence and Diversity aim, notable strategies include:
Enhance participation in critical dialogue around issues of equity and inclusion and embed inclusive excellence into existing and new educational and professional learning opportunities for students, staff, faculty, and administrators.
Our response to systemic inequities and racial injustice must be diverse and wide-ranging, reflecting the vast needs of our campus while supporting, understanding, and contributing to the expansion of knowledge in pursuit of equity.
In addition to action and resources coordinated by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, resources presented reflect our Colleges, University Libraries, collaborating units, and key institutional groups.
In addition to action, the resources below are designed to effect change.
Books
- How to Be an Anti-Racist - Ibram X. Kendi (2019)
- Racecraft - Barbara J. Fields and Karen Fields (2012)
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria - Beverly Daniel Tatum (2017)
- A Deam Called Home - Reyna Grande (2018)
- So You Want to Talk About Race - Ijeoma Oluo (2019)
- Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All - Martha S. Jones (2020)
- Letters to My Mother - Teresa Cárdenas (2016)
- Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism - Allissa V. Richardson (2020)
- Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
- A Nation of Women - Luisa Capetillo (2021)
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - Michelle Alexander (2010)
- How to be Less Stupid About Race - Crystal M. Fleming (2020)
- Teaching About Race and Racism in the College Classroom: Notes from a White Professor - Cyndi Kernahan (2019)
- Medical Apartheid - Harriet A. Washington (2006)
- Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America - Melissa Harris-Perry (2011)
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The Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools - Monique W. Morris (2015)
- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism - Edward E. Baptist (2016)
- Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race - Derald Wing Sue (2016)
- Divided Sisters - Midge Wilson and Kathy Russell (1995)
- Finding Latinx - Paola Ramos (2020)
- They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement - Wesley Lowery (2016)
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou (1969)
- Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century - Dorothy E. Roberts (2012)
- Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America - James Forman Jr. (2018)
- The Miner's Canary - Lani Guinier, Geral Torres (2002)
- The Wretched of the Earth - Frantz Fanon (1961)
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The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin (1963)
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Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership - Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2019)
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A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on The American Mind - Harriet A. Washington (2019)
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From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America - Elizabeth Hinton (2016)
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Go Tell It On the Mountain – James Baldwin (1953)
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Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police and Punish the Poor - Virginia Eubanks (2018)
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Blackballed: The Black Vote and U.S. Democracy - Darryl Pinckney (2014)
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Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class - Ian Haney López (2013)
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Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology - Deirdre Cooper Owens (2017)
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Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical Discrimination - Alondra Nelson (2011)
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Notes of a Native Son – James Baldwin (1955)
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Breathe: A Letter to My Sons – Imani Perry (2019)
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The Mothers – Brit Bennett (2016)
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How We Fight for Our Lives – Saeed Jones (2019)
- Trap Door - Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, and Johanna Burton (2017)
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White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue… and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation – Lauren Michele Jackson (2019)
- How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America - Kiese Laymon (2013)
- One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy - Carol Anderson (2018)
- Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks - Jason Reynolds (2019)
- Your Silence Will Not Protect You - Audre Lorde (2017)
- Unapologetic - Charlene A. Carruthers (2018)
- Transcending Racial Barriers: Toward a Mutual Obligations Approach - Michael O. Emerson and George Yancey (2011)
- Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism - Safiya Umoja Noble (2018)
Articles & Journals
- Jasmine Roberts - "White Academia: Do Better" Medium, (2020)
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Jenny Rickard - "What Does an Anti-Racist College Admissions Process Look Like?" Diverse Issues in Higher Education, (2021)
- Sarah Schwartz and Madeline Will - "15 Classroom Resources for Discussing Racism, Policing, and Protest" Education Week, (2020)
- Jesse Popp - "Want to reach out to an Indigenous scholar?" The Conversation, (2021)
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Berkley Carnine, Dylan Cooke, Scott Davis, Rog Drew, Z! Haukeness, Griffen Jeffries - "Indigenous Solidarity Nework: Rethinking "Thanksgiving: Toolkit" Indigenous Solidarity Network
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Janel George - "A Lesson on Critical Race Theory" American Bar Association, (2021)
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Eduardo Contreras, Maraina Montgomery, Hernando Sevilla-Garcia - "An Antiracist Framework for Education Abroad"NAFSA, (2021)
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J. Nwando Olayiwola, Joshua J. Joseph, Autumn R. Glover, Harold L. Paz, Darrell M. Gray, II "Making Anti-Racism A Core Value In Academic Medicine" Health Affairs (2020)
- Ethel L. Mickey, Ember Skye Kanelee and Joya Misra - "10 Small Steps for Department Chairs to Foster Inclusion" Inside Higher Ed, (2020)
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Marianne Mychaskiw - "13 Mental Health & Wellness Resources For Asian-American Communities" Bustle, (2021)
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Hailey Branson-Potts and Matt Stiles - "All Black Lives Matter March Calls for LGBTQ Rights and Racial justice" LA Times, (2020)
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Mari Matsuda, "Mari Matsuda: Critical Race Theory is not Anti-Asian" Reappropriate, (2021)
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Francie Diep - "‘I Was Fed Up’: How #BlackInTheIvory Got Started, and What Its Founders Want to See Next", The Chronicle of Higher Education (2020)
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Mari Uyehara – “A Brief History of Anti-Asian Racism Pretending It’s Not Racist” Bustle, (2021)
- David B. Green, Jr. - "Hearing the Queer Roots of Black Lives Matter" Medium, (2020)
- Keisha N. Blain - "The Black Women Who Paved the Way for This Moment" The Atlantic, (2020)
- Ibram X. Kendi - "The American Nightmare" The Atlantic, (2020)
- Michelle Alexander - "America, This is Your Chance" The New York Times, (2020)
- Mari Matsuda, "Becoming Asian in America" Reappropriate, (2021)
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Sarah Kim - "Black Disabled Lives Matter: We Can't Erase Disability in #BLM" Teen Vogue, (2020)
- Ernest Owens - "White People, I Still Don't Believe You're Serious About Anti-Racism" Philadelphia, (2020)
- Shailaja Neelakantan - "As Hundreds of Students Join George Floyd Protests, Some Black Students Become Targets of Police" Diverse; Issues in Higher Education, (2020)
- Tammy E. Smithers and Doug Franklin - "The Weaponry of Whiteness, Entitlement, and Privilege" Diverse; Issues in Higher Education, (2020)
- Adrianna Kezar and Sharon Fries-Britt - "Speaking Truth and Acting with Integrity: Confronting Challenges of Campus Racial Climate" American Council on Education, (2018)
- Tsedale M. Melaku and Angie Beeman -
"Academia Isn’t a Safe Haven for Conversations About Race and Racism" Harvard Business Review, (2020)
- Healthline - "Racism Is a Health Crisis. Why Aren’t We Treating It Like One?", (2020)
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Anthony Rodriguez - "Amy Cooper Works in Your Academic Department", Inside Higher Ed, (2020)
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Scott Carlson and Michael J. Sorrell - "Higher Ed’s Reckoning With Race", The Chronicle of Higher Education, (2020)
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Sasha Zhou - "Breaking the Silence: Asian Pacific Islander American Mental Health in the COVID-19 Era" National Center for Institutional Diversity, (2020)
- Martha S. Jones -"For Black Women, the 19th Amendment Didn't End Their Fight to Vote" National Geographic, (2020)
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Sarah Brown - "Students of Color Are Not OK. Here's How Colleges Can Support Them" The Chronicle of Higher Education, (2020)
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Scottie Andrew and Harmeet Kaur - "Everyday Words and Phrases That Have Racist Connotations" CNN, (2020)
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M. Brielle Harbin, Amie Thurber, and Joe Bandy "Teaching Race, Racism, and Racial Justice: Pedagogical Principles and Classroom Strategies for Course Instructors" Race and Pedagogy Journal (2019)
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Jennifer Akamine Phillips, Nate Risdon, Matthew Lamsma, Angelica Hambrick, and Alexander Jun "Barriers and Strategies by White Faculty Who Incorporate Anti-Racist Pedagogy" Race and Pedagogy Journal (2019)
- Lauren Michele Jackson "What's Missing From 'White Fragility'" Slate (2019)
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Kate Lý Johnston - "Anti-racism resources to support Asian American, Pacific Islander community", NBC News, (2021)
- Donald Earl Collins "The Weight and Pressure of American Racism" Al Jazeera (2020)
- Nancy Doyle "The Intersection of Race and Neurodivergence: “The Black Dyspraxic” Shares on Overcoming Barriers"Forbes (2020)
- Gina Ann Garcia "Antiracist Hiring Practices in Higher Education" HigerEdJobs (2020)
- Master's in Data Science "A Guide for Minorities in STEM: Increasing Workplace Diversity" (2020)
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Ashish Valentine "The Wrong Complexion For Protection. How Race Shaped America's Roadways And Cities" NPR, (2020)
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Natalie Shibley "Race, Medicine, and the Origins of American Psychiatry" Black Perspectives, (2020)
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N'dea Yancey-Bragg "Majority of kids who die of coronavirus are Hispanic, Black, or Native American, CDC finds" USA Today, (2020)
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Marissa Evans "The Relentlessness of Black Grief" The Atlantic, (2020)
- Cade Metz & Daisuke Wakabayashi "Google Researcher Says She Was Fired Over Paper Highlighting Bias in A.I." New York Times, (2020)
Websites
- UNL Office of Diversity and Inclusion: Implementing Inclusive Excellence into Virtual Learning Environments
- Race Equity Tools - Education
- Vanderbilt University - Teaching Race: Pedagogy and Practice
- Teaching Tolerance - Teaching About Race, Racism and Police Violence
- New York Public Library - Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
- Hollaback! - Bystander Intervention Training to Stop Anti-Asian/American and Xenophobic Harassment
- Academics for Black Lives - Academics for Black Survival and Wellness
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The African American Policy Forum - AAPF
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC
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Cite Black Women - Cite Black Women Collective
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Minorities in STEM - Minorities in STEM
- #BlackintheIvory - Black in the Ivory
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The Anti-Defamation League - Race and Racial Justice
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University of Washington - Teaching about Race & Equity
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American Association of University Professors - Racial Justice
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The Center for Asian Pacific American Women - APAWLI
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Black Perspectives - Syllabus: A History of Anti-Black Racism in Medicine
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The National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association – NAAPIMHA
- Rhodes College - Office of Faculty Recruitment, Retention, and Diversity
- Hack the Gates - Radically Reimage Admissions
- Maynard Institute - Structural Racism
- Everyday Health - #BlackHealthFacts Matter
- Pepperdine University - Confronting Prejudice
- College Consensus - 135 Racial Equity Resources For Education, Professional & Community Development, Health, And Civil Rights
- Granite Recovery Centers - LGBTQ & Addiction
- Defining Wellness Centers- BIPOC Addiction Resources
- Counseling Psychology - BIPOC Therapists: Empowering the Community through Education and Awareness
TV & Video Segments
- U.S. History: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
- Police: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
- Dear White People (Netflix Series)
- SpeakOut - the Institute for Democratic Education and Culture (SpeakOutNow.org)
- Raising Anti-Racist Kids - Exploring the Next Generation of Changemakers (Haymarket Books)
- How to Build an Antiracist World (TED Talk)
- The Danger of a Single Story (TED Talk)
- USC Race and Equity Center (Youtube)
- This 16-Year-Old Indigenous Activist is Fighting for Environmental Justice (NowThis News)
- Black South Rising (Vice News)
- An Interview with the Founders of Black Lives Matters (Ted Talk)
- The Difference Between Being "Not Racist" and Antiracist (Ted Talk)
- How We're Honoring People Overlooked by History (Ted Talk)
- Why Black Girls Are Targeted for Punishment at School (Ted Talk)
- The Problem with Race Based Medicine (Ted Talk)
- A Visual History of Inequality in Industrial America (Ted Talk)
- Why Lakes and Rivers Should Have the Same Rights as Humans (Ted Talk)
Documentaries & Movies
- 13th (Documentary)
- When They See Us (Documentary)
- Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Documentary)
- Let It Fall: 1982 - 1992 Los Angeles (Documentary)
- Asian Americans (Documentary)
- Teach Us All (Documentary)
- Just Mercy (Movie)
- Salute (Documentary)
- #AsianAmCovidStories (Documentary)
- The Black Panthers (Documentary)
- I Am Not Your Negro (Documentary)
- American Son (Movie)
- Call Her Ganda (Documentary)
- If Beale Street Could Talk (Movie)
- King in the Wilderness (Documentary)
- 9-MAN (Documentary)
- Moonlight (Movie)
- The Death and Life of Martha P. Johnson (Documentary)
- Free CeCe (Documentary)
- Disclosure (Documentary)
*Found on various streaming platforms
Podcasts
- 1619, The New York Times
- About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Code Switch, NPR
- Self Evident, Asian America's Stories
- Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberle Crenshaw, AAPF
- Momentum: A Race Forward
- Pod For the Cause: Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights
- Pod Save the People, Crooked Media
- Seeing White, Scene on Radio
- Fare of the Free Child, Raising Free People Network
- Black Wallstreet 1921 (podcast)
- About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge (podcast)
- The Stacks (podcast)
*Podcasts can be found on Spotify, Apple Music and the Podcast app
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