Viacomcbs Blackout Tuesday Resources

BLACKOUT TUESDAY RESOURCES

SUPPORT

Employees are invited to join informal discussions led by Chad Anderson, licensed clinical social worker. We encourage you to join the discussion where we will talk about our grief and pain. We will hear about coping skills, self-care and what we can do to support each other through this difficult time.

Sessions will start at 11:00am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm, 3:30pm, 5:00pm, & 6:30pm (ET) and last approximately one hour. If the session is full, please join a later session.

Click here to join and enter the Meeting ID: 979 0216 6873 and Password: 421177.

TOOLKITS

ARRAY 101 is a new online education initiative created by Ava DuVernay’s company that shares dynamic social impact learning guides for the company’s films and television series with students all over the world free of charge. Described as supplemental learning materials for teaching students grade nine and above, including adults, the learning companions will be a resource to anyone looking to expand their knowledge of social justice and advocacy.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture launched Talking About Race, a new online portal designed to help individuals, families and communities talk about racism, racial identity and the way these forces shape every aspect of society, from the economy and politics to the broader American culture.

READ

How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change This article by former President Barack Obama shows how we can further drive the momentum around this call for change...and build positive strategies to support this heightened wave of activism that’s taking hold.

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo For white and non-Black people who feel they don’t know how to start having these conversations, Oluo has generously provided a resource about how to be honest and thoughtful in examining not just racism in the world, but also white people’s own role in it.

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi The title says it all: historian Ibram Kendi reorients the discussion of racism to focus on the act of fighting against it; it's not enough to be a passive opponent. Weaving in

accounts from his own life, Kendi expounds on the consequences of racism and white supremacy in our public and private spheres, exploring the ways racism manifests within and across demographics, and shows the reader what antiracism looks like and can achieve. In praise for the book, author Ijeoma Oluo describes Kendi's work as “vital,” adding, “As a society, we need to start treating antiracism as action, not emotion — and Kendi is helping us do that.”

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt Stanford psychology professor Jennifer Eberhardt exposes the hidden racial biases that directly affect our lives — biases built into, among others, political, educational, medical, justice and financial systems in the US. It’s a scientific, analytical and personal examination of these widespread prejudices, as well as an empowering and even hopeful guide for ways to help dismantle them. In praise for the book, Bryan Stevenson said Biased “presents the science of bias with rare insight and accessibility, but it is also a work with the power and craft to make us see why overcoming racial bias is so critical.”

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo Antiracist educator DiAngelo explores the defensive and aggressive reactions white people have when they’re confronted with the reality of racial inequality and the ways they enable it. DiAngelo breaks down the idea of white fragility, identifying its related emotions (anger, fear, guilt) and its counterproductive behaviors (argumentation, silence), explaining how these behaviors allow for white supremacy, and outlining ways to more earnestly and constructively engage in antiracist work. Poet and playwright Claudia Rankine describes it as “a necessary book for all people invested in societal change through productive social and intimate relationships.”

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Written as a letter to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ son, this nonfiction book details the realities of, and author’s personal experiences with, being Black in the United States, and how it infiltrates everything from school to the streets. It posits that white supremacy is something that will never be eradicated, but instead a force Black people will always have to navigate.

The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives by Shankar Vedantam In a series of compulsively readable narratives, Vedantam journeys through the latest discoveries in neuroscience, psychology and behavioral science to uncover the darkest corner of our minds and its decisive impact on the choices we make as individuals and as a society. Filled with fascinating characters, dramatic storytelling and cutting-edge science, this is an engrossing exploration of the secrets our brains keep from us — and how they are revealed.

LISTEN

1619 (The New York Times)

About Race

Code Switch (NPR)

Intersectionality Matters! with Kimberlé Crenshaw

Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast

Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)

Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)

Seeing White

Podcasts from CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion: How to have a ‘real-talk’ about Diversity & Inclusion and Agreeing to Seeing it Differently are two short podcasts designed to help employees level set the field for conversations about race and other hot button issues they will all ultimately want to have among their colleagues in the workplace (e.g., it touches on how to be comfortable having uncomfortable conversations). Access the full podcast here, which is focused on the theme “Helping People Manage Their Own Truth.”

WATCH

• Airing tonight, the BET News Special Justice Now, hosted by Marc Lamont Hill, will feature dialogue with George Floyd’s family, former NBA player Stephen Jackson, Senator Cory Booker, singer John Legend, Rapper TI, Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, activist Tamika Mallory, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, Princeton University Department of African American Studies Chairperson Eddie Glaude, scholar Peniel E. Joseph, Emerald Garner (daughter of Eric Garner), youth activists Michael McDowell and Luis Hernandez and other leading African American voices in activism, politics and entertainment to reflect on the killing of George Floyd, the protests that have ensued and systemic racism that have led us to where are today.

• SHOWTIME will re-air two recent Showtime Documentary Films: 2020 Peabody Award nominee 16 Shots, examining the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, and Burn Motherf*cker Burn, exploring the relationship between the LAPD and the city’s minority communities for decades leading up to the 1992 uprising in Los Angeles.

• 13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix

• American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix

• The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 — Available to rent

• Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu) — Available to rent

• Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix

• Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) — Available to rent

• I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc) — Available to rent or on Kanopy

• If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu

• Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent

• King In The Wilderness (MLK doc) — HBO

• Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent

• The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution — Available to rent

• The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Hulu with Cinemax

• When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix

• Our very own Oscar-nominated St. Louis Superman

• A series of videos on race produced by The New York Times

DONATE

Color Of Change This organization designs campaigns powerful enough to end practices that unfairly hold Black people back, and champions solutions that move us all forward. Until justice is real. To donate, click here.

Legal Defense Fund (LDF) The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial justice. To donate, click here.

NAACP The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. To donate, click here.

National Bail Out Reunites families, creating a national community of leaders who have experienced incarceration, and works with groups across the country to transform harmful systems to keep our people safe and free. To donate, click here.

National Action Network Founded in 1991 by Reverend Al Sharpton, National Action Network is one of the leading civil rights organizations in the nation, with chapters throughout the United States. To donate, click here.

The Bail Project This project is designed to combat mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system ‒ one person at a time. To donate, click here.

National Urban League The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. To donate, click here.

If you are eligible to participate in the ViacomCBS Matching Gifts Program, we encourage you to make your donation using ViacomCBS Gives to use the matching benefit.

SIGN Several petitions have been gaining traction in the past week demanding justice in the wake of Mr. Floyd’s death.

One petition, on the website for Color Of Change, has accumulated almost 3.5 million signatures, just shy of its 4 million target. In the petition’s description, it states that while Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, the three officers also at the scene – Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng – “must also be charged for participating in George’s murder.” To sign the petition, click here.

The Change.org petition “Justice for George Floyd” has gained more than 10 million signatures. “We are trying to reach the attention of Mayor Jacob Frey and DA Mike Freeman to beg to have the officers involved in this disgusting situation fired and for charges to be filed immediately,” the petition states. “Please help us get justice for George and his family!” To sign the petition, click here.

Another petition, launched on the website wecantbreathenational.org, states that it is calling on Hennepin County District Attorney Mike Freeman to arrest and charge the police officers involved with Mr. Floyd’s death with second-degree murder. To sign the petition, click here.

The NAACP, a US civil rights organization, has created a petition demanding the immediate arrest of the three officers who were present when Chauvin kneeled on Mr. Floyd’s neck. The petition is also demanding the “appointment of an independent special prosecutor to lead the federal government’s full and impartial investigation of the murder of George Floyd,” the “reinstitution by the Department of Justice of consent decrees on police departments and municipal governments across this country that have demonstrated patterns of racism towards and mistreatment of people of color” and the “sweeping police reform–federal legislation mandating a zero-tolerance approach in penalizing and/or prosecuting police officers who kill unarmed, non-violent, and non- resisting individuals in an arrest.” To sign the petition, click here.

In March, Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency medical technician, was fatally shot by the Louisville Metro Police Department in her apartment, after officers entered the property while serving a “no-knock warrant.” Her family is seeking reprimand for the killing in a lawsuit, accusing the police officers of wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence. A petition has been launched on the dedicated website standwithbre.com. “We’re calling on the Louisville Metro Police Department to terminate the police involved, and for a special prosecutor to be appointed to bring forward charges against the officers and oversee all parts of this case,” the petition states. To sign the petition, click here.

ORGANIZATIONS TO FOLLOW ON SOCIAL

RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES

For a variety of resources from Nickelodeon, click here. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.