Anti-Racism Resources

Action Items for You and Your Makerspace

  • Start the conversation. Talk to your members and leadership. What is your space doing well? What does it need to work on?

  • Do your research. Who is in your organization and what are your practices to support diversity and inclusion? What does the internal culture of your organization value and emphasize? The first step to understanding how you will solve a problem is identifying the problem. 

  • Join a Community of Practice. The work we are engaged in is ongoing and is best engaged in community. Over the coming days we will be reviewing what we have heard tonight, and will be creating opportunities over the coming weeks to turn this dialogue into tangible action. We invite you to join the Slack community, and the work of the Culture and Inclusion working group. To join, send an email to info@nationofmakers.us. We are in the process of refining what this community of practice will evolve into, and the forms it may take beyond simple dialogue. 

  • Identify/Acknowledge/take responsibility for past failures and shortcomings. Use the maker mentality to create (and continue to iterate on) tangible policies and practices that directly address barriers.

  • Examine foundational organizational documents & structures 
to align institutional “scaffolding of inclusive processes.” For example: Bylaws
; Mission
; Strategic plan
; Membership agreements
; Code of conduct. Nation of Makers will be partnering with a number of organizations to develop model language for the community to use. 

  • Change your recruitment strategies for board, staff and membership
    Identify barriers to recruitment and retention (ex. Awareness, social, financial, presentation, etc.). Create tangible strategies that directly address those barriers, point by point. Use a Board Matrix to understand your Board Composition
    Add specific measurable goals related to diversity and inclusion in your organizational strategic plan 

  • Evaluate your communications strategy. Does it reflect your (aspirations for) community? Who is not included? Ensure your messaging is inclusive, and share why this is important to you.

  • Communicate publicly around your commitment to diversity and inclusion (but remember the best thing you can do is to act)
    Have you pledged to Nation of Makers’ Core Principles? Have you publicly acknowledged this/put the sign up in your space?

  • Participate in/host other conversations

Readings

 

Accounts to follow:

@Mvmnt4BlkLives - M4BL is a national network of over 150 organizations creating a broad political home for Black people to learn, organize, and take action.

@Blklivesmatter - BLM is an affirmation & embrace of the resistance & resilience of Black people. Founded by

@osopepatrisse - Writer on @GoodTrouble. Chair of @ReformLaJails Artist. Organizer. Freedom Fighter. Co-Author of New York Times Bestseller ‘When They Call You a Terrorist.’

@opalayo - Black Feminist. nigerian-american. believer. strategist. writer. human rights defender. co-founder #BLACKLIVESMATTER. migrant justice. . she/her.

@aliciagarza - HBIC @ Black Futures Lab. Host Lady Don’t Take No podcast. strategy+partnerships @ NDWA, co-creator #BlackLivesMatter. views mine. IG: chasinggarza

@showingupforracialjustice - SURJ is a national network of groups & individuals organizing white people for racial justice.

@Teaching_Tolerance - Founded by @splcenter, TT helps teachers educate students to be active participants in a diverse democracy. Our resources are free to educators.

@theconsciouskid - Parenting and Education through a Critical Race Lens. Diverse #OwnVoices Books. Black and Brown Owned. COVID-19 #RENTRELIEF For Families

@teachandtransform - she/her. ABAR educator in progress. @teaching_tolerance award winner. @ted Talker. 🇰🇷adoptee. 💜bi💙. Korea -> DC -> STL -> OAK -> LA

@colorofchange - We design campaigns powerful enough to end practices that unfairly hold Black people back, & champion solutions that move us all forward. #UntilJusticeIsReal.

@antiracismctr - Our mission is to produce knowledge for change's sake. Directed @DrIbram.

@rachel.cargle - building an intellectual legacy through teaching, storytelling & critical discourse. 🌿@thelovelandfoundation🌿@thegreatunlearn🌿@elizabethsofakron

@mspackyetti - learning in public. activist. writer. educator. Black. saved by grace. @MSNBC contributor. @kidnoble’s +1. she/her. Ferguson forever.

@marclamonthill - Temple University Professor. Host of BET News. Owner of Uncle Bobbie’s. Author. Activist. Abolitionist. Father. Sixers Fanatic. Philly Born. ΚΑΨ MADE

@hereweread - Helping you find quality diverse books, educational products and raise curious kids. Mom of @50states50books 👧🏾👦🏾 📍CT, USA

@diversereads - Teacher in love with children's books and advocate for the "other".

@joannahowrites - EYES THAT KISS IN THE CORNERS (‘21); PLAYING AT THE BORDER: A STORY OF YO-YO MA (‘21); ONE DAY (‘23) 📚 are the first step in anti-racist education

@mattersofrepresentation - Grad Student at #VCFAWCYA. Debut book news coming soon! 🤓 Amplifying children’s stories by under-represented authors, Black, Indigenous, & POC.📍NYC!

@inclusivestorytime - 🌈Inclusive Storytime ✌🏾✌🏼Raising readers who raise up others✌🏿✌🏽 For 15%off @littlefeministbookclub use INCLUSIVESTORYTIME

Helpful Websites

Movement For Black Lives website 

Talk About Race Portal from National Museum of African American History and Culture

What Matters 2020 - Blacklivesmatter.com

The Scales of Accountability - by AWARE-LA

Six Podcasts Diversity & Inclusion Practitioners Will Love

Ways to Advocate

  • Take steps toward raising actively antiracist children and follow The Conscious Kid on Instagram

Online Training, & Workshops

Events & Online Seminars to Attend:

July 2, 2020: A Conversation about Race and Inclusion in the Maker Movement

Nation of Makers is partnering with Fab Foundation, Tikkun Olam Makers, Open Source Medical Supplies, Citizen Schools, Maker Ed, and Make: Community, to begin the long overdue critical internal reflection and work that we need to engage in to address the lack of support and representation of makers of color within the mainstream maker community.
We invite everyone in our communities (and those who have specifically chosen not to be, because of past failures on our part) to join us in this process of reinvention of the maker movement, starting with our facilitated Conversation about Race and Inclusion in the Maker Movement: Dialogue and Actions for Progress at 7pm ET/4pm PT on Thursday, July 2, 2020. We intend for this dialogue to be the starting point for open communication within our community about where we are at right now on issues of race and inclusion, and what actions we need to engage in to create an intentional inclusive maker community grounded in social justice and equity.
We hope that you will join us. We welcome all perspectives; please consider extending this invitation to another friend or colleague that could contribute to this conversation and share their perspective.
Register at: Conversation about Race and Inclusion in the Maker Movement: Dialogue and Actions for Progress

July 8, 2020: Strategies for Equity in PPE Distribution

Join OSMS Local Response and representatives from Get Us PPE, Ace Monster Toys (Oakland, CA), and NWLA Makerspace (Shreveport, LA) for a discussion about strategies for discovering and serving PPE needs of underserved communities during the COVID-19 crisis. We will ask:
- How do we create relationships with existing social support organizations and make socially relevant products from end to end?
- How can we make PPE distribution more equitable?
- How can the maker community address health equity and long term support for marginalized communities?

Register at: https://opensourcemedicalsupplies.org/event/strategies-for-equity-in-ppe-distribution