Shir Tikvah is committed to practicing and pursuing racial equity, racial inclusivity, and racial justice, both within our congregation and in the greater community.

We strive to identify racism and to undo racism as a community and an institution.

We are a racially diverse congregation. Shir Tikvah is committed to reflect and honor this diversity in our Shabbat services, on our Board of Directors, in our religious school, and in our other programming.

Anti-Racism & Understanding Race in America

This compilation of resources is provided by ikar

How to Be an Antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi
Exploration of antiracism through the lens of ethics, history, law, science, and personal narrative.

Me and White Supremacy:
Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
by Layla Saad
Antiracist workbook interwoven with cultural and historically contextualized stories and anecdotes.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
by Richard Rothstein
“The most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation.” -William Julius WilsonThe Color of Law: A Forgotten History of how our Government Segregated America

The Warmth of Other Suns:
The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
by Isabel Wilkerson
A stunning and personal examination into the lives of individuals that were part of the Great Migration from the South to the North, with a special emphasis on three individuals.

Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Written from a father to his son and relying heavily on personal narrative, Coates offers a framework for understanding our nation and what it currently means to be Black in America.

The Fire Next Time
by James Baldwin
Described by The New York Times Book Review as “sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle…all presented in searing, brilliant prose.”

I Am Not Your Negro
by Raoul Peck
A powerful documentary film that explores race, art, and activism through the words of James Baldwin.

Stamped from the Beginning:
The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
by Ibram X. Kendi
Broad historical overview of “race” in America.

When They Call You a Terrorist:
A Black Lives Matter Memoir
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
A poetic and powerful memoir about what it means to be a Black woman in America — and the co-founding of a movement that demands justice for all in the land of the free.

Eloquent Rage:
A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
by Brittney Cooper
Personal essays exploring issues facing Black American women.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
One of many autobiographies written by the legendary Maya Angelou. Her personal accounts masterfully illustrate the realities of being black and female in America.

Breaking the Chains of Psychological Slavery
by Na’im Akbar
An examination of the continued psychological consequences of slavery.

Whiteness of a Different Color:
European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race
by Matthew Frye Jacobson
The invention of whiteness and how it has been used to divide and keep the powerful in power.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
by Isabel Wilkerson
A portrait of how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system—a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.

Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi
A sweeping historical novel that masterfully brings readers from the early days of the Transatlantic Slavery to modern-day America.

You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument
Powerful personal essay about confederate monuments and the legacy of slavery.

How Can We Win? 
(aka “They Are Lucky That What Black People Are Looking for is Equality and Not Revenge”)
by Kimberly Jones
A 7-minute clip of The New York Times bestselling author Kimberly Jones, explaining how the legacy of slavery has rigged the system and led us directly to this specific moment in history.

The Case for Reparations
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Acclaimed essay looking at myriad issues faced by the Black community going back to this country’s inception and the necessity for reparations.

RACE – The Power of an Illusion:
How the Racial Wealth Gap Was Created
by California Newsreel
Excerpts from California Newsreel’s acclaimed three-part documentary series. These clips give a brief history of housing inequality and the disproportionate channeling of resources, power, status, and wealth to white people.