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Become a Better Therapist! Check out our Antiracism Resources
¡Conviértete en un mejor terapeuta! Consulte nuestros recursos contra el racismo
Racial and Social Justice Pledge: RECAMFT is committed to equity including addressing structural racism and systemic injustice. We endeavor to be inclusive and value individuals from all ethnicities, ages, races, sexual orientations, genders, languages, abilities, religions, citizenship statuses, and socioeconomic backgrounds into our chapter and into treatment.
We strive to advocate, educate, collaborate, and strategize for positive racial and social justice change within our membership and our community.
Take the pledge and the first step here!
Here are some great resources to read and watch to help you become a better therapist.
Here are three great videos you can watch in your quest to become a better therapist! 1. First watch "13th" on either YouTube or Netflix. The address is: https://youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8 2. Consider watching "Healing Racialized Trauma: A Conversation with Resmaa Menakem and Tara Brach". He is a fellow therapist, and this video includes a very powerful experiential exercise. |
Podcast: Brene Brown speaks with Ibram Kendi about how to be an anti-racist. https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-ibram-x-kendi-on-how-to-be-an-antiracist/ James Baldwin's 1963 classic novel, The Fire Next Time, being read aloud. |  The American Psychiatric Association has issued its own apology to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color for its support of structural racism in Psychiatry. MORE... Read the APA apology for "APA’s Role in Promoting, Perpetuating, and Failing to Challenge Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Human Hierarchy in U.S."
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Hardy, starting at 45 minutes into the program. 
The American Psychological Association failed in its role leading the discipline of psychology, was complicit in contributing to systemic inequities, and hurt many through racism, racial discrimination, and denigration of people of color, thereby falling short on its mission to benefit society and improve lives. APA is profoundly sorry, accepts responsibility for, and owns the actions and inactions of APA itself, the discipline of psychology, and individual psychologists who stood as leaders for the organization and field.
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Here are some articles you can read to help you become a better therapist!
Here are some great books you can read to help you explore antiracism! We encourage you to shop at a Black or minority-owned bookstore such as The Collective Oakland. |
Antiracism |
A college professor, Dr. Kendi describes his journey along with fascinating and enlightening history. #1 NY Times best seller.
by Ijeoma Oluo #1 NY Times Bestseller. Author discusses multiple issues of white supremacy, and Black Lives Matter. Free on Audible. |
A Minneapolis psychotherapist who teaches Cultural Somatics examines how cultural trauma manifests at a cellular level. NY Times best seller.
#1 NY Times Bestseller, winner of multiple awards. Book links to YouTube audiobook. | by Layla Saad British, Arab, Muslim author's 28 day challenge to help readers understand systemic racism. NY Times Bestseller. |
Black / slavery
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents #1 NY Times bestseller. Author links caste systems of America, India, and Nazi Germany.
Toni Morrison says this book is the best book on the subject of race in the US (NY Observer). #1 NY Times bestseller. 
Harvard law professor's Texas recollections. Ranked as one of the "Ten Best Books of 2021" - NY Times. Social worker, researcher Dr. DeGruy put forth a theory to explain survival behaviors in Black people. Multiple awards. 
Keenah's First Speech: Our Blackness Will Never Fadeby Dianna Grayer RECAMFT member! A child copes with her emotions by channeling it into doing something positive.
2021 NAACP Award - Outstanding Literary Work, and other awards. |  South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of the Nationby Imani Perry Multiple awards, new 2021.
Considered one of the most influential books in the last 20 years, author examines mass incarceration. 
Multiple award winning author covers shocking lack of medical and psychological care for black people. Multiple sociology awards. Author argues fat phobia stems from racist, classist and anti-feminist viewpoints.
by Sarah Broom Journalist author tells the story of her grandmother's shotgun house in New Orleans. Multiple awards. NYT Bestseller.
HBO movie starring Oprah. Ms. Lacks cells were used without consent leading to breakthroughs. | by N. Hannah-Jones et al. Pulitzer Prize winning author for NY Times reframes US history from the POV in 1619 the first slaves arrived building the US.  The Color of LawAuthor exposes how the American government has engineered segregation. Multiple awards. 
An award winning reporter for 60 Minutes, CBS, GQ, Wes Lowery uses interviews to examine his topics.  Long Time ComingNY Times bestselling author examines how the summer of 2020 brought about the biggest racial protests ever. Multiple sociology awards. Author argues fat phobia stems from racist, classist and anti-feminist viewpoints. |
Black creative writing, prose, essays, poetry
by Kiese Laymon Best Book of the Year 2018 - New York Times and Audible. Personal essays about growing up in Mississippi. Award winning poet weaves poetry, images and racial microaggressions. 2015 NY Times Bestseller. | by Imani Perry Princeton professor writes a letter to her two sons, rich in prose, with stories of her ancestors. Multiple awards.
This 1963 classic text gave touched off the civil rights movement in America. Listen to it on YouTube below - free. | 
by Audre Lorde A collection of 15 essays and speeches which take on all the -isms. A classic seminal work by Lorde. 
by Jesmyn Ward Essays, poems by Tulane U. creative writing professor examine race since James Baldwin's 1963 classic text. |
Heavy: An American Memoir
Anti Asian
Anti-Semitism
by Dara Horn Multiple awards, author reflects when her children report swastikas drawn on their desks on dead Jews in writing. | British comedian contends Jews haven't been considered as part of the racism that occurs throughout Europe and the US. | 
by Bari Weiss Although a small percent of the population, over half the hate crimes in America are directed at Jews. NY Times author; awards. |
Indigenous
Human Rights Campaign recommends this as a must-read for Thanksgiving. |
Makes a case that mass slavery of indigenous people, rather than illnesses decimated them. Multiple awards. | by Dee Brown I970 classic text has been made into a movie. Click the book image to be taken to the YouTube movie rental link. |
Latinx
by Laura Gómez How Latinx became a constructed "race" by a professor and expert in race, law, and society | 
An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz Author uses key source materials to tell history from the point of view of BIPOC. | National Book Award finalist. Author is one of the first undocumented persons to graduate from Harvard. |
LGBTQ+ Intersectionality
by Afdhere Jama Born in Somalia, now a film maker in SF, Jama examines LGBTQ and the struggles of the intersection with Muslim faith. by Fatima Daas Author is a young Muslim lesbian growing up in a tough neighborhood in Paris. Multiple awards. | Multiple awards. Author explores the intersection of blackness and transness both historically and in today's society.  Queer (In)Justiceby Joey Mogul, et al. Authors examine queer criminal archetypes and demonstrate policing of sex and gender further engrains inequalities. | 
by Zaina Arafat A Palestian-American lesbian girl struggles between worlds as she grows. Oprah named one of the best books of the year. |
by George Takei NY Times Bestseller about the author's time in a Japanese internment camp in WWII. Graphic novel. Oprah acclaimed memoir of the author's journey with albinism, transition, migrating from the Philippines, graduating Harvard. by Deepa Iyer The story of South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh immigrants in a post 9-11 America, facing overt racism and hate crimes. by Phuc Tran Immigrating from Vietnam in 1975, author finds his way as a young child growing up in PN. | 
Korean-American author has been named one of Time's 100 most influential people of the year. Multiple Awards. President Obama - one of his 2021 favorite books. Story of family's move to NYC from China. NY Tmes Notable. | 
by Erika Lee Author explores America's xenophobia, inc. her experience as a 2nd generation Chinese American. Multiple awards. by K-Ming Chang A novel of 3 generations migration from Taiwan, queer lineage. Oprah-Best book of year, NYT Editors Choice.
by Erika Lee Named on of 2015's best non-fiction books of the year by NY Times and Kirkus Reviews. Multiple awards. |
Anti European
Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White The story of European immigrants becoming "white".
A post-humous collection of 60 yrs of essays when the author was a lone voice speaking out. | The story of Italian Americans in California facing searches, seizures, internment and evacuation during World War II. | The author is a long-standing voice against the concept of "whiteness" believing "treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity". |
USA Today has a good list of books, non-fiction and fiction, for both kids and adults that address the topics of racism and anti-racism here.
Here are some videos you can watch to help you become a better therapist!
Systemic Racism Explained (4 min) | Racism is Real (3 min) |
"13th" (1 hr 40 min) available on either YouTube or Netflix. https://youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8 |
Ta-Nehisi Coates explores America's racial divide in new book written to his 15 year old son. https://youtu.be/XJXHFh4qbBM | Layla F. Saad's Ted Talk on how reading books by authors of color help us regain our humanity. https://youtu.be/0CsMQJzBQiw |
Lee Mun Wah's film, "The Color of Fear" is a classic, and available here for $15.
| Resmaa Menakem, MSW talks about his time in Afghanistan, assessing the mental health of soldiers when a communal trauma occurred, the five types of intelligence, how trauma impacts the body, and finding resources. https://youtu.be/omyzEvVvjog | Dr. Robin DiAngelo discussing her book, White Fragility. |
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's Ted Talk. https://youtu.be/KCxbl5QgFZw | Over 12 million views! Daryl Davis' Ted Talk on why he, as a black man, attends KKK rallies. https://youtu.be/ORp3q1Oaezw |
Are you looking for help? Find therapists offering free natural disaster and crisis sessions here. Please check out MySonomaStrong.com. Visit the NAMI Warmline. Take a trauma-informed yoga class. We will recover together! ¿Buscas ayuda? Encuentre terapeutas que ofrezcan sesiones gratuitas de crisis y desastres naturales aquí. Visite MySonomaStrong.com. Visite la NAMI Warmline. Toma una clase de yoga informada sobre el trauma. ¡Nos recuperaremos juntos!
Redwood Empire Chapter of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists |
