When speaking about racism, “allyship”—or being an ally—is a term used to describe someone who is actively working to dismantle systems of racism. Other common terms you might come by are “white ally” or “performative allyship” or “non-optical allyship.” The SVA Library highlights resources concerning how to be an effective ally—and the rest of this guide for books, films and other resources will help you continue your work.

Here, the library provides various ways to access news articles so that you can stay up-to-date on the latest on grassroots and legislative antiracist efforts, as well as links to relevant essays and longform features.

Bail Funds

A bail fund is an organization that raises money for the purpose of posting bail for people in jail on pre-trial detention, who otherwise could not afford it. Many bail funds recoup the bail money at the end of a person’s case, thereby replenishing the fund for others in need. In this section, the library has provided links to bail funds by state as well as selected online resources on mass incarceration, bail reform and prison labor from the SVA Library’s online collections.

Books

The SVA Library has licensed several antiracism books that are currently out of stock at major book retailers. Some are available for unlimited users (i.e. many people can download at the same time), while some are available to only one reader at a time. This is noted below each title. The library has also provided a list of black-owned bookstores from which people can purchase their own copies.

Features