DEI Resource List

A defining characteristic within the UIC College of Pharmacy is the commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). From the recruitment of students, staff, and faculty, to the programming offered by the college’s DEI unit, to the culture we create, an equity lens is always at the forefront.  We recognize that learning never ends and have provided this list of resources as complementary to further DEI growth, understanding, and world views.  The following list is not exhaustive; if you have other items you think we need to highlight, please share them with us. We look forward to enhancing knowledge and challenging perspectives during this DEI journey altogether. If you have any questions or want to engage in dialogue about this information, please reach out to Dr. Clara Okorie-Awè (awe@uic.edu) or Alex Sainvilier(asainv1@uic.edu).

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  1. “Addressing Anti-Asian Racism with Students” by Dawoun Jyung
    • “Talking about anti-Asian violence and racial equity is critical in this moment. Here are some ways to begin the conversation in your classroom.”
      Watch Here
  2. “Be a Man” by Cut
    • “We invited men from 5-50 (and every age in between) to respond to ‘be a man.’ These are their responses.”
      Watch Here
  3. “Birth of a White Nation” by Jacqueline Battalora
    • Battalora explains the origins of “white” identity and white supremacy in the US.
      Watch Here
  4. “Casual Ableist Language” by Annie Elainey
    • “Ableism, specifically casual/benevolent ableism is widely accepted in our society, particularly within our language. Ableism is commonly used to insult others or in order to describe something negative and often times people don’t even realize where the words they are using come from and how they perpetuate the idea that people with disabilities are lesser.”
      Watch Here
  5. “Consent it’s as simple as tea” by Blue Seat Studios
    • Drinking a cup of tea is used as an analogy for the different ways people can give and not give consent.
      Watch Here
  6. “Don’t Cash Crop my Cornrows” by Amandla Stenberg
    • The actor gives a review on black culture and appropriation.
      Watch Here
  7. “Fear of a Brown Planet” by Aamer Rahman
    • The comedian explains why reverse racism against white people is not possible as currently constructed in the US.
      Watch Here
  8. “Gender Identity vs. Gender Expression” by Riley J. Dennis
    • Riley unpacks the nuances and diversity in gender identities, complicating the narrative that identity and expression are one in the same.
      Watch Here
  9. “How do you handle a racist joke” by Franchesca Ramsey and MTV Impact
    • “Racist Jokes can happen anywhere. And more than just being offensive racist humor can actually be oppressive. So how do you handle these awkward moments without just blowing up? Watch the episode to find out.”
      Watch Here
  10. “How I’m working for change inside my church” by Chelsea Shields
    • “How do we respect someone’s religious beliefs, while also holding religion accountable for the damage those beliefs may cause? Chelsea Shields has a bold answer to this question. She was raised in the orthodox Mormon tradition, and she spent the early part of her life watching women be excluded from positions of importance within the LDS Church.”
      Watch Here
  11. “How microaggressions are like mosquito bites” by Fusion Comedy
    • “For people that still don’t think microaggressions are a problem: just imagine that instead of being a stupid comment, a microaggression is a mosquito bite.”
      Watch Here
  12. “How the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Began” by the History Channel
    • “Learn about the diverse religious and political history that brought about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. See how WWI and WWII influenced the establishment of the nation state of Israel in 1948, which gave rise to the Six-Day War, the Oslo Accords and Hamas.”
      Watch Here
  13. “Islamophobia in America 20 years after 9/11” by ABC News
    • “ABC News’ Devin Dwyer reports from Dearborn, Michigan, as the city’s large Muslim American population reflects on anti-Muslim sentiment in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.”
      Watch Here
  14. “Overcoming Ableism What you don’t know as an able-bodied person” by Naty Rico
    • “Naty Rico shares her story of struggles over the past 3 years at UC Irvine and the hopes she has for the future.”
      Watch Here
  15. Race the power of an illusion collection of videos
    • “Millions of people have used the series to scrutinize their own deep-seated beliefs about the idea of race, and explore how our social divisions are not inevitable but made.”
      Watch Here
  16. “The Racial Wealth Gap” from Explained by Vox
    • “Senator Cory Booker and others discuss how slavery, housing discrimination and centuries of inequality have compounded to create a racial wealth gap.”
      Watch Here
  17. “Real things white people have said to me” by Lilly Singh
    • “I have a life full of wonderful white people and they say the most hilarious things to me. To show them why I laugh at their remarks, I’ve turned the tables. Here’s what it would sound like if a brown person spoke to white people in the same manner.”
      Watch Here
  18. “The Urgency of Intersectionality” by Kimberlé Crenshaw
    • “Now more than ever, it’s important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias — and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term “intersectionality” to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you’re standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you’re likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.”
      Watch Here
  19. “What’s the difference between Hispanic, Latino, and Latinx?” by Cristina Mora
    • “Latinx, Latino, Hispanic. Cristina Mora explains the origin of these words.”
      Watch Here
  20. “Why Gender Pronouns Matter” by Seventeen
    • “Trans students explain why pronouns are so important”
      Watch Here
  1. 13th by Ava DuVernay: Trailer | Available on Netflix
    • “An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation’s history of racial inequality.”
  2. American Factory by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert: Trailer | Available on Netflix
    • “In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.”
  3. Episodes of Atlanta (especially season 3 “The Big Payback”): Trailer | Watch on Hulu
    • “Earn and his cousin Alfred, based in Atlanta, try to make their way in the world through the rap scene. Along the way they come face-to-face with social and economic issues touching on race, relationships, poverty, status, and parenthood.”
  4. But I’m a Cheerleader by Jamie Babbit: Trailer | Available to rent on various platforms
    • “A naïve teenager is sent to rehab when her straitlaced parents and friends suspect her of being a lesbian.”
  5. CODA by Sian Heder: Trailer | Available on Apple TV+
    • “As a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family’s fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her passion at Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents.”
  6. Color of Fear by Lee Mun-Wah: Available at Diversity Training Films
    • “The color of fear is a film about the pain and anguish that racism has caused in the lives of eight North American men of Asian, European, Latino, and African descent.”
  7. Crip Camp by Nicole Newnham and Jim LeBrecht: Trailer | Available on Netflix
    • “Crip Campstarts in 1971 at Camp Jened, a summer camp in New York described as a ‘loose, free-spirited camp designed for teens with disabilities.’  The film focuses on those campers who turned themselves into activists for the disability rights movement and follows their fight for accessibility legislation.”
  8. Daughters of the Dust by Julie Dash: Trailer | Available to rent on various platforms
    • “A languid, impressionistic story of three generations of Gullah women living on the South Carolina Sea Islands in 1902.”
  9. Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee: Trailer | Available to rent on various platforms
    • “On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone’s hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.”
  10. Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen: Trailer | Available on Hulu
    • “Flee tells the extraordinary true story of a man, Amin, on the verge of marriage which compels him to reveal his hidden past for the first time.”
  11. Get Out by Jordan Peele: Trailer | Available to rent on various platforms
    • “A young African-American visits his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.”
  12. The Hunting Ground by Kirby Dick: Trailer | Available to rent on various platforms
    • “A documentary film about the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses in the United States and the reported failure of college administrations to deal with it adequately.”
  13. Living Undocumented by Aaron Saidman and Anna Chai: Trailer | Available on Netflix
    • “A look at the lives of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.”
  14. Mooladé by Ousmane Sembene: Available on Internet Archives
    • “When a woman shelters a group of girls from suffering female genital mutilation, she starts a conflict that tears her village apart.”
  15. Paris is Burning by Jennie Livingston: Trailer | Available on HBO Max
  16. Persepolis by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi: Trailer | Available to rent on various platforms
    • “A precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.”
  17. Pose by Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk, and Ryan Murphy: Trailer | Available on Hulu
    • “In the New York of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, this is a story of ball culture and the gay and trans community, the raging AIDS crisis, and capitalism.”
  18. Two Spirits by Lydia Nibley Trailer | Two Spirits
    • “Fred Martinez was nádleehí, a male-bodied person with a feminine nature, a special gift according to his ancient Navajo culture. But the place where two discriminations meet is a dangerous place to live, and Fred became one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at sixteen. Between tradition and controversy, sex and spirit, and freedom and fear, lives the truth—the bravest choice you can make is to be yourself.”
  19. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts by Spike Lee: Trailer | Available on HBO
    • This documentary is “about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana following the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina.”
  20. When They See Us mini-series by Ava DuVernay: Trailer | Available on Netflix
    • “Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they’re falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on a true story.”
  1. An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz https://bookshop.org/books/an-african-american-and-latinx-history-of-the-united-states/9780807005934
    • “This is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history, arguing that the “Global South” was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Scholar and activist Paul Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress as exalted by widely taught formulations like “manifest destiny” and “Jacksonian democracy,” and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms US history into one of the working class organizing against imperialism.”
  2. Beloved by Toni Morrison https://bookshop.org/books/beloved/9781400033416
    • “Set after the American Civil War, it tells the story of a family of formerly enslaved people whose is haunted by a malevolent spirit.”
  3. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates https://bookshop.org/books/between-the-world-and-me/9780812993547
    • “It is written as a letter to the author’s teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being Black in the United States. Coates recapitulates American History and explains to his son the ‘racist violence that has been woven into American culture.’”
  4. Blood Sugar: Racial Pharmacology and Food Justice in Black America by Anthony Ryan Hatch https://bookshop.org/books/blood-sugar-racial-pharmacology-and-food-justice-in-black-america/9780816696178
    • “How contemporary biomedicine has shaped race and racism as America’s health disparities increase.”
  5. The Deepest Well by Nadine Burke Harris https://bookshop.org/books/the-deepest-well-healing-the-long-term-effects-of-childhood-trauma-and-adversity/9781328502667
    • The author introduces Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) to illustrate the impacts of trauma on our bodies and health.
  6. Disability Visibility by Alice Wong https://bookshop.org/books/disability-visibility-first-person-stories-from-the-twenty-first-century/9781984899422
    • “One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.”
  7. Evicted by Matthew Desmond https://bookshop.org/books/evicted-poverty-and-profit-in-the-american-city/9780553447453
    • “In Evicted, Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they each struggle to keep a roof over their heads. The book transforms our understanding of poverty and economic exploitation while providing fresh ideas for solving one of twenty-first-century America’s most devastating problems. Its unforgettable scenes of hope and loss remind us of the centrality of home, without which nothing else is possible.”
  8. Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity by Paola Ramos https://bookshop.org/books/finding-latinx-in-search-of-the-voices-redefining-latino-identity/9781984899095
    • “In this empowering cross-country travelogue, journalist and activist Paola Ramos embarks on a journey to find the communities of people defining the controversial term, ‘Latinx.’ She introduces us to the Indigenous Oaxacans who rebuilt the main street in a post-industrial town in upstate New York, the ‘Las Poderosas’ who fight for reproductive rights in Texas, the musicians in Milwaukee whose beats reassure others of their belonging, as well as drag queens, environmental activists, farmworkers, and the migrants detained at our border. Drawing on intensive field research as well as her own personal story, Ramos chronicles how ‘Latinx’ has given rise to a sense of collectivity and solidarity among Latinos unseen in this country for decades.”
  9. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin https://bookshop.org/books/giovanni-s-room/9780345806567
    • “In the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality.”
  10. How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi https://bookshop.org/books/how-to-be-an-antiracist/9780525509288
    • “The book discusses concepts of racism and Kendi’s proposals for anti-racist individual actions and systemic changes.”
  11. The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan https://bookshop.org/books/the-lemon-tree-an-arab-a-jew-and-the-heart-of-the-middle-east/9781596913431
    • “Based on extensive research, and springing from his enormously resonant documentary that aired on NPR’s Fresh Airin 1998, Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, suggesting that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and reconciliation.”
  12. Me and White Supremacy Workbook by Layla Saad https://bookshop.org/books/me-and-white-supremacy-combat-racism-change-the-world-and-become-a-good-ancestor/9781728209807
    • “This book challenges you to do the essential work of unpacking your biases, and helps white people take action and dismantle the privilege within themselves so that you can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.”
  13. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides https://bookshop.org/books/middlesex-9781427227690/9780312427733
    • “The 21st century gender novelchronicles the effect of a mutated gene on three generations of a Greek family, causing momentous changes in the protagonist’s life.”
  14. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander https://bookshop.org/books/the-new-jim-crow-mass-incarceration-in-the-age-of-colorblindness-anniversary/9781620971932
    • “The New Jim Crowis a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement.”
  15. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee https://bookshop.org/books/pachinko-national-book-award-finalist-9781455563920/9781455563920
    • “Pachinko is an extraordinary epic of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan.”
  16. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Joy DeGruy https://bookshop.org/books/post-traumatic-slave-syndrome-america-s-legacy-of-enduring-injury-and-healing-9780985217273/9780985217273
    • “The book argues that the experience of slavery in the United States and the continued discrimination and oppression endured by African Americans creates intergenerational psychological trauma, leading to a psychological and behavioral syndrome common among present-day African Americans, manifesting as a lack of self-esteem, persistent feelings of anger, and internalized racist beliefs.”
  17. Reproductive Injustice by Dáma-Ain Davis https://bookshop.org/books/reproductive-injustice-racism-pregnancy-and-premature-birth/9781479853571
    • “A troubling study of the role that medical racism plays in the lives of Black women who have given birth to premature and low birth weight infants.”
  18. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw https://bookshop.org/books/the-secret-lives-of-church-ladies/9781949199734
    • “The book explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions.”
  19. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo https://bookshop.org/books/white-fragility-why-it-s-so-hard-for-white-people-to-talk-about-racism/9780807047415
    • “DiAngelo coined the term ‘white fragility’ in 2011 to describe any defensive instincts or reactions that a white person experiences when questioned about race or made to consider their own race. In White Fragility, DiAngelo views racism in the United States as systemic and often perpetuated unconsciously by individuals. She recommends against viewing racism as committed intentionally by ‘bad people’.”
  20. White Like Me by Tim Wise https://bookshop.org/books/white-like-me-reflections-on-race-from-a-privileged-son-revised/9781593764258
    • “Tim Wise offers a highly personal examination of the ways in which racial privilege shapes the lives of most white Americans, overtly racist or not, to the detriment of people of color, themselves, and society. The book shows the breadth and depth of the phenomenon within institutions such as education, employment, housing, criminal justice, and healthcare.”
  21. Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington https://bookshop.org/p/books/medical-apartheid-the-dark-history-of-medical-experimentation-on-black-americans-from-colonial-times-to-the-present/16597848?ean=9780767915472
    • “From the era of slavery to the present day, starting with the earliest encounters between Black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, Medical Apartheid details the ways both slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge–a tradition that continues today within some black populations.”
  1. “4 Reasons why asking Asian people ‘where are you really from’ is racist” by Rachel Kuo https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09/asking-asian-ppl-where-from/
    • This article unpacks the problematic and racist question many Asian individuals face when asked about their identity and origin.
  2. “5 Powerful ways to take real action on DEI” by Center for Creative Leadership https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/5-powerful-ways-to-take-real-action-on-dei-diversity-equity-inclusion/
    • “At CCL, we use our proprietary REAL™framework to help companies, communities, and schools understand the dynamics and definition of DEI in the workplace, in their particular organization and context — and to identify specific actions they can take to help them drive desired progress around their DEI initiatives.”
  3. “5 Ways to Create a Femme Friendly Workplace” by Katie Tastrom https://everydayfeminism.com/2018/10/make-your-workplace-more-femme-friendly/
    • How to make a workplace and culture more inclusive of femininity.
  4. The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
    • “The project to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative”
  5. Anti-Defamation League Education https://www.adl.org/education
    • “We provide anti-bias education through professional learning, educational programs, resources and strategies to build and sustain equitable and inclusive environments.”
  6. Anti-Racism Daily https://the-ard.com/
    • A daily email listserv with topics to focus on specific ways racism and systemic oppression persist in society, learn relevant resources, and actions to engage on the issue.
  7. Antisemitism Uncovered https://antisemitism.adl.org/?_gl=1%2A14643eg%2A_ga%2AMTM1ODkyMzMwNy4xNjU1NTIzNDU4%2A_ga_S9QB0F2PB5%2AMTY1NTUyMzQ1Ny4xLjEuMTY1NTUyMzU3Ny4yMQ
    • “A Guide to Old Myths in a New Era is a comprehensive resource with historical context, fact-based descriptions of prevalent antisemitic myths, contemporary examples and calls-to-action for addressing this hate.”
  8. “The Cycle of Socialization” by Bobbie Harro https://geography.washington.edu/sites/geography/files/documents/harro-cycle-of-socialization.pdf
    • “As described by Bobbie Harro, our cycle of socialization core has five central themes: fear, ignorance, confusion, insecurity, and power or powerlessness. The final theme, power and powerlessness can affect our students because of its relation to privilege and oppression.”
  9. “Explore the Issues” by AAUW https://www.aauw.org/issues/
    • “Together, we can reach gender equality in education, economic security, and leadership. Learn more about our priority issues and how we work to achieve our mission: Equity for all.”
  10. “Glossary of Terms: Transgender” by GLAAD https://www.glaad.org/reference/trans-terms#transition
    • “In order to understand many of the terms used by transgender and nonbinary people, it is necessary to understand the difference between sex at birth, gender, identity, and gender expression – and how those three things are not the same as sexual orientation.”
  11. Implicit Bias tests from Project Implicit https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
    • Free access to test one’s innate lessons around different biases.
  12. Inclusive STEM Teaching Project https://www.inclusivestemteaching.org/
    • “This program is designed to advance the awareness, self-efficacy, and ability of STEM faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and staff to cultivate inclusive learning environments for all their students and to develop themselves as reflective, inclusive practitioners.”
  13. Know Your Rights from the ACLU https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights
    • “Everyone has basic rights under the US Constitution and civil rights laws. Learn more about what your rights are, how to exercise them, and what to do when your rights are violated.”
  14. Minority Health and Health Equity from the CDC https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/
    • This CDC site features information and resources about the health implications of minority and marginalized identities.
  15. National Center for Transgender Equality Know Your Rights https://transequality.org/know-your-rights
    • “The following resources explain up-to-date transgender people’s rights. While we work to strengthen and expand legal protections, there are steps you can take if you face discrimination today in every state and in almost every area of life. Each resource below includes how to file complaints of discrimination or mistreatment and how to find legal help.”
  16. The Trevor Project Resource Center https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/
    • Hub of materials and information on suicide prevention, education, and support for LGBTQ+ youth.
  17. “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh https://psychology.umbc.edu/files/2016/10/White-Privilege_McIntosh-1989.pdf
    • This article lists examples and benefits white people receive in everyday life just by being white.
  18. “What does ‘equity’ really mean to effective DEI?” by Natasha Nicholson https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2022/07/08/what-does-equity-really-mean-to-effective-dei/
    • “In preparing for this piece, I set my sights on demystifying the term ‘equity,’ as in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). I wanted to explore the part equity plays in creating a healthier workplace culture, which led me to this question: ‘What exactly is the difference between equity and equality’?’”
  19. “What is ableism, and what is its impact?” by Debra Sullivan https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/ableism#disability
    • In-depth overview of disability, ableism, and its impact in society.
  20. “White Supremacy Culture” by Tema Okun https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/
    • A revision of an earlier article by the same name, this website unpacks some of the characteristics of white supremacy culture.