Racial Equity and Social Justice

Our mission is to serve those most in need and to advocate for justice in the community.

At Catholic Charities we acknowledge the inherent dignity of each person regardless of race, faith, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status or background. We believe in being compassionate to all individuals who come through our doors. This belief informs the imperative to work to end racism, invest in racial equity and intentionally create a culture of inclusion and belonging.

– Catholic Charities Equity Statement

Addressing racial inequities

Too many people must confront systemic racism and injustices every single day of their lives, and it is up to all of us to actively dismantle these harmful systems. Catholic Social Teaching tells us that charity and justice must go hand in hand, which is why our mission is to serve those most in need AND to advocate for justice in the community.

With the support of the Catholic Charities Executive Team and the Board of Directors, a cross-agency committee leads the organizational efforts to address racial equity and social justice in all that we do. We invite you to join us on this journey.

We can’t all do everything, but we can all do something.

Donate

Support our social justice and advocacy team working to dismantle racist policies and structures.

Donate

Volunteer

Spend time at one of our many sites throughout the community to help bring our mission to life.

Volunteer

Act

Sign up for action alerts to know when your voice is needed to confront systemic racism.

Take action now

Race and Racism Reading and Education

White privilege and anti-racism
  • America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis
  • Anxious to Talk About It: Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully about Racism by Carolyn B. Helsel
  • Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and Its Relevance Today by Jacqueline Battalora
  • Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority by Tim Wise
  • Dear White Christian by Aaron J. Layton
  • How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
  • Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
  • Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections from an Angry White Male by Tim Wise
  • So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
  • The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism, and White Privilege by Robert Jensen
  • The Possessive Investment in Whiteness by George Lipsitz
  • Towards the “Other America” by Chris Crass
  • Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice by Paul Kivel
  • Waking Up White by Debby Irving
  • What Does it Mean to Be White: Developing White Racial Literacy by Robin DiAngelo
  • White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
  • White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise
  • White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism by Paula S. Rothenberg
  • White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
Unconscious bias and prejudice
  • Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R Banaji and Anthony G Greenwald
  • Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Memories, poetry and compilations
  • A Good Time for the Truth edited by Sun Yung Shin
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
  • Negroland a memoir by Margo Jefferson
  • Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
  • Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson
  • The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
  • The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
  • The Hidden Wound by Wendell Berry
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
  • The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs
Essays, history and texts
  • A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America by Langston Hughes
  • A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present by Howard Zinn
  • Black Cloud Rising by David Wright Falade
  • Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity by Tim Wise
  • “Letter From Birmingham Jail” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got by James W. Loewen
  • Race Matters by Cornel West
  • Racial Justice and the Catholic Church by Bryan Massingale
  • Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
  • The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
  • Why We Can’t Wait by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Criminal Justice

  • Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

 

Housing

  • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
  • The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

 

Education

  • For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood…and the Rest of Y’All Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education by Christopher Emdin
  • The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson
Fiction Novels
  • Black Girls Must Be Magic by Jayne Allen
  • Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
  • If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
  • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  • Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
  • The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Intersectionality
  • Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks
  • An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
  • An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
  • The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee
  • The Other Slavery by Andrés Reséndez
  • Welfare Racism: Playing the Race Card Against America’s Poor by Kenneth Neubeck and Noel Cazenave
Documentary and video
  • 13th (Netflix)
  • American Son (Netflix)
  • Dear White People (Netflix)
  • I Am Not Your Negro (Amazon)
  • If Beale Street Could Talk (Hulu)
  • Just Mercy
  • King in the Wilderness (HBO)
  • Race: The Power of An Illusion (PBS)
  • Say Her Name (HBO)
  • See You Yesterday (Netflix)
  • The Black Power Mixtape (YouTube)
  • The Hate U Give (Hulu)
  • The House I Live In (Tubi)
  • The Life and Death of Marsha P Johnson (Netflix)
  • True Colors – ABC Primetime (YouTube)
  • When They See Us (Netflix)
  • Whose Streets (Hulu)
Podcast and radio
  • 1619 (New York Times)
  • About Race
  • Code Switch (NPR)
  • Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
  • Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
  • Pod for the Cause (Ldrship Conf on Civil & Human Rights)
  • Seeing White
Catholic social teaching
Resources for families

Books

 

Podcasts

 

Articles