Resources & Actions

Anti-Racist Resources & Ways You Can Take Action
 

It is crucial to acknowledge that Black and Indigenous folks are disproportionately targeted by police, and by other institutions of colonial oppression, every day and across Turtle Island. We deeply value the work those in our community and beyond are doing to call attention to systemic racism, police brutality and the conditions of white supremacy that still govern our institutions and ways of being in the world.

One of DOXA's founding principles is to engage with a diversity of curators, filmmakers, academics and activists to illuminate the intersections of social, economic and environmental injustice. We believe that documentary cinema holds power within moments of social momentum and change, and is a valuable tool in interrogating unjust systems. We also believe in anti-racist education, increased mental health services, housing initiatives, income security, harm reduction services, accessible rehabilitation, arts and cultural programs, conflict resolution services, transformative justice, and other vital community-based systems.

We urge all viewers (that includes us here at DOXA, too!), especially those who are in a position of racial and economic privilege, to interrogate themselves, and learn to be uncomfortable. Now is the time to collectively work towards dismantling old systems, while re-imagining new structures of support. The growing movement to defund the police and reinvest in methods of community-based care is going to be an integral part of the way forward.

As the impact of COVID continues to be felt, economic uncertainty and increased social isolation has, in many ways, forced people to pay attention to the system injustices around us in more detail. It's also given us perspective on the importance of having systems in place to support the more vulnerable, distribute resources deliberately, and think collectively/beyond just ourselves. DOXA would like to share a list of educational tools, pathways to action and local organizations doing critical, anti-racist work. We encourage you to read, act and contribute however you can.

To read / watch / listen to:
The NFB's collection of Anti-Racist films
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale (FREE E-book)
Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard
Addressing Anti-Black Racism in Vancouver
Defunding the Police Will Save Black and Indigenous Lives In Canada by Sandy Hudson
Reform vs. Abolition in Policing (info doc)
Reading Towards Abolition: A Reading List on Policing, Rebellion, and the Criminalization of Blackness
Black Lives Matter Vancouver's List of Demands/Actions
As We Have Always Done by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
The Fourth World: An Indian Reality by George Manuel and Michael Posluns
The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth by the Red Nation
Women Aren't Safer After Hastings Camp Cleared, Say Advocates by Jen St. Denis for The Tyee
 

To support:
Black Lives Matter Vancouver
Hogan's Alley Society
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU)
Overdose Prevention Society
Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society
PIVOT Legal Society
Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)
WISH Drop-In Centre
PACE Society
SWAN Vancouver
#STOPTHESWEEPS

If you have any questions regarding DOXA's commitment to anti-racism and equitable working/community practices, don't hesitate to reach out. You can do so at info[at]doxafestival.ca.