Racial Justice

Framing racial justice prompts people to think differently, acknowledge the root causes of disparities, and support equity-focused policy.

We can’t get to the America we want without talking about racial equity, structural racism, and racial and ethnic discrimination. But if communications aren’t framed carefully they can reinforce misconceptions about people of color and set back change.

FrameWorks’ research reveals that the widely-held American belief in “rugged individualism” fuels a toxic assumption about personal failings that obscures public policy failings. While this is where many people start, it’s not where they have to stay. Framing can help people see how opportunity and oppression work. Advocates need to explain—not just assert—inequity, lead with shared values, and point to solutions.

Explore how to lead more productive conversations on racial equity.

Featured Work

Report

Navigating Cultural Mindsets of Race and Place in the United States

The places where we live shape our lives. Structural racism has shaped and continues to shape where and how Americans live.

Young girl with hand raised in front of collage of education images

Report

Advancing Anti-Racist Education

How School Leaders Can Navigate the Moral Panic about “Critical Race Theory”

Report

Talking About Racism in Child and Family Advocacy

As the field seeks to lead a more public conversation about the impacts of racism on children and families—and about how racism structures the systems that children and families interact...

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Report

Better Gun Violence Reporting: A Toolkit for Minimizing Harm

News coverage of gun violence often inadvertently perpetuates stereotypical narratives about the people and communities most impacted. Typical coverage focuses on individual episodes of gun...

Report

Six Trends in Public Thinking about Work in the United States

Is the current system of work in the United States—which many experience as insecure, unequal, and disempowering—amenable to a fundamental power shift in favor of workers, away from...

Report

WorkShift Methods Supplement

This supplement provides detailed information on the research that informs the first release of FrameWorks’ WorkShift! project on reframing work and labor in the United States. Below, we...

Publication

Self-Made Individuals and Just Labor Systems: Public Thinking about Work in the United States

Workers in the United States face enormous challenges within the economy as it is currently structured. If we are to achieve a fundamental shift in power in favor of workers, rather than...

Publication

Moving Toward Collective Health and Prosperity Means Putting Hunger and Poverty in the Rearview Mirror

The terrain of public thinking about hunger and poverty is fraught with unhelpful assumptions and associations—including harmful, dehumanizing stereotypes. Fortunately, certain helpful public...

Report

Navigating Cultural Mindsets of Race and Place in the United States

The places where we live shape our lives. Structural racism has shaped and continues to shape where and how Americans live.

Report

The Terrain of Spatial Justice

Racism is built into places. It shapes who can live where, how resources are distributed, who gets a say over what happens in places, and more. Places in the United States reflect, perpetuate, and...

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Framing Community Safety: Guidance for Effective Communication

Framing Community Safety is a guide for nonprofits, community-based organizations, public agencies, and others who want to communicate more effectively with the public about community-led efforts...

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Framing Community Safety: A Messaging Brief

This brief provides short guidance on how to reframe safety within communities when using the terms community safety, public health approach, and social determinants of health and safety.

Report

Where We Thrive: Communicating about Resident-Centered Neighborhood Revitalization

This strategic brief offers guidance—in the form of a comprehensive framing strategy—that community builders can use to share their successes, communicate the challenges they face, and...

Report

Research Methods Supplement – Where We Thrive: Communicating about Resident-Centered Neighborhood Revitalization

A description of research methods and supporting data, offered in supplement to the Where We Thrive Strategic Framing Brief

Toolkit

Where We Thrive: Communicating about Resident-Centered Neighborhood Revitalization

If you want to build support for place-based initiatives and communicate effectively about neighborhood revitalization—and in the process change the public narrative about the root causes of...