Anti-Racist Resources: An Introductory Guide
You know, I honestly thought that the worst thing about 2020 would be the global pandemic we are all living through, or maybe the outcome of the Presidential Election (I still have 2016 PSTD), but the last few weeks have been hard in an unexpected way. You know what I’m talking about, but just in case — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd’s brutal murders. Oh, and let’s throw in that white woman who sums up everything terrible about being a white woman — Amy Cooper.
However, one of the biggest issues is that I saw these horror shows of racial violence as unexpected. I recognize that I, a white woman with a relatively cushy existence, am coming from a place of total privilege, and I need to do better. I need to be a better ally, a better friend, a better advocate — and I need to be okay with getting uncomfortable talking about racial justice.
I have been thinking the last few days about why I’m so okay with pushing back against the patriarchy or protesting against what I see as misogyny, but I feel like it’s not my place to actively protest when there is violence done against people of color. Is it because I’m not part of the community, and I’m afraid I’ll look like an interloper? Is it because I think I’ll be unwelcome or look like someone who is just protesting to protest? Is it because I’m from white and from Alabama, and when I grew up, we just didn’t talk about race? Is it because I don’t want to co-opt someone’s struggle and words?
Honestly, it’s a combination of all of those things, and probably a good deal more self-examination that I should do with my therapist and not with blog readers. A common thread to my myriad concerns here is that I don’t feel like I know what I’m talking about — not beyond #activism and sharing posts on Instagram — and that’s something that is easy to improve. It’s not fair for me to ask my black friends or my latinx friends what their lived experience is like; they shouldn’t have to bear the emotional labor of making me a better informed person. I like to consider myself a student, and so I started putting together a list of things that I should read to make me really understand what’s happened then, what’s happening now, and how I can be a better ally in the future.
I figured that some of you may be in the same boat that I am, so I wanted to share the list here, and while it is no means exhaustive, I hope it’s a good jumping off point for anyone who needs it. If coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s that we are all in this together — let’s take that past viral recovery and apply it to all areas of American life. I’m pledging to use my place of privilege to speak out, to lean into the uncomfortable, and to advocate for those whose voices have been stifled for generations.
Web Sources
Anti-racist Resources for White People
This list of resources has been enormously helpful to me as I try to shift my way of thinking into being actively anti-racist. If a book is too much right now, at least promise me you’ll visit this site and read through what they have compiled.
“Why is This Happening?” - An Introduction to Police Brutality
“11 Terms You Should Know to Better Understand Structural Racism” by Aspen Institute
The 1619 Project by The New York Times
“America’s Racial Contract is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer (May 2020)
“Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Ibram X. Kendi (May 2020)
“Dear White Women” by Victoria Rodriquez (November 2018)
“When Feminism is White Supremacy in Heels” by Rachel Cargle (August 2018)
“The Racist Roots of American Policing” by Connie Hassett-Walker (June 2019)
"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Knapsack Peggy McIntosh
“My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas (June 2011)
OG History by Teen Vogue
“Passing, in Moments” by Mat Johnson (July 2019)
Non-fiction
“Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Good Talk” by Mira Jacob (my review here) (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Stamped from the Beginning” by Ibram X. Kendi (Bookshop | Amazon)
“This Book is Anti-racist” by Tiffany Jewell (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum (Bookshop | Amazon)
“How to Be an Anti-Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi (Bookshop | Amazon)
“How We Fight For Our Lives” by Saeed Jones (Bookshop | Amazon)
“The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander (Bookshop | Amazon)
“So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo (Bookshop | Amazon)
“An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race” by Reni Eddo-Lodge (Bookshop | Amazon)
“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Black Feminist Thought” by Patricia Hill Collins (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (Bookshop | Amazon)
“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker” by Damon Young (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Biased” by Jennifer L. Eberhardt (Bookshop | Amazon)
“The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Slavery by Another Name” by Douglas A. Blackmon (Bookshop | Amazon)
“The Good Immigrant” edited by Nikesh Shukla & Chimene Suleyman (Bookshop | Amazon)
“The Devils' Highway” by Luis Alberto Urrea (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Contempt of Court” by Mark Curriden and Leroy Phillips, Jr. (Bookshop | Amazon)
“America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States” by Erika Lee (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot” by Mikki Kendall (Bookshop | Amazon)
“The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” by Richard Rothstein (Bookshop | Amazon)
“The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B Du Bois (Bookshop | Amazon)
Fiction
“The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead (my review here) (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Red at the Bone” by Jacqueline Woodson (Moira’s review here) (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead (Bookshop | Amazon)
Anything by Toni Morrison, but I’d start with “The Bluest Eye” (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo (Bookshop | Amazon)
“I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika L. Sanchez (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Uncle Tom’s Children” by Richard Wright (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Heads of the Colored People” by Nafissa Thompson Spires (Bookshop | Amazon)
“Fight of the Century” edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman (Bookshop | Amazon)
TV Shows and Movies
I know we are a book blog, but sometimes you just want to watch something — admittedly, this was influenced by Shannon, so I can’t take full credit.
“The 13th” - Available on Netflix
“When They See Us” - Available on Netflix
“Dear White People” - Available on Netflix
“The Hate U Give” - Also on Hulu
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