Around the country, people protesting in the streets and on social media are making themselves heard. Millions are coming together to demand justice for the killing of George Floyd, a Black man — now-viral video footage showed a white police officer holding Floyd down with his knee until long after he was made unconscious. Celebrities like Chrissy Teigen are joining in the crowdsourcing efforts to raise money for protesters’ bail, and Beyoncé, George Clooney, and Barack and Michelle Obama have also spoken out about the continued pain of police brutality and anti-Black violence.
Elsewhere on social media, many people are asking their white and non-Black friends to avoid putting the onus on Black people to explain their trauma to them, as doing so is asking an already stressed and strained group of people to take on even more emotional labor. Instead, it’s better to pick up a few books, many of which are readily available, to research and educate yourself — and then talk about what you’ve learned and unlearned with your other non-Black friends.
From writers like Ibram X. Kendi, Mikki Kendall, Ijeoma Oluo, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Claudia Rankine — these books can help start you on your path towards restorative justice.
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‘Between The World and Me’ by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Coates pulls from personal experiences to examine racism in America and to look at how young black people are targets of police violence, unjust arrests, and disproportionate incarceration.
‘Citizen: An American Lyric’ by Claudia Rankine
Claudia Rankine captures the microaggressions of racism in daily life and in the media through a collection of essays, images, and poetry and is a powerful spectacle of individual and collective effects on racism in today’s society.
‘Ghost Boys’ by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy for a weapon. After his death, he watches as his family and community face the devastation, and with the help of other ghosts in similar circumstances, he recognizes how history and society have led to the events that ended his life. This complex, powerful story (written for ages 10 and up) shows how one boy learns to understand American blackness after his own death.
‘Hood Feminism’ by Mikki Kendall
Mikki Kendall calls out the feminist movement for its lack of intersectionality — she tells of how modern white feminists broadly suffer from ignorance of how race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender, and how the movement often increases privilege for the few. Drawing on her own experiences, Kendall delivers a call-to-action for feminists to live out the true incentive of the movement.
‘How to be an Antiracist’ by Ibram X. Kendi
Kendi takes readers through an eye-opening display of antiracist ideas helping readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their dangerous repercussions, and work to dismantle them in our systems and ourselves.
‘Me and White Supremacy’ by Layla Saad
This 28-day journey features stories and anecdotes, historical and cultural contexts, expanded definitions, and examples to help readers become aware of their white privilege, take action to stop harming people of color, and help other white people do better, too.
‘Racism Without Racists’ by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Racism Without Racists documents color blind racism examining arguments and stories white people have used to account for and ultimately justify racial inequities.
‘These Ghosts are Family’ by Maisy Card
Maisy Card’s novel explores intersections between generational trauma, family, and secrets. It follows one man, who decided to fake his own death, and a family’s journey from colonial Jamaica to present-day Harlem. It explores the ways several characters struggle with past ghosts and hardships to create separate identities outside of their family and trauma, painting a portrait of history, slavery, infidelity, and regret.
‘So You Want to Talk About Race’ by Ijeoma Oluo
So You Want to Talk About Race is the perfect read for anyone who wants to educate themselves on race and providing anti-racist action.
‘The Bridge Called My Back’ by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua
A collection of writings by women of color displaying the shift in feminism toward intersectionality. It describes ways non-white women are oppressed in society because of their race, ethnicity, and class, and helps readers understand the evolving definition of feminism.
‘The Bluest Eye’ by Toni Morrison
Nobel Prize-winning late author Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye examines the obsession with beauty and conformity while asking questions about race, class, and gender. It tells the story of a young black girl who longs for blonde hair and blue eyes but as her dream intensifies, things begin to fall apart.
‘White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide’ by Carol Anderson
Written after the killing of Michael Brown historian Carol Anderson reframes the conversation about race and chroniclesthe powerful forces opposed to black progress in America.
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