My heart is heavy. I’ve written and deleted countless times these past few days for fear of saying the wrong thing, until I realized that saying nothing is the wrong thing. I want my blog to serve as a resource for those who are feeling like me and want to listen and educate themselves. The one thing I’ve taken away from all the posts I’ve seen is that I know I have a lot to learn. Educating myself about race, oppression, and how our system has failed us for so long is my first step towards being an active Ally.
It is not the responsibility of the Black community to educate us on these issues. It’s our responsibility as allies to take it upon ourselves to do the work. Research. Watch. Listen. There are so many resources out there from books, to T.V. shows, movies, podcasts, and articles. We must make the daily commitment to show up and learn. Please keep scrolling for a list of resources I will be using to learn and educate myself today and every day moving forward.
BOOKS
- White Fragility by Robin DeAngilo
- Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
- Biased by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
- When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
- On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case For Hope by DeRay Mckesson
- Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
- The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
- So You Want To Talk About Race: Ijeoma Oluo
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- How To Be An Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Looking to purchase one of these books? Here’s a short list of book stores owned by BIPOC around the country that need our support!
BIPOC OWNED BOOKSTORES:
- Brave and Kind Books (Georgia)
- Semicolon (Chicago, IL)
- Brian Lair Books (South Bend, IN)
- Afriware Books (Maywood, IL)
- Detroit Book City (Detroit, MI)
- Frugal Bookstore (Roxbury, MA)
- The Lit Bar (Bronx, NY)
- Harriott’s Bookstore (Philadelphia, PE)
- Mahogany Books (Washington, DC)
T.V. SHOWS
- When They See Us (Netflix)
- Dear White People (Netflix)
- Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Netflix)
- #blackAF (Netflix)
- The Chi (Showtime)
- Blackish (ABC)
MOVIES
- 13th (Netflix)
- Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement (Amazon)
- 12 Years A Slave
- I Am Not Your Negro (Prime Video)
- Whose Streets (Hulu)
- The African Americans: Many Rivers To Cross (Prime Video)
- LA 92 (Netflix)
- The Loving Story (HBO Go)
- The Hate U Give (Prime Video)
- Teach Us All (Netflix)
PODCASTS
- 1619 by The New York Times
- About Race
- Code Switch by NPR
- The Diversity Gap
- Intersectionality Matters! Hosted by Kimberle Crenshaw
- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
- Pod For The Cause From The Conference On Civil & Human Rights
- Pod Save The People by Crooked Media
Let’s have the hard conversations. Let’s fight for equity. Let’s stand up for what’s right because, for so long, we have been silent. Among the many things I’ve learned this week, I’ve learned that silence is violence.
XOXO,
