Read on Twitter
Thread: Books, articles, and podcasts that have helped me in my (ongoing) work to be antiracist. I'll start with the things I know before adding links to resources I haven't yet consumed. 1/N
I should note: I am usually a Twitter lurker/liker/retweeter. But I believe that it's my responsibility (and not the responsibility of Black people) to educate myself and my family, friends, and fellow white people. So...here we go.
Read everything you can by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Start with Between the World and Me, a letter to his son about America's long history of racial injustice. https://bookshop.org/books/between-the-world-and-me/9780812993547
"The Case for Reparations" is one of many excellent essays Coates wrote for The Atlantic during the Obama presidency (for a compilation of these essays, check out his book We Were Eight Years in Power). Read this essay. Then read it again. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
Nikole Hannah-Jones ( @nhannahjones) is brilliant. Everything she writes is worth reading. "Choosing a School for My Daughter in a Segregated City" is a must-read for parents and non-parents alike. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/choosing-a-school-for-my-daughter-in-a-segregated-city.html
Hannah-Jones' essay "The Resegregation of Jefferson County" inspired a project that eventually led me to pursue a PhD in ed policy. Read this article & know this isn't just happening in Alabama. Racism is not just a Southern phenomenon, fellow Northerners. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/magazine/the-resegregation-of-jefferson-county.html
If you haven't read the essays and listened to the podcast associated with the Pulitzer-winning 1619 project (led by Hannah-Jones) then you should. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
Hannah-Jones' award-winning episode of this American Life, "The Problem We All Live With" examines school segregation in Fergeson, Missouri. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with-part-one
A couple of years ago, I attended a "Conversation" with Coates and Hannah-Jones at the Apollo. I got to submit a question in advance: What's the book that changed your life? Their answers are worth repeating on this thread...
Hannah-Jones: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson https://bookshop.org/books/the-warmth-of-other-suns-the-epic-story-of-america-s-great-migration/9780679763888
Coates: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin https://bookshop.org/books/the-fire-next-time/9780679744726
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America By Richard Rothstein is a powerful history state-sponsored residential segregation. It takes on the myth of de facto residential segregation. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781631492853
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. A powerful and important examination of the criminal justice system. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781595586438
Just Mercy. An incredible memoir by Bryan Stevenson, lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780812984965
Our America by Lealan Jones and Llyod Newman was assigned in my undergraduate education class taught by Prof @soortle . I've never stopped thinking about it. It's based on the recordings of two Chicago teens (the authors) conducted for an NPR documentary. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780671004644
For my YA readers out there: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas ( @angiecthomas). A novel about a sixteen-year-old who witnesses a police shooting. I read it in one sitting. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062498533
All of Jacqueline Woodson's ( @JackieWoodson) YA books are great and cover important topics. Especially Brown Girl Dreaming, a collection of poetry https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780147515827
Woodson has some beautiful children's books as well. This is the Rope ( https://indiebound.org/book/9780425288948) and The Other Side ( https://indiebound.org/book/9780399231162) are two of my favorites
If you're into podcasts, NPR's Codeswitch ( @NPRCodeSwitch) is excellent. I listened to "What Does Hood Feminism Mean for a Pandemic" twice. https://npr.org/2020/05/05/850963562/what-does-hood-feminism-mean-for-a-pandemic. Also (proud friend brag) they quoted
@MichellePBurris 's research on a recent episode! ( https://npr.org/2020/05/12/854977002/ask-code-switch-the-coronavirus-edition)
@MichellePBurris 's research on a recent episode! ( https://npr.org/2020/05/12/854977002/ask-code-switch-the-coronavirus-edition)
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon ( @KieseLaymon) ( https://indiebound.org/book/9781932841770) and his memoir, Heavy, are about all kinds of things including race, family, American culture, and growing up in MS ( https://indiebound.org/book/9781501125652)
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by
Peggy McIntosh ( @WCWnews). Read it. Read it again. Then share it with your white friends and family.
http://convention.myacpa.org/houston2018/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/UnpackingTheKnapsack.pdf
Peggy McIntosh ( @WCWnews). Read it. Read it again. Then share it with your white friends and family.
http://convention.myacpa.org/houston2018/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/UnpackingTheKnapsack.pdf
MORE RESOURCES: An Antiracist Reading List by Ibram X. Kendi ( @DrIbram) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/books/review/antiracist-reading-list-ibram-x-kendi.html
Another reading list from
@booksaremagicbk
: https://booksaremagic.net/?q=h.tviewer&e_def_id=sGEBOoQ_dOs. The bookstore (owned by @emmastraub) is donating 20% of profits from this list to Dr. Kendi's Antiracist Research & Policy Center
@booksaremagicbk
: https://booksaremagic.net/?q=h.tviewer&e_def_id=sGEBOoQ_dOs. The bookstore (owned by @emmastraub) is donating 20% of profits from this list to Dr. Kendi's Antiracist Research & Policy Center
Anti-Racism resources (books, podcasts, articles, films, people to follow) for white people: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/preview?pru=AAABcpW2Y6Y*jwTgGHowc0p4CB69tcR6hg
I'll keep adding to this list as I remember all the things I've inevitably forgotten (and feel free to comment with more suggestions).
