My Black Lives Matter post last week was weak; an expansive gesture hiding behind art and it’s many interpretations.  Part of the reason is because for me to talk about racism is to hold extra large cartons of organic ducks eggs, one in each hand, whilst attempting to ride a unicycle for the first time; it’s bound to end in a privileged mess.  Instead I have watched and listened, and it seems to me, the strongest way forward is through education, re-education, thinking, reading and more listening. Below is a list of available resources, the first three being personal to me – articles and documentaries that first opened my eyes.

 

 

Jane Elliott is an American schoolteacher, anti-racism activist, and educator. She is known for her “Blue eyes–Brown eyes” exercise. She first conducted this famous exercise for her class on April 5, 1968, the day after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated; she wanted her pupils to feel the pain of racism. I don’t know when I first watched this documentary – maybe it was shown in a social science class at my secondary school – I do know I have carried it with me ever since. It wasn’t just the shock of segregation along seemingly inconsequential lines, it was the shock that people (in this case children) would not only go along with it, but it would influence their behaviour outside the classroom.  It was a brilliant and brutal showcase of human failing, exposing our ever constant need to conform to a perceived power source and the contagion of group think.

 

 

 

White Privilege, ‘Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack’ by Peggy McIntosh,  first written in 1989, is an article I only read in the last couple of years.  Again, it had a profound effect. Whilst’s Jane’s exercise was about conscious discrimination, this was about the unconscious discrimination we allow without thinking because we just don’t see it, because to notice has been conditioned out of us. She informed me, the word is not equal and there is no thing as meritocracy.

 

Notice anything about my education? White and female…

 

 

There’s not enough space to fill the books, words and videos of Maya Angelou. But with her brilliance, strength, wit and wonder, she remains a huge influence. My Grandmother gave me my first copy of a book by her – I know why the cages bird sings – and I can see it as I type this.

 

For the following list, I want to thank the High Low podcast, it is the result of their research combine with others such as the New York Times. Please refer back to this link if any of the links below don’t work:

 

Non-Fiction

Why I Am No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

I Am Not Your Baby Mother by Candice Brathwaite

White Fragility by Robin Diangelo

Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

How To Be Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi

The Good Immigrant compiled by Nikesh Shukla

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Women Race and Class by Angela Davis

White Rage by Carol Anderson

Brit-ish by Afua Hirsch   

My Name Is Why by Lemn Sissay

Slay In Your Lane by Elizabeth Uviebinené & Yomi Adegoke

A Burst of Light by Audre Lorde

Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri

Taking Up Space: The Black Girls Manifesto For Change by Chelsea Kwakye & Ore Ogunbiyi

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

Natives: Race & Class in the Ruins of Empire by Akala

Aint I a Woman: Black Women & Feminism by bell hooks

Why You Need To Stop Saying “All Lives Matter” by Rachel Elizabeth Cargle for Harper’s Bazaar https://bit.ly/3gG8rgq

Ibram X. Kendi’s reading list for The New York Times https://nyti.ms/3gKL8lH

 

Fiction

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie

Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Ordinary People by Diana Evans

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

On Beauty and White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Citizen: An American Life by Claudia Rankine

I know why the caged Bird sings by Maya Angelou

 

Social media

@theconsciouskid

@taranaburke

@galdemzine

@tamikadmallory

@privtoprog

@blklivesmatter

 

Donate

George Floyd’s Memorial Fund

Black Lives Matter

Black Protest Legal Support UK

Liberty

Stop Hate UK

The Stephen Lawrence Trust

The Innocence Project

Show Racism The Red Card

Black Visions Collective

 

Mentorship

Routes

Girls Out Loud

Fluid

 

Kids resources

diversebooks.org

Raising White Kids by Jennifer Harvey

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold

Brad Meltzer’s Ordinary People Can Change The World series on Rosa Parks & Harriet Tubman

A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

 

Other links

Petition to update GCSE reading list https://bit.ly/2U6foOl

1619 podcast by The NY Times

(All my links Jane Elliott, Peggy McIntosh, Maya Angelou )

With thoughts and positivity, Kate x