The world is a lot right now, which is news to no one. Because of the way the world is, this month has been a very different sort of Pride Month than others I have experienced. Due to COVID-19, many Pride events have been forced to become virtual for everyone’s safety.
Additionally, with the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality, many in the LGBTQ+ community have shifted from a “Pride” mentality to a “Wrath” mentality, calling for members of the community to protest alongside Black Lives Matter rather than celebrate this month. In this same vein, rather than write about Pride-related things, this space will be used for reading, watching and listening recommendations relevant to protest, civil rights, and anti-racism.
Since the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and most recently Rayshard Brooks, the subsequent protests have thrown police brutality into the forefront of national conversation. A common response has been the “anti-racism reading list.”
Some disparage this concept, including Lauren Michele Jackson, who, in her recent article for Vulture, calls it a “vanity project, where the goal is no longer to learn more about race, power, and capital, but to spring closer to the enlightened order of the antiracist” (the story is at vulture.com/2020/06/anti-racist-reading-lists-what-are-they-for.html). While this may be true in some cases, the lists can still make it easy for those who are attempting to edify themselves at this time.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
On that note, here are some common books on these lists that you can find at the library in print and through our digital resources:
General nonfiction on race:
- Conversations in Black, edited by Ed Gordon (305.896 Gor / e-book)
- Freedom Is a Constant Struggle, by Angela Davis (available on Hoopla)
- Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side, by Eve L. Ewing (370.89 Ewi / e-audio)
- How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi (305.8 Ken / e-book)
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (364.973 Ale / e-book / e-audio)
- Stamped from the Beginning, by Ibram X. Kendi (305.8 Ken / e-book / e-audio)
- They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, And A New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement, by Wesley Lowery (305.896 Low)
Memoir:
- Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, by Mira Grant (Graphic B Jacob, Mira)
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson (B Stevenson, Bryan; film adaptation also available)
- Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me, by Janet Mock (306.768 Moc / e-book)
- When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele (305.896 Kha / e-book / e-audio)
Recommendations for children, tweens, and teens:
- Blended, by Sharon M. Draper (J Fic Dra / e-book / e-audio)
- Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship, by Irene Latham (J 811.6 Lat / e-book / e-audio)
- Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes (J Fic Rho / audio / e-book / e-audio)
- Say Her Name, by Zetta Elliot (Teen 811.6 Ell / e-book)
- This Book Is Anti-Racist, by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand (J / Teen 305.8 Jew)
- Tyler Johnson Was Here, by Jay Coles (Teen Col Realistic / e-book / e-audio)
Podcast recommendations:
- About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Keep It!
- Still Processing
- The Stoop
- Yo, Is This Racist?
Some links for further reading:
- “Anti-Racist Reading List from Ibram X. Kendi” https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/204842963/1357692923
- “Save the Tears: White Woman’s Guide” https://tatianamac.com/posts/save-the-tears/
- “White People: I Don’t Want You to Understand Me Better, I Want You to Understand Yourselves” https://medium.com/the-establishment/white-people-i-dont-want-you-to-understand-me-better-i-want-you-to-understand-yourselves-a6fbedd42ddf
Dakota Hall is teen programming specialist at the Bartholomew County Public Library. He can be reached at dhall@mybcpl.org
