As Black Lives Matter protests and marches continue to sweep the nation and the world, racism has been swept under the rug for too long and too often and is now being openly discussed. For many Americans, Black Lives Matter is the evolution of the 1960s civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King.
As much as America has progressed, it is hard to argue that we still have a long way to go for equal and fair treatment for everyone. The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked a fire under people as he was another victim of police brutality. There have been many victims of police brutality, but one thing that was different about Floyd’s killing was the video evidence. They say a picture is a thousand words, but a video is proof that something happened.
One difference from decades is the global nature of the protests. Americans in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., were joined by citizens in 18 other countries. At some point, these marches will come to an end. But the movement does not stop just because you’ve protested in the streets, donated to an organization, or shared quotes on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram in the past two weeks.
The movement continues until justice is equally served for every citizen. Voting is important, but it will take more than elected officials for things to change. As a society, how can we collectively do better? You may have wondered that in the past few days. Business and organization leaders surely have debated their past actions and weighed their choices to do better going forward. As activist Angela Davis said: “In a racist society, it’s not enough to be non-racist, we must be antiracist.”
We rounded up a list of educational anti-racism resources for you to share among your team members. The following includes books, TV shows, movies and podcasts. This is not an exhaustive list, but a good place to start.
Adult Books
“White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo
“Black Feminist Thought” by Patricia Hill Collins
“How to Be Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
“I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou
“So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo
“The Bluest Eyes” by Toni Morrison
“The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin
“The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander
"When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth- Century America” by Ira Katznelson
“Redefining Realness” by Janet Mock
“Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Children Books
“Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library” by Carole Boston Weatherford
“Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters” by Andrea Davis Pinkney
“All American Boys” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
“When the Beat Was Born” by DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Kyle Jackson
“Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America” by Andrea Davis Pickney
“Last Stop on Market Street” by Matt de la Pena
“Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race” by Margot Lee Shetterly
“New Kid” by Jerry Craft
“The Undefeated” by Kwame Alexander
Movies and TV Shows
“Just Mercy” (Stream for free in June)
“Selma” (Stream for free in June)
“American Son”
“Blindspotting”
“Fruitvale Station”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“King in the Wilderness”
“When They See Us”
“13th”
“Dear White People”
“The Hate You Give”
“Clemency”
Podcasts
“1619”
“Code Switch”
“Momentum”
“Pod Save the People”
“Seeing White”
