As people across social media raise their voices and protests spread across the US, it’s frightening to realise how we’ve been allowing systemic racism as part of society. Too many hashtags and cute graphics on Instagram feel rather empty if nothing’s done outside in the real world. Bringing about real change is a lifelong work that’s going to need the help of not only this generation but also new generations of informed, antiracist activists.
Big changes start small, so educating yourself, educating your community will eventually have a huge impact in the long term. As I think about the changes I need to bring about in my own life I believe the first step is to change the way I navigate in the world: the people I choose to follow, the businesses I choose to support, the media I choose to consume, the voices I choose to listen to.
I have always loved diversity. The reason I love Toronto so much is because walking its streets you get to see people from all over the world, people of all colours and cultures, and I think there’s so much power in that. That’s why I’m lucky I have friends of different races and backgrounds, we all make each other more human. But just appreciating diversity is not nearly enough to make a change. Antiracism must be a lifestyle.
I’ve seen loads of resources being shared online and I decided to compile a list and share some of it here.
BOOKS
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
How to be an Antiracist by Ibrahim X. Kendi
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
WHAT TO WATCH
13TH
I Am Not Your Negro
The Hate You Give
When They See Us
The Central Park Five
Becoming
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
PODCASTS
About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge
Hear To Slay
1619 NY Times
We Need to Talk about the British Empire
The Good Ancestor Podcast
Code Switch
Still Processing
WHAT TO FOLLOW
Rachel Cargle
Ibram X. Kendi
The Conscious Kid
Brittany Packnett Cunningham
Layla F. Saad
ARTICLES
The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning The 1619 Project
“You shouldn’t need a Harvard degree to survive birdwatching while black,” by Samuel Getachew
“The Case for Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
WHERE TO DONATE
Official George Floyd Go Fund Me Page
Minnesota Freedom Fund
I Run With Maud
Black Lives Matter
This list is by no means exhaustive, so please add to it in the comments below!
