Sunday, June 14, 2020

What Resources I'll Be Using to Educate Myself Better #BlackLivesMatter

With the Black Lives Movement rightly being at the forefront of our minds over the last few weeks, and is something that we should ensure is kept at the forefront of our minds for the future too. I've made it a mission to myself to ensure that I do better to educate myself, and diversify the content that I read and watch, and actively partake in actions that make a difference and thought I'd share some of these resources here. 

Books

Just one of the ways to educate and diversify your reading list. It's important that we don't just read black literature now, that we ensure to diversify and expand our reading list both in non-fiction/fiction. 

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo - (Fiction) A poignant read, I read this earlier this year which follows the lives of 12 characters (mostly black women) in the United Kingdom over the course of several decades.

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge - I'm waiting for my copy to arrive of this, but this book explores the links between gender, class and race in Britain and other countries.

Me and My White Supremacy by Layla Saad - Another book on my list to read, is this book which has been acclaimed to be a must-read as it teaches readers how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of colour, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams (Fiction) - My next read, is the story of Queenie, a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London who is straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. A book I've seen so many reviews and cannot wait to delve into. 

An American Marriage - Tayari Jones  (Fiction) - Another book I read earlier this year, this book follows the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple as Roy is wrongly sentenced for a crime he did not commit. If you're copy at the back of it has some of the book club discussion points, I would highly recommend talking them through as they really deep delved into the book.


TV shows

Netflix has made it incredibly easy for us to access content to watch. They've created an entire list under "genres" called Black Lives Matter. I've watched a couple of these and they are incredibly eye opening and thought provoking.

13th - Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans. I watched this the other weekend and honestly I can hands up say I was so unaware of how corrupt, classist, controlling and racist the incarceration system in the US is.

Becoming - Following from Michelle Obamas biography, Becoming, is a documentary where the former First Lady Michelle Obama discusses her life, hopes and connections with others whilst on her book tour. I would also highly recommend adding her biography to your reading list.

When They See Us - The quintet, labeled the Central Park Five, maintained its innocence and spent years fighting the convictions, hoping to be exonerated. This limited series spans a quarter of a century, from when the teens are first questioned about the incident in the spring of 1989, going through their exoneration in 2002 and ultimately the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014. 

Dear White People - One that is on my list to watch is this series which follows a group of students of color at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League college. The students are faced with a landscape of cultural bias, social injustice, misguided activism and slippery politics.

The Innocence Files  - Another on my to-watch list is this documentary of untold personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the Innocence Project and organisations within the Innocence Network have uncovered and worked to overturn.

Petitions 

I've been taking the time to ensure that I'm sharing and signing as many petitions. If you're looking for a place to start, there's a great link here which links to a couple of must-signs. Ensure to read up on the stories as well as signing them.  

These petitions are incredibly important and raising this awareness is pushing for justice -  Louiseville council will vote to ban no-knock warrants and are calling the the ordinance called "Breonna's Law" it regulates how warrants will be carried out and mandates the use of body cameras during searches. This comes after Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department who executed a no-knock search warrant and opened fire. 

Donate 




Please continue sharing messaging, this doesn't end with posting just one black box on your page. We need to take the messaging from these resources forward into our everyday life. Challenge people, speak up and out. Please comment below if you have any further resources available that I've missed out and would like to include! 

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8 comments

  1. I'm waiting for some books to arrive and have been watching films and documentaries that have made me cry. I've donated and will continue to do so but have also signed petitions. I feel like my education will never end x

    Beautylymin

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    Replies
    1. Exactly! I think that's the main thing, it is ensuring that we take what we learn into everyday life and into the future! xx

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  2. These are great resources, thank you for sharing! x

    emjbarker.blogspot.co.uk

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  3. Thank you so much for sharing these, When They See Us is such an incredible show, completely heartbreaking but so great for people who want to educate themselves!
    Grace xx
    gracexkate.com

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  4. Thank you for putting this into a blog post, I did a similar thing and think it's super useful to have it all in one place to refer back to!

    Lucy | Forever September

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  5. I understand books, I would never go to TV shows to get educated on anything though. Good on you that you took the initiative though.

    https://aab-edu.net/

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  6. Great list of resources! I hope you find them helpful.

    Anika | chaptersofmay.com

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