The Gulp: Black Lives Matter Edition

May 31, 2020

I woke up to a text from my bank saying I'd wiped out my funds, but I'm glad. I'm glad I could support black protesters and community projects and bail funds, and buy books written by black writers and activists that I can learn more from, and pass on with highlights and dogeared pages where the good stuff is.I'm privileged. I don't live precariously.I do not expect others to have this same privilege.Instead of continually asking everyone to donate money (I will still be asking regularly, though, and there will be links in this email for you to do so), I wanted to put together some of the most useful resources I've found to arm myself with knowledge. Resources, writings and other content that helps make sense of what it means to be anti-fascist and anti-racist, so that it stops sounding confusing and impenetrable and becomes a natural habit. A way you live your life.I also wanted to share ideas for other related readings. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Please use it to add to your reading list rather than to define it.Read up, be safe, no pasarán.#blacklivesmatter This newsletter would not have been possible without the tireless activism and work done by hundreds of incredible individuals online who have taken their valuable time to inform me and the rest of society. Thank you especially to Reclaim The Block, MFF, Black Lives Matter, blackfication, Bry Reed, Kate Neilan, Unicorn Riot, Know Your Rights Camp and therefore Colin Kaepernick, kamaraxtaurus, Heidi Massey, and to everyone who shares their knowledge. Knowledge is power.

Books To Read(I know I'm adding even more caveats here but if you can, please try to support local independent bookshops and radical bookstores where you can. If you use Amazon, consider using Amazon.Smile and supporting activist and anti-racist charities.)Non-Fiction

  • Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race -- Reni Eddo-Lodge

  • The End Of Policing - Alex S. Vitale (Ebook is currently FREE here)

  • The Portable Frederick Douglass

  • Natives -- Akala

  • Black and British -- David Olusoga

  • When They Call You A Terrorist -- Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele

  • White Fragility -- Robin DiAngelo

  • White Rage -- Carol Anderson

  • The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers

  • On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life -- Sara Ahmed

  • On Intersectionality: The Essential Writings of Kimberlé Crenshaw

  • The Making Of The Black Working Class in Britain -- Ron Ramdin

  • How Europe Underdeveloped Africa -- Walter Rodney

  • Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent -- Priyamvada Gopal

  • Witnessing Whiteness: First Steps Toward an Antiracist Practice and Culture -- Shelly Tochluk

  • Race Matters -- Cornell West

  • How To Be an Antiracist -- Ibram X. Kendi

  • The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century -- Grace Lee Boggs

Fiction/Poetry/Essays/Speeches

  • Your Silence Will Not Protect You -- Audre Lorde

  • The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master's House -- Audre Lorde

  • Are Prisons Obsolete? -- Angela Davis

  • Freedom Is A Constant Struggle -- Angela Davis

  • The Tradition -- Jericho Brown

  • Surge -- Jay Bernard

  • The Hate U Give -- Angie Thomas

  • From Caucasia, With Love -- Danzy Senna

  • The Weary Blues -- Langston Hughes

  • Beloved -- Toni Morrison

  • Homegoing -- Yaa Gyasi

Articles To Read/Speeches To WatchIf you are new to the idea of anti-racism, or find conversations about it confusing because of the terminology and language used, a good place to start is: 11 Terms You Should Know To Better Understand Structural Racism. 

Image via Brenda magazine

Resource PacksIf you are white, please take time to look through this impressive document filled with anti-racism resources for white people. It includes articles, podcasts, books and children's books, films, TV shows and other resources. I don't know who created the document, but I found it when Brittany Packnett shared it on Twitter.This anti-oppression resource collated and organised over many years by Heidi Massey is a goldmine of information and knowledge for personal, workplace and wider use.UK-based anti-racist human rights organisations to follow and support

Where to donate money to support black protesters, communities and projectsCheck links to see specifics, but currently these funds are being used to bail protesters out of custody, provide health and aid support to protesters (such as masks and hand sanitiser, and first aid) and support anti-prison abolitionist activism.(There is a LOT here and it seems overwhelming. How can you choose who to support? Please know that your vocal support for all of the groups posted below is greatly needed and appreciated, whoever you choose to back with your cash.)Bail Funds and Community Action Funds

City-specific bail funds and details of legal help and attorneys willing to offer pro-bono for protestors can be found in this document. I do not know the author of it, and found it when it was shared on twitter by kamaraxtaurus.Social Justice Action Groups

Activist Groups to Follow and Support

A public art installation as part of the Heavy Rag collection - Zoe Buckman(This artwork was created to provoke discussion around the violence of domesticity and violence against women. Buckman said: "It speaks to the concept that in this climate, inaction and apathy are tantamount to violence and that we all have a responsibility to do what we can to make this a safer and more just country for everyone." I don't wish to co-opt it's intended message for another purpose, but I felt like it was appropriate on many different levels today.)