An anti-racist reading list

My Goddess Complex stands in solidarity with the Black lives Matter Movement and current protests. Please donate to the organisations below and stream Zoe Amira’s YouTube Video.

bell hooks. (1992). ‘Eating the other: desire and resistance’, in Black Looks: Race and Representation, especially pp. 21-39

bell hooks. (1996). ‘The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators’, in Reel to Real: Race, Sex and Class at the Movies.

bell hooks. (2003). Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. [“dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, revelling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer” pp.197]

Karim, M. (2006). ‘Using Racial Stereotypes in Anti-Racist Campaigns’, Ethnic and Racial Studies 29:2, especially pp. 260-280

Noble Safiya Umoja. (2018). A Society, Searching. Algorithms of oppression: how search engines reinforce racism.

Linda Alcoff. (1991). The Problem of Speaking for others. In Journal of Cultural Critique, 20, doi: 10.2307/1354221

Robin DiAngelo. (2019). White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

Layla Saad. (2020). Me and White Supremacy: How to Recognise Your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change the World

Angela Davis. (1981). Women, race and class (linked under ‘resources’ on the biglink.to hyperlink)

Michelle Alexander. (2011). The New Jim Crow

Reni Eddo-Lodge. (2017). Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

Edward Said. (1993). “Images of the Past, Pure and Impure.” Culture and Imperialism, pp.15-20.

Paul Gilroy. (1994). Small Acts: Thoughts on the politics of black cultures.

Stuart Hall. ed. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices.

Paul Gilroy. (2002). There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: The cultural politics of race and nation. Available from: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/leeds/reader.action?docID=1486977

Paul Gilroy. (2012). ‘My Britain is fuck all’ Zombie multiculturalism and the race politics of citizenship. In: Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. 19(4) pp.380-397.

Ruby Hamad. (2019). White tears/brown scars.

Alice Bloch and John Solomos. eds. (2010). Race and Ethnicity in the 21^st Century.

Samuel Selvon, (1956). The Lonely Londoners.

Andrea Levy. (2004). Small Island.

Shirley-Anne Tate. (2005). Black skins, Black masks: hybridity, dialogism, performativity.

Toni Morrison. (1970). The Bluest Eye.

Toni Morrison. (1987). Beloved.

Toni Morrison. (2008). A Mercy.

T.A. van Dijk. (1993). Elite Discourse and Racism. -mostly chapter 2 ‘theoretical framework’

Mary Bosworth and Eamonn Carrabine. Reassessing Resistance: race, gender and sexuality in prison. In: Punishment and Society. 3(4), pp.501-515

Visual-

Roots, 1977
Netflix’s Thirteenth
Netflix’s The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (showing the often neglected black trans lives)
Netflix’s When They See Us
Netflix’s Trial by Media (episode 2 shows the NYC ‘subway vigilante’ case, episode 3 shows the 1999 Amadou Diallo case)
Netflix’s The Innocence Files (episode 1/2 shows how black ex-prisoners were placed with farmers on release to pick cotton like slaves in 2005)
Netflix’s Time: The Kalief Browder Story
Netflix’s Teach Us All (looks at the schools still segregated in America)
Just Mercy
The Help
Selma
Netflix’s Dear White People
Get Out
The Secret Life of Bees
Invictus

Articles:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/30/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race

Also check out this reading list by Ibram X. Kendi for The New York Times

Where to donate: (some taken from Variety)

Atlanta Solidarity Fund: The Atlanta Solidarity Fund bails out activists who are arrested for participating in social justice movements, and helps them get access to lawyers.

The Bail Project: The Bail Project is a national nonprofit organization that pays bail for people in need, reuniting families and restoring the presumption of innocence. You can follow them here.

The Marsha P. Johnson Institute: To support and elevate the voices of Black trans people, and across the diaspora. Marsha dedicated her life to advocating for LGBTQ+ liberation, notably trans people of colour, and was at the forefront of the Stonewall movement.

Chicago Community Bond Fund: The CCBF pays bond for people charged with crimes in Cook County, Ill.. Follow them here.

Emergency Release Fund: The Emergency Release Fund is a mutual aid fund dedicated to getting LGBTQ+ and medically vulnerable individuals out of Rikers Island and ICE detention. You can follow them on Instagram here.

Hawai’i Community Bail Fund: The HCBF posts bail for those in need and the most impacted by the systemically racist practice of punitive pre-trial detention and mass incarceration.

Kansas City Community Bail Fund: The KC Community Bail Fund’s mission is to give those who cannot afford bail a fighting chance at getting a positive outcome in their case rather than be persuaded to plead out through the use of a revolving fund. Follow them here.

Las Vegas Freedom Fund: The Vegas Freedom Fund was founded in 2018 in an effort to combat mass incarceration in Clark County, Nev.

Louisville Community Bail Fund: The Louisville Community Bail Fund exists to not only bail out people, but to provide post-release support, like getting them fed and to a safe place.

The Massachusetts Bail Fund: The Massachusetts Bail Fund posts bails up to $2,000 in Essex & Suffolk Counties in Massachusetts.

National Bail Out: National Bail Out works to end systems of mass incarceration and to reunite families. You can follow them here.

People’s Breakfast Oakland: People’s Breakfast is a Black organization serving the communities of Oakland, Calif. You can follow them here.

Philadelphia Community Bail Fund: The mission of this fund is to end cash bail in Philadelphia. Until that day, the group posts bail for its neighbors who cannot afford to pay. You can follow them here.

Richmond Community Bail Fund: The Richmond Community Bail Fund exists to restore the presumption of innocence to defendants so they don’t lose their jobs, families and critical services while also reducing the financial burden on the community of detaining citizens prior to their days in court.

Reclaim The Block: Reclaim The Block is coalition to demand that Minneapolis divest from policing and invest in long-term alternatives. Follow them here.

Tucson Second Chance Community Bail Fund: The TSCCBF was established to address the disproportionate impact of the cash bail system on communities of color and vulnerable populations in Pima County, Ariz.

Resources:

• http://biglink.to/forBLM

• http://biglink.to/blmpetitions

• http://biglink.to/blmresources

• http://biglink.to/blmdonations