There have been tons of reading lists circulating the internet in these last two weeks. With so many people wanting to learn more and understand more about being anti-racist, books like White Fragility are sold out everywhere. I’m here for it. Lists like these are one of my favorite internet go-to’s. I have 982 books on my “to-read” list on Goodreads and it makes me insanely happy.
There are a few books that I’ve read in the last year or so that I haven’t seen listed. They are books I think about often, highlighted many things in and helped me spend a little time in someone else’s story. One is fiction and three are non-fiction – more memoirs. I would encourage anyone wanting to read more Black authors and hear more Black stories to check these out.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Shop your local indie bookstore for a copy.
This beautiful story follows two half-sisters in 18th century Ghana. Their lives take very different directions and the book follows their descendants through hundreds of years to present day. It is a bit of a slow start. Once I got into the flow of the book, I couldn’t put it down. The story tells history by weaving through the family and its different generations. I have thought about this book many times since reading it. It would make a great book club selection as well.
From the book:
We believe the one who has power. He is the one who gets to write the story. So when you study history, you must ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there you get a clearer, yet still imperfect, picture.
Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist by Franchesca Ramsey
Shop your local indie bookstore to get a copy
From the day her YouTube video “Shit White Girls Say…to Black Girls” went viral, Ramsey was shoved into the spotlight. She shares her story including the struggles to figure out how to navigate the crazy internet world in this book. I loved reading this because it felt like I was reading emails from my smartest friends. She gives ideas about how to move dialogue forward and how to deal with trolls. What I like about her the most is that she is completely open about being in the middle of this process as well and doesn’t come off as someone who is an expert on the situation.
From the book:
“All lives matter” is an empty retort designed to shut down conversations about black people and the issues they face. I think the “all lives matter” folks know that—they just refuse to admit it. Comeback: “It’s okay for a movement to be focused on a specific group or cause. ‘Save the rainforest’ doesn’t mean ‘Fuck all the other trees.“
When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
Shop your local indie bookstore to get a copy
This is a memoir about what is means to be a Black woman in America. Patrisse Khan-Cullors grew up in LA and tells many stories from her childhood in an impoverished neighborhood with a single mother. The events in her life led to her co-founding the Black Lives Matter movement. She is a champion of human rights and this book is a call to action.
From the book:
Later, when I hear others dismissing our voices, our protest for equity, by saying All Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter, I will wonder how many white Americans are dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night because they might fit a vague description offered up by God knows who. How many skinny, short, blond men were rounded up when Dylann Roof massacred people in prayer? How many brown-haired white men were snatched out of bed when Bundy was killing women for sport?
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Shop your local indie bookstore to get a copy
I have recommended this book to almost every person that I talk to. Bryan Stevenson is incredible and does so much insanely hard work. If you’ve watched the documentary on Netflix called 13th, you’ve seen him speak in some of the interviews. We even drove to see his office in Montgomery when we took our Civil Rights Road Trip.
This book does a deep dive into one case that he worked on in Alabama and describes an overview of some of the issues with our criminal justice system. Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative to help defend the most desperate and in need. I learned so much from reading this book. If you don’t have time, you can always stream the movie (they have made it free on all platforms for the month of June).
From the book:
The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It’s when mercy is least expected that it’s most potent—strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering. It has the power to heal the psychic harm and injuries that lead to aggression and violence, abuse of power, mass incarceration.
So what have you been recommending to people lately?
Do you have any books that you have learned a lot from and want to share? The next up on my list is How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X Kendi.
As always, I’m linking up with Steph & Jana for their monthly book round up.
