anti-racist starter pack
March 17, 2023 10:58 PM Subscribe
anti-racist starter pack: a list each of books, articles, podcasts, interviews/lectures, and documentaries
A "starter pack" that begins with a list of 36 books, just names and titles, no links or descriptions, seems a bit unhelpful.
For example, "Invisible Man" is a fantastic novel but it was totally unlike my expectations. I wasn't expecting a hilarious, blistering satire where even the "good guys" get it in the neck.
It would be useful to give people a clue what they're getting into.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:11 AM on March 18, 2023 [7 favorites]
For example, "Invisible Man" is a fantastic novel but it was totally unlike my expectations. I wasn't expecting a hilarious, blistering satire where even the "good guys" get it in the neck.
It would be useful to give people a clue what they're getting into.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:11 AM on March 18, 2023 [7 favorites]
Thanks for this. I am already familiar with many of these resources but investigating the others has already proven to be educational.
posted by rpfields at 9:51 AM on March 18, 2023
posted by rpfields at 9:51 AM on March 18, 2023
bookmarked. thinking about making a reading challenge for myself.
I have only read a few of these books (yet) so here's my take if that is helpful.
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
very worthwhile, he is so honest and brave in sharing his own journey it helped me make some space in my head for acknowledging the work I need to do myself. for being ok with it, trying to move passed defensiveness or denial.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
beautiful. so intimately and unsparing. I felt honored to have mr. Coates share his life with me.
Black Skin, White Masks by Franz Fanon
this was challenging for me to get through. maybe his writing style or the translation. also its pretty old school, he was a Freudian, so it doesn't really resonate for me so much in the current cultural debate.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
utterly essential. an eye opener.
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
absolutely essential. so much history I had no idea of. it really deepened and broadened my sense of the broad strokes of US history w/r/t oppression and the utterly vile role of capitalism in its maintenance. its always been about money and who cares what bodies are ground to mulch to bring in those profits, as long as they don't stop.
posted by supermedusa at 10:37 AM on March 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
I have only read a few of these books (yet) so here's my take if that is helpful.
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
very worthwhile, he is so honest and brave in sharing his own journey it helped me make some space in my head for acknowledging the work I need to do myself. for being ok with it, trying to move passed defensiveness or denial.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
beautiful. so intimately and unsparing. I felt honored to have mr. Coates share his life with me.
Black Skin, White Masks by Franz Fanon
this was challenging for me to get through. maybe his writing style or the translation. also its pretty old school, he was a Freudian, so it doesn't really resonate for me so much in the current cultural debate.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
utterly essential. an eye opener.
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
absolutely essential. so much history I had no idea of. it really deepened and broadened my sense of the broad strokes of US history w/r/t oppression and the utterly vile role of capitalism in its maintenance. its always been about money and who cares what bodies are ground to mulch to bring in those profits, as long as they don't stop.
posted by supermedusa at 10:37 AM on March 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
For example, "Invisible Man" is a fantastic novel but it was totally unlike my expectations. I wasn't expecting a hilarious, blistering satire where even the "good guys" get it in the neck.
Speaking of expectations: in high school the Ralph Ellison book was assigned to to me as summer reading, and the week before school started a friend called me up randomly and asked if I could explain the book to him because he accidentally read the H. G. Wells book instead. Pretty sure I declined.
posted by pwnguin at 10:45 AM on March 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
Speaking of expectations: in high school the Ralph Ellison book was assigned to to me as summer reading, and the week before school started a friend called me up randomly and asked if I could explain the book to him because he accidentally read the H. G. Wells book instead. Pretty sure I declined.
posted by pwnguin at 10:45 AM on March 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
damn. bell hooks Teaching to Transgress is really expensive. $60 paperback, $40 ebook. I may still buy it anyway but sheesh...(not available on my library app)
posted by supermedusa at 11:57 AM on March 18, 2023
posted by supermedusa at 11:57 AM on March 18, 2023
This is awesome, but I wish it had been titled "a guide to combating antiblack racism" or something, because the types of racism faced by other people of color is not really there.
posted by pelvicsorcery at 12:19 PM on March 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by pelvicsorcery at 12:19 PM on March 18, 2023 [3 favorites]
damn. bell hooks Teaching to Transgress is really expensive. $60 paperback, $40 ebook.
$9.85 used or $13.85 new on amazon.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 3:27 PM on March 18, 2023
$9.85 used or $13.85 new on amazon.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 3:27 PM on March 18, 2023
supermedusa allow me to introduce you to the wonders of interlibrary loan
posted by aniola at 4:07 PM on March 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by aniola at 4:07 PM on March 18, 2023 [6 favorites]
I’ve been interested in creating a list like this dedicated to fiction. It hits different.
posted by kat518 at 7:30 AM on March 19, 2023
posted by kat518 at 7:30 AM on March 19, 2023
« Older Erich's Packing Center! | Iraq, twenty years later Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Thella at 12:33 AM on March 18, 2023 [3 favorites]