Allyship begins with understanding, and understanding starts with education.
The global protests and Black Lives Matter movement that followed the murder of George Floyd – and countless other Black Americans at the hands of police – have been nothing short of groundbreaking. They have shifted not only they way we view the world, but how we conduct ourselves. How we see others. How we treat others. How we can help others.
While it’s only the very tip of the iceberg, the best way to get informed about racism and white supremacy is by opening your mind to film, TV and literature. There are so many critical books to read, so many films to watch.
Watching and listening and reading Black voices isn’t allyship or antiracism, but it’s a step in the right direction. Let the poems of Audre Leon move you. The films of Spike Lee shock you. The essays of James Baldwin haunt you. These are the voices we should be listening to right now. These are the voices that will educate you – us – on the black experience in America – and the world – in a way so profound, so powerful, they will leave an indelible mark forever and hopefully, spark change.
READ: What We’re Watching: ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ Is Rich In Hope
While by no means a definitive list, this edit of books by Nicole Richie is a pretty good place to start. Richie recently shared some of her favourite BIPOC books on Instagram with this poignant note:
“Here are some of my books I want to share with you. Fill your house, your mind & your heart with Black stories. Black lives matter. Black stories matter.”
I Am not your negro, James Baldwin
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo, Deckle Edge
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde
The water dancer, ta-nehisi coates
Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel, jesmyn ward
The color purple, alice walker
girl, woman, other, Bernardine Evaristo
there are more beautiful things than beyoncé, Morgan Parker
the weary blues, Langston Hughes
Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams
their eyes were watching god, Zora Neale Hurston
behold the dreamers, Imbolo Mbue
a burst of light: Essays, Audre Lorde
the black unicorn: poems, Audre Lorde
We Were Eight Years in Power: an american tragedy, Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Last Interview: And Other Conversations, James Baldwin
song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
Baldwin: Collected Essays, James Baldwin
Between The World And Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves, Glory Edim
The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates
Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
the fire next time, james baldwin
the black unicorn: Poems, Audre Lorde
And Still I Rise, Maya Angelou
Zami: A New Spelling of my Name, Audre Lorde
Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine
Martin Luther King, Jr. The Last Interview and Other Conversations, Martin Luther King Jr.
All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks
Here comes the sun, Nicole Dennis-Benn
Tambourines to Glory, Langston Hughes
