Black Lives Matter
I’ve been purposely silent on my blog here for the past few weeks. Mostly it was because I wasn’t sure I could add any value to the conversation without drawing attention to myself and away from Black voices. There’s a need for non-Black people to shut the hell up for once, and just listen. While that time has not passed, I don’t feel as I’m so much taking the spotlight away from Black voices by offering my own voice of support at this time.
Still, rather than read what a White guy has to say on racism in America, I think it’s appropriate only for me to do two things: first, say that Black Lives Matter. Second, to list those resources of, for, or about Black voices so that you can go and hear their voice, read their stories. Not mine.
Here’s a collection of sites, essays, books, stories, and other things that you should check out.
Kirkus Reviews: 10 Antiracist Books for Young Adults
EveningStandard: Fiction by Black authors to diversify your bookshelf
The New York Times: ‘A Conflicted Cultural Force’: What It’s Like to Be Black in Publishing
The New York Times: Race/Related, a weekly newsletter focused on race, identity and culture.
The Nickel Boys (Doubleday, 2019)
The New York Times Review: Colson Whitehead’s Next Novel Tackles Life Under Jim Crow
The Atlantic: Us and Jordan Peele’s New Horror
With the specific context of black faces frozen in terror in Us and Get Out, there’s a meaning to body snatching and meeting the Other that’s weightier than what’s usually found in cinema. The basic themes of horror have been real-life, defining features of the black experience since white strangers stole black bodies from the Continent.
The Atlantic: Get Out Is a Funny and Brilliantly Subversive Horror Film
The capitalization of the ‘B’ in ‘Black,’ as explained by the New York Times, the Associated Press, and the Chicago Manual of Style.
Nightmare Magazine: Oct. 2016 (Issue 49): People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror!
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror
Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes: THE SUNKEN PLACE: Racism, Survival & Black Horror
Mahogany Books: The place where Black Books Matter
BookRiot: 5 Black-Owned Publishers You Need to Know About
African American Literature Book Club: Black Owned Publishing Companies
I couldn’t possibly list all the resources that deserve it, but if you’d like me to add something, let me know.