Black Lives Matter — Let’s Educate Ourselves

As a part of our effort to support #BlackLivesMatter by listening, learning, and acting, our team at 5HD has gathered the following list of resources. We have found these books, blogs, stories, and websites useful. We hope you do too, and ask you to actively participate in the cause of justice.

Education Resources

https://blacklivesmatter.com/whatmatters/
Series of podcasts that combine documentary narrative with interviews to illuminate specific, timely issues, aiming to create safe dialogue to promote freedom, justice, and collective liberation.

New and upcoming episodes include interviews with Rep. Karen Bass, BLM South Bend, Donna Brazile, Dr. Cedric Dark, Jane Fonda, and Marc Lamont Hill.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/coretta-scott-king-book-award-winners
This is a terrific resource for parents who want to raise race-conscious children. Each winter (either January or February), the Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865685777/why-u-s-needs-black-lives-matter-movement-today
NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University, about the protests around the U.S. sparked by George Floyd’s death.

https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/diversity-workshop-guide-to-discussing-identity-power-and-privilege/
Online toolkit meant for anyone who feels there is a lack of productive discourse around issues of diversity and the role of identity in social relationships. Perhaps you are a teacher, youth group facilitator, student affairs personnel or manage a team that works with an underserved population. Training of this kind can provide historical context about the politics of identity and the dynamics of power and privilege or help build greater self-awareness. 

https://www.adhoc.fm/post/black-lives-matter-resources-and-funds/
An ongoing action list of ways you can help the collective fight against systemic racism and violence.

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/why-its-important-to-think-about-privilege-and-why/
Why it’s important to think about privilege and why it is hard.

https://discoveries.childrenshospital.org/talk-kids-racism/
Racism. Inequality. Protests. If you and your family have access to a radio, TV, or mobile devices, your kids have likely heard or seen these topics discussed after the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
The 1619 Project is an ongoing project developed by Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times Magazine in 2019 with the goal of re-examining the legacy of slavery in the United States and timed for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8
13th. The documentary by Ava DuVernay details the ways in which systemic racism in the criminal justice system has evolved directly from a clause in the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution that declared all men free.

Ways to Take Action

https://www.whenweallvote.org/register/
From your local school board to the Senate, it’s important to vote in every election. Thanks for taking the first step. Take just a few minutes and complete the form below to get started and to make sure your voice is heard!

https://8cantwait.org/
#8CANTWAIT is a campaign to bring immediate change to police departments.

https://bailproject.org/
The Bail Project, Inc. combats mass incarceration with its National Revolving Bail Fund to prevent incarceration and combat racial and economic disparities in the bail system.