Self-education is an essential part of any anti-racist journey, and reading has always been a huge part of my personal learning. In 2016 I started @oursharedshelf, a bookclub to create conversations around intersectionality, feminism and equal rights and to profile feminist writers. Many of the writers and books we featured over the years are relevant to anyone wanting to understand that the struggle for racial justice has been a long one, that ALL Black Lives Matter and women’s voices are a vital part of any movement for change. Alice Walker, bell hooks, Maya Angelou, Roxane Gay, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Angie Thomas, Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper, and Toni Morrison are just some of the authors we featured and which I urge you to check out if you haven’t already.
More recently, I have also been working through the following books. I hope you’ll pick these up and read along with me.
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
White Privilege: The Myth of a Post-Racial Society by Kalwant Bhopal
I’m Telling the Truth by Basset Ikpi
Painting by artist @natalielaurensims
#blacklivesmatter
#blackliberation
#saytheirname
#sayhername
#sayhisname
#racialjustice
#blmmovement
#blackwriters