Recently, the Black Lives Matter movement has seen a surge in visibility and popularity. If you’re a supporter interested in educating yourself and keeping up the anti-racist momentum in order to achieve a more just and equal society, read on! Conversely, if you doubt the existence of systemic racism or aren’t educated enough on the topic to form a coherent opinion yet, I highly recommend keeping an open mind and checking out these powerful and highly informative books.
So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
This book should be required reading for everyone, especially those who benefit from white privilege and are just beginning to discover the severity and insidiousness of racism in America. It discusses the systems of racist oppression deeply woven into our political, economic, and social systems and empowers the reader to recognize and dismantle the system of white supremacy. This brilliantly written book is an excellent primer to begin your anti-racist education and provides the tools to articulate these issues more effectively, engage in productive dialogue, and confront racial prejudice everywhere.
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
Another great book, subtitled Combat Racism, Change the World and Become a Good Ancestor, encourages readers to learn from hideous history and gives them the tools they need to create positive change in their own communities. This book is an incredible guide to help privileged people begin combating their own unconscious biases, and do their part in dismantling systems of racist oppression.
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
For lovers of gripping and emotional fiction, this powerful coming-of-age story is a perfect fit. It is centered around high school senior Justyce McAllister, a good kid navigating issues ranging in severity from school bullies to police brutality. Although fictional, it clearly reflects personal experience with racism and reflects painful realities that far too many Black Americans are forced to undergo. Angie Thomas, bestselling author of The Hate U Give, called it “A must-read!” I agree.
How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
This bestselling guide to uprooting racism and inequality both within ourselves and our communities compels readers to go further than neutrality. Rather than be simply non-racist, and therefore silently complicit in white supremacy, he urges and equips everyone to actively dismantle their racial biases, thereby ceasing to contribute to the racist systems which we’ve put up with for far too long, and to help others be actively anti-racist as well.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Subtitled Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, this volume is packed with painful truths about the shortcomings of our nation. Even though the rights won in the Civil Rights Movement have been nominally granted, racial discrimination runs rampant in the so-called “justice” system and is completely legal in most cases. Due to disproportionate incarceration rates, an astonishing portion of the African-American community has been put behind bars and thereafter stripped of basic rights. As Michelle Alexander herself eloquently argues, “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper
An autobiographical work from a bold (and, indeed, eloquent) intersectional feminist, this book not only tells her own stories, but addresses race in America and focuses on the power of Black women to harness frustration at the white supremacist patriarchy and use it as a source of energy to continue fighting for true freedom. Brittany Cooper took a heavy, painful topic and made a sharp, funny, empowering book out of it, and that is certainly no small feat.
On the Other Side of Freedom by DeRay Mckesson
In his stunning literary debut, the host of Pod Save the People utilizes his own experiences as an activist, organizer, and educator to make “the case for hope”, as the subtitle of the book reads. He calls on Americans to work towards the most just possible future by dismantling racist systems. It’s a beautiful read, brimming enough with hope and insight to spare for those who may have lost it.
These are just a few of the amazing anti-racist books out there, so I urge you to read on!