Black Lives Still Matter

It’s been just over a month since George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis and although we’ve signed the petitions and made donations there is still work to do.

As leaders of this community we are committed to being anti-racist and we ask all of our community members to commit to this as well. This isn’t about jumping on a band-wagon or being politically correct, this is about unpicking the racist conditioning from our society so that we can bring an end to racism.

As white people we have never experienced this kind of discrimination. This means we must listen to and believe black people when they talk to us about their experiences. It can be uncomfortable to recognise behaviours or actions that you’ve partaken in that you realise now were harmful. We must admit that we have been wrong in the past and commit to listening, learning and being better.

There are many resources out there that exist to educate on racism and it’s long and painful history. Below is a list that we hope to serve as a starting point for your education. These lists have been compiled from personal recommendations from friends and also from other lists we've seen online.

We have broken the list into two parts; academia and recreational. As important as it is to read critical texts that will give you an academic perspective of the issues at hand, we understand that not everyone can consume this type of content on a regular basis. The recreational resources are stories about and by Black people to give an authentic perspective.

Some actions you can take now:

Petition to teach Black British history in schools

Write to your MP template

Black artists to support on Bandcamp

Where to donate

We also recommend going through this check list of practical ways to continue to support the BLM movement from the UK. This list was created by Nandini Mitra.

We hope to come back to and update this list below over time so do please keep checking in and if you have anything you think should be added just drop us an email or an Insta DM and we will add it to the list.

Side note: if you want to purchase any of these books please consider supporting your local bookshops or ordering online with Hive who donate a portion of all profits to your chosen independent book shop.

Academic Resources

Books

Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race

Renni Eddo-Lodge

Me and White Supremacy

Layla F Saad

Superior: The return of race science

Angela Saini

How to be an Anti-racist

Ibram X.Kendi

White Fragility

Robin Diangelo

How to Argue with a Racist

Adam Rutherford

Natives

Akala

Brit(ish)

Afua Hirsch

So You Want to Talk About Race

Ijeoma Oluo

Don't Touch My Hair

Emma Dabiri

Sister Outsider

Audre Lorde

I Will Not Be Erased

gal-dem

Documentaries

TeenVogue compiled a great list for Juneteenth here

Podcasts

You can find a good starter list for podcasts here on Bustle.

Misc.

If you want more structured learning resources subscribe to Rachel Cargle's Patreon 'The Great Unlearn'.

Recreational Resources

Books

The Bluest Eyes

Toni Morrison

Half of a Yellow Sun

Americanah

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

On Beauty

Zadie Smith

The Nickel Boys

Colson Whitehead

Citizen: An American Lyric

Claudia Rankine

Good Talk

Mira Jacob

Notes of a Native Son

The Fire Next Time

James Baldwin

Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Fire This Time

Jesmyn Ward

TV

Netflix

Top Boy

Self Made

Gentefied

When They See Us

Dear White People

Seven Seconds

BBC

Noughts and Crosses

I May Destroy You

Film

Selma

The Hate U Give

If Beale Street Could Talk

Moonlight

Loving

Just Mercy

Fruitvale Station

Get Out

American Son

Belle

Hidden Figures