Black lives matter. They do. And it’s worth repeating: Black Lives Matter.

Today is #BlackoutTuesday, a means of identifying with protesters. It originated as #TheShowMustBePaused by Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas, both black female executives in the recording industry, an industry that “has profited predominantly from Black art.”

In solidarity, social media users are encouraged to post a simple black square onto their feed and refrain from posting additional content. The concept is like that of the #AmplifyMelanatedVoices challenge in which white people have been asked to post less and instead read, share, and support people of colour.

It can’t stop there to create real change.

Stand up for what you believe in at a protest, donate, and—perhaps most important for lasting change—educate yourself on how to better support black friends, neighbours, and businesses.

For this week’s Tuesday Ten, I have compiled 10 resource categories below. Remember: it’s the responsibility of nonblack people to educate themselves. I hope these resources help.

Do you have something to share or add? Let me know in the comments or slide into my DMs on IG or Twitter.

Advocacy Organisations

National

• The Bail Project. On any given night in America, there are nearly half a million people sitting in jail before trial simply because they can’t afford bail. The money bail crisis hits every corner of the U.S., from the largest cities to the smallest towns. The Bail Project provides free bail assistance to low-income individuals who are legally presumed innocent, and whom a judge has deemed eligible for release before trial contingent on paying bail.
• The Black Lives Matter Global Network fights for racial liberation and justice. They are calling to reappropriate funds from police departments to institutions that support safety and well-being for black communities. Get involved with your local chapter.
• The NAACP Legal Defense Fund focuses on upholding civil rights and achieving equality through structural change and racial justice. Donate here.
• Sign this Color of Change petition calling for the end of police violence against Black people.
• Campaign Zero utilizes research-based policy solutions to end police brutality in the U.S.
• Unicorn Riot is dedicated to exposing the root causes of social, economic, and environmental issues.

Missouri

• Kansas City Community Bail Fund
• STL Mutual Aid

Activists (on Instagram)

Books

• The Vanishing Half (by Brit Bennett) considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism (by Robin DiAngelo) explores the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.
• So You Want to Talk About Race (by Ijeoma Oluo) offers a hard-hitting, but user-friendly, examination on aspects of white supremacy—from police brutality to the mass incarceration of African Americans—have made it impossible to ignore the issue of race.
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum. Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy?
• I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. From a powerful new voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female in middle-class white America.
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. When Korede’s dinner is interrupted one night by a distress call from her sister, Ayoola, she knows what’s expected of her: bleach, rubber gloves, nerves of steel and a strong stomach.
• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. In the midst of a family crisis one late evening, white blogger Alix Chamberlain calls her African American babysitter, Emira, asking her to take toddler Briar to the local market for distraction. There, the security guard accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar, and Alix’s efforts to right the situation turn out to be good intentions selfishly mismanaged.

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Documentaries/TV Programs

TV Programs

• When They See Us (2019). In 1989 a jogger was assaulted and raped in New York’s Central Park, and five young people were subsequently charged with the crime. The quintet, labeled the Central Park Five, maintained its innocence and spent years fighting the convictions, hoping to be exonerated.
  • Bonus: Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now (2019)
• Set in the 1980s, Pose (2018) is a dance musical that explores the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the ball culture world, the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, and the downtown social and literary scene.
• Black-ish (2014). Dre Johnson has it all—a great job, beautiful wife, four kids and a big home in a classy neighbourhood—but as a black man, he begins to question whether all his success has brought too much cultural assimilation for his family.
• Dear White People (2017) follows a group of students of color at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League college. The students are faced with a landscape of cultural bias, social injustice, misguided activism and slippery politics.
• BET is leading the conversation on racial justice with new programming.

Documentaries

• I Am Not Your Negro (2016). In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, “Remember This House.” The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
• 13th (2016). Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation’s prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
• The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017). Filmmakers re-examine the 1992 death of transgender legend Marsha P. Johnson, who was found floating in the Hudson River. Originally ruled a suicide, many in the community believe she was murdered.

Podcasts

• Living Corporate features a who’s who in the corporate diversity and inclusion space, highlighting the experiences and perspectives of different professionals of color.
• Code Switch, hosted by journalists who examine the intersections of race, ethnicity and culture and how these themes impact our lives.
• In Black America is a long-running, nationally syndicated program dedicated to all facets of the African American experience.
• 1619 is an ongoing project developed by 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.

Individual Episodes

• The goop Podcast – Dismantling White Fragility with Robin DiAngelo, academic and author of White Fragility (January 30, 2020)
• The goop Podcast – Stepping Out of Privilege with Layla Saad, author of Me and White Supremacy (March 24, 2020)

Music

Black artist voices and songs have transformed the world, throughout the decades and across genres. Here’s a playlist of empowerment and pride.

Essays

• White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
• John Lewis Is Still Fighting for the Soul of America by Ben Court, Men’s Health
• Why People of Color Need Spaces Without White People by Kelsey Blackwell, The Arrow
• Shifting Perceptions: Being Black in America
• The 1619 Project, The New York Times Magazine
• The Missing Pieces of America’s Education by Joe Heim, The Washington Post
• Twitter thread on research-based solutions to stop police violence by Samuel Sinyangwe
• 6 things travelers can do to support racial justice by Amanda Machado
• The Pandemic Of Black Trauma Will Never End by Kathleen Newman-Bremang

Quotes

• “I am where I am because of the bridges that I crossed. Sojourner Truth was a bridge. Harriet Tubman was a bridge. Ida B. Wells was a bridge. Madame C.J. Walker was a bridge. Fannie Lou Hamer was a bridge.” —Oprah Winfrey
• “A riot is the language of the unheard.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind.” —James Baldwin

Protestor Resources

Protests are sweeping the nation. Here’s how you can properly prepare to participate.

• The First Amendment protects your right to assemble and express your views through protest. (ACLU)
• How to talk to your children about protests and racism (CNN)
• Health experts share how to minimize COVID-19 transmission (HuffPost)