The murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery (three names in a long line line of people who have been wrongfully killed or subjected to police (or other) brutality) has brought the lived realities of African Americans and racism to an important critical mass.
A lot of us who are nonBlack and admittedly live within our own privilege of not recognizing what our own biases may be and all we just do not know are working to learn and understand better. Asking Black people (who we may know or reach out to) to educate us, as many have pointed out, only adds to their emotional and mental trauma and exhaustion.
Many nonBlack Muslims are getting more on board with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, but Black Muslim youth still feel that too many don't "get it" and behave in ways that disrespect and discriminate against black Muslims.
As iterated in this
Bklyner article, protest organizer Esraa Elzin says, "I get it, you're not racist. But how do we get you to hate racism the way Black people hate racism? ... We've moved on from the idea that solidarity is someone who has Black Lives Matter in their bio, to what
are you doing, where are you donating ... and more importantly, what are the discussions you're having in your home?"
One of the ways we can move beyond posting and performative acts to a deeper base of learning and understanding is to invest in self-education about Black history, literature and experience. With that in mind, here is a list of books to get us all started. My thanks to my friend and fellow HH blog writer Layla Abdullah-Poulos for editing this list and suggesting so many wonderful books. As always, please add your reading suggestions in the comments, so we can continue to educate ourselves.
Literature
Urban Fiction
Historical Figures
Life Experiences
Racism
Black Muslim History and Experience
Please add your reading suggestions in the comments below, so we can continue to educate ourselves.