Are you looking for ways to be a better ally, neighbor, and friend for the BIPOC people in your community? There’s never a better time than the present to work on educating yourself about Black history and the ways racism, colonization, and slavery have impacted everything from the goods we consume to the places we live. If you’re looking to become a better ally, a great way to start is by picking up a book on Black history and teaching yourself. Black people don’t owe white allies education; if you’re determined to show up for those in your community, it starts by taking the initiative to learn independently.
One of my favorite and most eye-opening books is The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. In this relatively short nonfiction book, Alexander takes the reader through the history and lasting legacy of slavery and the Jim Crow era in America and explains how systems used by the law have been adapted over time to continue to limit the progress and success of Black people through the war on drugs and mass incarceration. Through The New Jim Crow, Alexander breaks down complex legal statutes and tactics used by police for the average reader to understand. If you don’t walk away from The New Jim Crow angered by the system that continues to oppress people of color, then you weren’t paying attention.
Another excellent read for Black History Month is A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib. Combining beautiful prose with personal history and lesser-known American history, Abdurraqib breaks down Black Americans’ influence on arts and popular culture, from music to dance to comedy. Abdurraqib examines the ways all modern art forms have been stolen from Black creators who defied insurmountable odds to make a life in performance, only to be forgotten by the white people who are all too quick to use Black culture for costume.
Another book for anyone looking to add depth to their allyship is Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall. Published directly after the feminist boom of the #MeToo era, Kendall calls white readers in to understand the ways that the modern and historical feminist movements have excluded and forgotten women of color in their race to make white women equal to white men. Kendall reminds readers of the ways Black women, who face intersectional oppression, have been ignored by the feminist movement, which has always prioritized issues that disproportionately impact white women. She also makes a case that modern issues, such as hunger, gun violence, and access to healthcare, are directly feminist issues because they disproportionately impact Black women the most. This book will have readers rethinking what it means to be a feminist.
Check out one of Claudia Rankin’s works if poetry is more your speed. Citizen is a brief read incorporating photographs and artwork into Rankin’s dissection of what it means to be Black in white-dominated spaces. In this lyric, Rankin uses poetry to explore the deep cuts left by microaggressions in sports, politics, and higher education. Rankine’s latest collection, Just Us, continues the conversation left off by Citizen with more prose and poetry. Whereas Citizen focuses on noticing microaggressions, Just Us dives deeper into addressing racism seen every day.
Education is the key to becoming a more empathetic and understanding person. Real allyship comes from doing the work to unlearn racism and acknowledge the biases ingrained into us by our surrounding culture. Now, with conservatives waging a war against diversity and education on Black history, education is essential.
