We are officially into the latter half of 2020 and it’s been wild thus far, likely only to get wilder! Unfortunately, I didn’t accomplish as much reading as I would have liked. I’ll also be returning to work full time (in a physical work space, as opposed to WFH), and I expect my body will be extremely tired from walking to and from work, along with the increased physical activity after zero physical activity for nearly 4 months. So reading might decrease, by a lot. Let’s see how July goes, but for now, here’s what I read in June!
As you can see, I’m still continuing along the HP series with my friend and the Witcher series in preparation for whenever Henry Cavill decides to grace my Netflix screen again.
I also read Ta-Nehisi Coates essay/letter to his son. I was supposed to read this short book in late 2019 with a book club I run for my library, but I had only gotten 10 pages in. I felt like I couldn’t recall all the Black folx Coates mentioned and I needed more time to actually research all the people he was writing about. I used my ignorance as an excuse to not read the book then, so I started my education with this book. I still don’t remember all the murdered people Coates named. I don’t know all the authors and activists he named either. But while reading, every name I did not know or recall, I wrote down to look up later.
It is on me that I do not recall these murdered individuals. It is on me that I have not done the work until now to be truly anti-racist and an ally to the Black community. I can’t know things I do not know if I do not look into them further. The best I can do going forward is reading the materials that others have produced specifically for anti-racist education, and take the information I am not clear on and do further research.
Speaking of further research, I can tell you right now that you will see Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad on the July Reads list. It comes highly recommended and I’m truly excited to go through Saad’s work. As an aside, I’ve been hearing about the popularity of White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. If you are white, do not read this book and stop your journey into learning how to be anti-racist. It’s highly problematic for white folx to read something authored by a white womxn as the be all, end all education into systemic racism. Especially since your consumption of her work provides her with earnings that are not making their way back to the community she has based her work on. I’m sure it’s well written, just be sure to read about racism from BIPOC authors too.
I hope you’re all taking some time to educate yourself on what it means to be anti-racist, as well as passing that education on to your friends and families. If you’re enjoying the books you’re reading (regardless of whether they are fiction or non-fiction) I’d love to hear about them!