Amplify

It’s time to do better.

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There is so much to learn - about each other and ourselves - and like no other time our willingness to listen and to learn is most critical. We are all wrestling with the reckoning of inequalities and injustices and, we too, have been reflecting on our own insights and actions on the topic of racism.

We have paused. We have been sitting with our thoughts and emotions from what has been surfacing in the recent new;: what we have been listening to, watching and reading. We know there is a long road ahead of many roars to come, but big change starts from small, meaningful and integral steps. It starts with changing our own beliefs and understandings and it starts with our very own actions.

This is a moment to stand for justice, and to open our eyes to the atrocious violence happening in front of us. Among many examples, racism is the eight minutes and forty-six seconds of an innocent black man, George Floyd, being murdered by someone who was supposed to protect him.

It's time to bring the past forward to heal and to give our attention to the teachings of black, brown and indigenous people of color. Now is the time to make a stand, donate, sign petitions, and educate. It's time to shift the conversation and to take action for real change.

We know we have more work to do. We are listening. We welcome your feedback.

We have found this link very helpful and if this resonates with you, please explore the various ways to learn, support and act below.

Organizations to Support

Black Lives Matter
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
Color of Change 
The Bail Project
Reclaim the Block
The Minnesota Freedom Fund
The George Floyd Memorial Fund


Books to Read

Skill in Action by Michelle Johnson

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

Uprooting Racism by Paul Kivel

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold

Redefining Realness by Janet Mock 

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga

When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson

Films and TV series to watch:

13th (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix

American Son (Kenny Leon) — Netflix

Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 — Available to rent

Blindspotting (Carlos López Estrada) — Hulu with Cinemax or available to rent

Clemency (Chinonye Chukwu) — Available to rent

Dear White People (Justin Simien) — Netflix

Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) — Available to rent

I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin doc) — Available to rent

If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins) — Hulu

Just Mercy (Destin Daniel Cretton) — Available to rent for free in June in the U.S.

King In The Wilderness  — HBO

See You Yesterday (Stefon Bristol) — Netflix

Selma (Ava DuVernay) — Available to rent for free in June in the U.S.

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution — Available to rent

The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.) — Available to rent for free

When They See Us (Ava DuVernay) — Netflix

Resources for white parents to raise anti-racist children:

Books:

Podcasts:

Articles:

As Maya Angelou had said, It’s time to do better.

"When you know better, do better."

Let’s take care of each other.