Considering I created In Defense of Feminism and adding to it has become increasingly difficult/unmaintainable without a dedicated editor, I thought I'd do one for literature and videos covering racism, police brutality and related topics. Some of the links are duplicates from that list because of the maintainability issue.

Now, I fully realise the hypocrisy/problematic nature of being an ill-equipped white man with my own racial biases trying to help other white people with theirs (the drunk leading the drunker). But I'm hoping that I can use my privilege and desire to be a saviour to help other white people who genuinely want to learn and be better (without trolling/energy vampirism) to do that without putting the burden on BIPOC who're beyond tired and battle fatigued of being asked to help us when you/they don't want to. I appreciate/respect your position if you're angry at me for doing this; you didn't ask for my help and might not want it. I'll probably blunder without realising it and need to be told off for it. Fair enough.

Well, it's not really whitesplaining. More having a single writing to echo/signal boost others' messages. Most of these links/recommendations I didn't source myself. I am grateful to various members of the fartloaf community (in and outside of the #BlackFet and Distinction of Deviation groups) for taking time to write about the issues faced by American Blacks, when they had no obligation to and have enough of our shit to deal with without our laziness added to it.

— A Dumbass white Man (me)

Note: I have not read all of this myself. I am working through it as time, emotional energy and finances allow. It's a work in progress. Expect edits to add/remove items.

"One of the most popular misconceptions about Black history is that over time, America has gradually become less racist and more tolerant. That is not true."
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot on Twitter)

"In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist. We must be anti-racist." — Angela Davis; Actress

"...'Black Lives Matter' simply refers to the notion that there's a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed. It's not meant to suggest that other lives don't matter. It's to suggest that other folks aren't experiencing this particular vulnerability."
— Barack Obama, former POTUS (emphasis mine)

"Racism is so ingrained in American life that merely suggesting tackling it makes you Unamerican." — Unknown BLM protester

"Racism is a white [people] problem. It was constructed and created by white people and the ultimate responsibility lies with white people. For too long, we've looked at it as if it were someone else's problem, as if it was created in a vacuum."
— Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (see below)

Links

• Useful Links on Racism — The Distinction of Deviation: A user-curated and suggested list that's a good place to start
• Why there is no such thing as reverse racism
• White Fragility: Why it's so hard to talk to white people about racism
• Panel condemns “white saviorism” in nonprofits
• What can we do about the White Saviour Complex?
• But Wait Until They See Your Black Face
• The evolution of Racism in America
• The Making of the Fox News Whitehouse — The New Yorker
• You don't get to say it
• The False Equivalence of "What About Black Supremacy?"

Authors and Books

The following books have been recommended by some of the users of Fartloaf, in and out of the #BlackFet and Distinction of Deviation groups (including on my writing of the same name there).

• White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism — Robin DiAngelo // Of questionable psychological/Scientific merit at best
• The Invention of the White Race, Vol. I & II — Theodore W. Allen
• Me and White Supremacy — Layla F. Saad
• Toward a Single-Consciousness: Challenging "Un-American-ness" of People of Color (2010) — Bhawana Kamil
• How Racism Harms White Americans [Transcript] — John Bracey
• The Anatomy of Fascism — Robert O. Paxton
• On the Frontier — W.H. Auden
• AntiFa Handbook — Mark Bray
• How to be an Anti-Fascist — Ibram X. Kendi
• Too Much and Never Enough — Mary L. Trump
• Tohi Morrison; Alice Walker; Ijeoma Olou; Cornel West // "The beauty of anti-racism is that you don't have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it's the only way forward."
• The Evolution of Racism: Human Differences and the Use and Abuse of Science — Pat Shipman
• The End of Policing — Alex Vitale
• Invisible No More — Andrea J. Ritchie
• Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality — Andrea J. Ritchie
• Policing the Black Man — Angela J. Davis
• When Police Kill — Franklin Zimring
• Unwarranted Policing OR The Will of the People — Barry Fieldman
• The Black and the Blue — Matthew Horace and Ron Harris
• Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable — Marc Lamoth Hill
• Policing the Planet — Jordan D. Camp & Christina Heatherton
• Fight The Power — Clarence Taylor
• Southland — Nina Revoyr
• The Perpetual Lineup — Claire Garvie, et al.
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America — Richard Rothstein
• 40 Million Dollar Slaves — William C. Rhoden
• Medical Apartheid — Harriet A. Washington
• Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology — Deirdre Cooper Owens
• The Colour of Money — Mehrsa Baradaran
• Nonviolent Communication — Marshall Rosenberg
• Raw Law — Muhammad Ibn Rashir
• Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome — Dr. Joy Degruy
• So You Want to Talk About Race? — Ijeomo Oulou
• The Cousins' Wars — Kevin Phillips
• The New Jim Crow — Michelle Alexander
• When Prophecy Fails — Leon Festinger, Henry W. Riecken & Stanley Schacter // The book that coined (and explains) the term "cognitive dissonance" and why it's dangerous
• No Future Without Forgiveness — Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era — William Knoedelseder // Also has a TV series based on it

Film and TV

• 13th [Amendment] — Netflix // for those who've got no chill
• Why I, as a Black Man, Attend KKK Rallies — Darly Davis' TED Talk
• Best of Enemies: Buckley vs Vidal
• CSA: The Confederate States of America — The whole film can be found on YT

I tried watching "C.S.A." I just couldn't. After about five or ten minutes, I was disgusted and felt ill. How anyone could possibly think that slavery (and I'm not referring to the consensual, risk-aware fetish kind) was acceptable or a good thing in any way (or be proud of that history), I don't know.

I am not interested in comments intended to insult or spread hatred. Anyone doing so will have their comments deleted and will be blocked at my discretion. If you want to point something out to me or make a suggestion, please keep it civil. Thank you.

Please do not thank me. I am simply echoing the voices of those people from whom I have learned. If you want to show support, please show it to them by reading their writings and boosting their signal. Tips from this post, if worth drawing out, will be invested in cryptocurrencies that support BLM. Black lives still matter.

"Yesterday, I was clever, so I tried to change the world. Today I am wise, so I will change myself." — Rumi

"Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eye and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice."
— Robert Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy

Post thumbnail photo by Black Life Matters from/on Pexels