---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rachel Presley <rpresley@umn.edu>
Date: Saturday, June 6, 2020
Subject: [writfac] Supporting Black Lives Matter + Resources
To: Writing Studies Faculty <writfac@umn.edu>

Dear colleagues,

Over the past two weeks, our nation has witnessed horrific displays of unprovoked violence and police brutality against the Black community, shedding light on the very real conditions of structural racism that built this country and continue to traumatize so many BIPOC. As writing scholars, I believe we have tremendous potential to incite change—real rhetorical and material change—across our classrooms and communities but doing so requires definitive action. We are an overwhelmingly White department which means we must confront and harness our (proximity to) privilege in order to move beyond performative allyship toward comprehensive accompliceship.

As critical scholars, we tackle an issue by first educating ourselves. This is especially important for movements like BLM where an unfair burden of labor is placed upon POC to do this work. This list below was initially conceived by Ella Bathory-Peeler, a student at Ohio University. I have added a number of resources and am sharing here in the hopes that that we may learn together and circulate widely across our personal and professional networks. Please note that I am not speaking for my Black colleagues, but rather as a privileged White woman invested in unwavering solidarity.

We can READ

So you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo

White Fragility by Robin Diangelo

me and white supremacy by Layla F. Saad

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem

This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell

The Torture Letters by Laurence Ralph

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates

They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

The 1619 Project by The New York Times

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

A Perilous Path by Bryan Stevenson

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist-1

Raising White Kids by Jennifer Harvey

Jonathon Kozol: Savage Inequalities, The Shame of the Nation, or Fire in the Ashes

Howard Zinn: A People's History, or The Other Civil War.

We can WATCH

I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin

13th by Ava DuVernay

American Son by Kenny Leon

Dear White People by Justin Simien

See You Yesterday by Stefon Bristol

When They See Us by Ava Duvernay

If Beale Street Could Talk by Barry Jenkins

The Hate U Give by George Tillman Jr.

Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 by Göran Olsson

Clemency by Chinonye Chukwu

Fruitvale Station by Ryan Coogler

Just Mercy by Destin Daniel Cretton

Selma by Ava Duvernay

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution by Stanley Nelson Jr.

Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee

We can LISTEN

About Race podcast, co-hosted by Anna Holmes, Baratunde Thurston, Raquel Cepeda, and Tanner Colby

Code Switch podcast, co-hosted by Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby

The Diversity Gap podcast, hosted by Bethaney Wilkinson

Intersectionality Matters! podcast, hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw

Momentum: A Race Forward podcast, co-hosted by Chevon and Hiba

Pod for The Cause podcast, hosted by Ashley Allison

Pod Save the People podcast, hosted by DeRay Mckesson

The Problem We All Live With, a two-part episode of This American Life featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones

We can PETITION

change.org

https://colorofchange.org

https://blacklivesmatter.com/petitions/

We can DONATE

Reclaim the Block

Black Visions Collective

Mobile Outreach and Outdoor Drop-In

Pimento Relief Fund

Black Table Arts

AIM Interpretative Center

Migizi

We Love Lake Street

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha

Unicorn Riot

Minnesota Voice

Louisville Bail Fund

Brooklyn Community Bail Fund

George Floyd Memorial Fund

Women for Political Change

Black Lives Matter

National Bail Out

Equal Justice Initiative

Grassroots Law Project

The Action PAC

NAACP

ACLU

Campaign Zero

This is in no way an exhaustive list but rather an invitation to participate more critically in anti-racist education and justice efforts. As our excellently articulated Equity and Diversity statement reads, “We recognize the difficulty and complexity of discussing certain issues linked with equity, diversity, and inclusion, but we pledge to promote these conversations and provide the necessary resources that will help us productively engage in these conversations.” In order to truly uphold and enact these commitments, I ask that we—as a collective faculty—consider circulating these materials to our listserv (our graduate students in particular)....