What’s on your bookshelf?
In an effort to explore and share anti-racist resources that are both accessible and powerful recently, I’ve intentionally excluded books. We know that reading overall has been on the decline for some time, but in the midst of our current state of affairs it seems that the will it takes to put your attention on a book for an extended period of time has gone out the window.
Still, lists of anti-racist books are being passed around and best seller lists are populated with them.
In this article for NPR, Juan Vidal explores the power of books to be transformative — if the books actually get read — and he invites us to consider the contents of our personal libraries:
“If you are white, take a moment to examine your bookshelf. What do you see? What books and authors have you allowed to influence your worldview, and how you process the issues of racism and prejudice toward the disenfranchised? Have you considered that, if you identify as white and read only the work of white authors, you are in some ways listening to an extension of your own voice on repeat?
This can apply to any form of media we take in, naturally, but especially the literature that non-black and brown people choose to consume. Anti-racist books will only do a person good if they silence themselves first and enter into the reading — provided they care enough to do so.”
Are you making the time to read these days? What’s on your bookshelf?
