Hearing from YOU: Members Recommendations for Books, Articles, Podcasts and Movies
I highly recommend the podcast Politically Reactive with W. Kamari Bell and Hari Kondibolu to anyone looking to apply an anti-racist lens to their media consumption and activism. First of all — it’s hilarious! Bell and Kondibolu are comedians with a social justice bent who are clearly great friends, and listening to their banter is a delight. Second, it helps connect you to voices and people who are doing the work, making good trouble on the ground. They primarily interview people of color who are organizers fighting for systemic change — whether that means organizing to help formerly incarcerated people vote in Florida, running for Congress in the district that represents Ferguson, MO, leading the case against Derek Chauvin and so much more. Whenever I listen I feel like I hear from people I wouldn’t otherwise hear from, and I always learn something new, especially around how to be a better anti-racist ally. Definitely add to your podcast queue if you need something that is equal parts humorous and challenging.
– Kaitlin Juleus ‘09
Kimberle Crenshaw’s podcast Intersectionality Matters
Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing
Raoul Peck’s film I Am Not Your Negro
Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider
James Baldwin’s “My Dungeon Shook”
Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric
– Robin Stewart ‘92
Here for It; Or, How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays by R. Eric Thomas is a comedic memoir told in essays. Consider checking out Sam Sanders’s interview with R. Eric Thomas on “It’s Been a Minute” about Thomas’s literary career and Here for It for a great introduction to Thomas’s style. He uses politics, history, and pop culture as a lens to examine his experience with serious and/or hilarious results. Thomas hopes to create “norm-core” art for black and queer people where they are an equal part of the cannon, not merely the best friend or background. I think Here for It speaks to anyone who has felt marginalized or out of sync in any way. Thomas is full of hope that if he found his voice, anyone can. And one more thing! I definitely would go with the audio version of Here for It because R. Eric Thomas reads it himself. I love a memoir read by the author.
– Mary Beth Keane ‘92
I love reading books that answer questions. When I saw the book White Fragility and heard how great it was, I wanted to read it right away. I wanted to know What is white fragility? And, do I have it?
It was very eye-opening and spoke directly to the fears that white people have about
talking about race issues
being judged or thought of as a racist
I heard of this book when I was on a Board and we were having a workshop given by The Conciliation Project (based in Virginia, led by Dr. Tania Pettiford-Wates)… this program could be an excellent zoom workshop for our members)
After the workshop, our board started an online book club for The Children’s Music Network (our organization) and read WHite Fragility, along with Ibram X Kendi’s How to Be An AntiRacist. I began to understand that if we are not actively working for racial justice, then we were just being complicit in the systemic racism all over this country.
The book I am reading now is We Do This Til We Free Us, by Mariame Kaba. It answers my question: What does Defund the Police mean? And what does “Reparations” mean to most of those who are calling for it? It is a great book.
I also love the podcast GirlTek’s Black History Boot Camp. Two women (Christian, by the way, but that does not mean much to me), encourage girls to walk and learn about Black history, through biographies. Each episode about a different person, very interesting, and uplifting.
– Amy Conley ‘81
I am Christian Education director at our church (the Pilgrim Church of Duxbury) and over the pandemic, I read “A Kids Book About Racism” by Jelani Memory to my Sunday School students and they loved it. One of them told her classroom teacher about it, and then she shared it with her class and put it on Facebook and reached the wider community with great success.
“The Hate U Give”, both the book and the movie were great for discussion with my middle school students. I found it very mind and heart opening.
For adults, I love Kelly Corrigan podcasts. Her June 1 one with Austin Channing Brown on Black Girl Pride and Frustration was illuminating.
for books – Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Aditchie
any books by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I have been delving into the 1619 Project lately and it’s fascinating.
– Angelique Kania ‘91
I’m currently reading The New Jim Crow, which is about as eye opening as it gets. Along these lines, I also try to stay up to speed on publications such as The Marshall Project and The Anti-Racism Daily. Some of the other more influential books I’ve come across are The Fire Next Time, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, The Color of Law, and Stamped from the Beginning.
Also, May 31st marks 100 years since the Tulsa massacre in the predominantly Black district of Greenwood. The history of “Black Wall Street” is one of the many, many, many topics I wish I had learned earlier in life. There are some great resources out there on this, including a book by Hannibal B. Johnson.
– Jonathan Medeiros ‘09
As CHARA formulates its antiracism practices, white members would be wise to take up Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism (Boston: Beacon Press, 2018). This book offers white folks the opportunity to work through our own denial and evasion of white privilege, power, and superiority, including what Michael Eric Dyson terms Chronic Historical Evasion and Trickery (C.H.E.A.T.). DiAngelo elucidates how white people maintain racial ignorance and assume innocence, as we work with other white folks to protect white advantage and reproduce anti-Blackness in every sphere of U.S. life. Until we work through our own fragility with other white folks, we will not be able to take responsibility for the roles we play in creating anti-Black supremacy, much less become authentic allies who help clear a path for healing. DiAngelo maps a lifelong process for white people to learn how our stubborn habits of living and unexamined assumptions prevent us from aligning our professed human values with transformative action for liberation.
– Alex Mikulich ‘84
The Purpose of Power by Alicia Garza (Garza is co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement)
– Matt Harper ‘11
My family over the last 7 years has become multiracial. My daughter is dating a black man and my son is married to a Japanese woman. Each of these people have been wonderful additions to our family. Yet at the same time it was necessary for me to become sensitive to their needs and expectations.
So what did I do, I followed a lead that Father Jim Martin, SJ put out on his facebook page. That was to read Father Bryan Massingale’s book Racial Justice and the Catholic Church. It was an eye opener. This book was part of a virtual panel discussion conducted by Holy Cross in February.
I listened to Sister Thea Bowman’s talk to the USCCB in 1989. Combining the information together into what I know, the Catholic Church in the United States is one of white privilege.
Most recently, I read This is the Fire, What I Say to My Friends about Racism. This book is new and written by Don Lemon. It offered Lemon’s experiences to provide some insight. As with so many things I often ask what am I trying to accomplish?
First, I want to understand and change my mindset. Moving from head to heart as Father Boroughs mentioned the last time that we met.
Secondly, I want to determine how to influence our pastor in Keene to open a conversation about racism both in the church and our community. From my viewpoint this is critical if we are to love (agape) as Jesus taught us to.
Finally, I want to determine how to have an impact on a larger field.
– Mike Davis ‘70
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
– Adrianna Tomasello ‘16
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee
– Jen Laden ‘92
Two Distant Strangers, Netflix. A powerful short film that illustrates the trauma of police violence against African-Americans
Here’s the Thing (podcast) with Isabel Wilkerson on Caste and William Darity on Reparations
99% Invisible (podcast) episode 201: The Green Book, a travel guide to make traveling safer for black motorists across America
99% Invisible, episode 253: Manzanar. As violence against Asian Americans is on the rise, it is important to remember what the US did to Japanese Americans during WWII (members of my uncle’s family were in such a camp in Canada)
99% Invisible, episode 331: Oñate’s Foot. While not focused on issues impacting the black community, I think it is important for members of the group to open up to other conflicts between groups and the conflict around Statues
TINA, HBO. Sorry, shameless plug for my wife’s documentary but I think that there is still power in her story
– Ryan Smith ‘92
I did not send in any recommendations but I did bring up Fr. Greg Boyle in our smaller break out room. He’s a Jesuit priest here in Los Angeles, started Homeboy Industries. He is amazing. He has written a few books, including “Tattoos on the Heart” and “Preaching to the Choir” — basically he has been able to break down the intense and deadly divisions between rival gang members by teaching and living the idea of kinship and seeing one another as equal human beings. I would recommend his books to others, especially the audio books that he reads himself. Homeboy also has an instagram page that people could follow (@homeboyindustries)
– Genny Castruccio ‘92
Anti Racism Readings & Resources: Here are some things that we have been reading at Holy Cross in the OME Listen & Learn Series. All of them are really worthwhile.
Anything by Bryan Massingale! There are lots of videos available too. One of my favorite articles was in NCR: The Assumptions of White Privilege and What We Can Do About It
Finally, anything by Bettina Love. She has lots of Youtube videos too.
– Mary Roche ‘94
A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
– Yoko Ono
