Reading for an Uprising
Throughout the month of June, we at Scuppernong Books have made space daily on our Facebook page to spotlight writers struggling to come to terms with the current popular unrest in the US, what many are calling an 'uprising.' Below is a list of the articles we have shared and their links, as well as ordering information for further reading by these writers. Not only is this an anthology of different voices, it documents shifting ideas about the various movements as they build momentum. It's a pretty good overview of the last month in America.
Tracy K Smith, Dear Black America
https://lithub.com/dear-black-america-a-letter-from-tracy-k-smith/
Cynthia Greenlee, How to Cover an Uprising
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/journalism-photography-uprising-ethics/
Caroline Randall Williams, You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body is a Confederate Monument
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opinion/confederate-monuments-racism.html?smid=tw-share
Juan Vidal, Your Bookshelf May Be Part of the Problem
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/06/870910728/your-bookshelf-may-be-part-of-the-problem
Colson Whitehead, We Invent All Sorts of Different Reasons to Hate People
At the Black Lives Matter Protests in NYC: A Photo Essay
https://lithub.com/at-the-black-lives-matter-protests-in-nyc-a-photo-essay/
Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., The History That James Baldwin Wanted America To See
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-history-that-james-baldwin-wanted-america-to-see
Jamelle Bouie, Why Juneteenth Matters
Imani Perry, Racism Is Terrible. Blackness Is Not
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/racism-terrible-blackness-not/613039/
How We Juneteenth
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/18/style/juneteenth-celebration.html
Celia Walker, Why Do We Celebrate Juneteenth?
https://bittersoutherner.com/why-do-we-celebrate-juneteenth-because-we-are-free-to-do-so
Michael K./ Williams, Where Do We Go From Here?,
Revisiting The Wire During 2020’s Black Lives Matter Movement
Steven W. Thrasher, An Uprising Comes from the Viral Underclass
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/black-lives-matter-viral-underclass.html
Pitchayab Sudbanthad, Letter From Brooklyn:Finding Justice in the Streets
https://lithub.com/letter-from-brooklyn-finding-justice-in-the-streets/
Jericho Brown, Bullet Points
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/152728/bullet-points
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, How Do We Change America
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-do-we-change-america
Michelle Alexander, America, This Is Your Chance
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/opinion/george-floyd-protests-race.html
Layli Long Soldier, On Wounded Knee and the Murder of George Floyd
https://lithub.com/layli-long-soldier-on-wounded-knee-and-the-murder-of-george-floyd/
PEN America’s Guide for Combatting Protest Disinformation
https://pen.org/pen-americas-guide-for-combating-protest-disinformation/
Issac Bailey, I’m Finally an Angry Black Man
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/opinion/sunday/black-racism-.html?searchResultPosition=1
Jericho Brown, To Win Justice for George Floyd We Need the Rage that Abolished Slavery
Ibram X. Kendi, What to an American is the Fourth of July?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/resistance-patriotism-fourth-july/593344/
Bryan Lee, Jr, America’s Cities were Designed to Oppress
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-03/how-to-design-justice-into-america-s-cities
Michael Harriot, A Letter Not from a Birmingham Jail
https://www.theroot.com/a-letter-not-from-a-birmingham-jail-1843926346
Saeed Jones, Whose Grief, Our Grief
https://www.gq.com/story/saeed-jones-on-generations-of-protests
Sean Collins, The Anger Behind the Protests Explained in Four Charts
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/31/21276004/anger-police-killing-george-floyd-protests
Charlie Leduff, What Killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/aiyana-stanley-jones-detroit/
In addition, here's a previous post where we hightlight antiracism books by NC authors or rooted in NC history.