I wanted to address the recent events with the horrifying death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and ensuing protests because I'm sure many of us have been struggling with feelings of anger, anxiety, fear, and sadness and trying to put those feelings into words. I stand with the Black community, and it breaks my heart to think of the arrogance, hatred, and racial injustice that divides our country as I try to remain hopeful for future.
If you are feeling uncomfortable, especially if you are not a PoC, during this time, I challenge you to ask yourself why. This is a pivotal moment in our history, and I hope the conversations we continue to have about discrimination, racism, and underlying inequities will drive true change with more people taking action and holding those around us accountable to change people's attitudes and someday, ultimately undo institutionalized oppression.
I am committed to actively learning, listening, loving, and most importantly, speaking up, which is something I have difficulty with. The white suburban town I grew up in was extremely homogenous, and I was always one of the only Asian kids in my classes. I never felt like I truly fit in because of my appearance, and like most other children, I wanted nothing more than to fit in with my peers, so there were a lot of times that I chose to stay silent rather than call people out on their hurtful actions/words and ignorance. Even when I left home to attend Boston College, a private Jesuit university that is predominantly white as well, I felt the model minority stereotype follow me there. I do commend BC, however, because although there is still a lot of work to be done, the community including the faculty and students were, for the most part, a lot more willing to have conversations about race and justice.
Now, working in finance, I sometimes feel disillusioned and lost with how white and male Wall Street is, especially at the more senior level. In my free time, I love pursuing one of my hobbies, fashion, but sometimes, I am so discouraged by the Eurocentric standards of beauty so deeply ingrained in our society.
Silence is part of the problem, and I think it is so important for people to use their platforms to talk about what's happening and to educate themselves and others. It has really bothered and hurt me to see so many influencers continuing to post their usual content or just going radio silent. Even worse, some have been using the Black Lives Matter protests as fashion shows or photo opps as seen on the Twitter account Influencers in the Wild. According to the New York Post, the photographer of the influencer in the video, Mila Voyna, writes "I don’t understand why people are so aggressive when you’re on their side, and if you’re supporting!" Using the demonstrations as backdrops for your photos is disrespectful even if you're "on their side," which just sounds like self-righteous justification for their insensitive actions when an apology and some self-reflection is due.
For those of you seeking to educate yourselves, I have compiled resources below that should offer you a glimpse into the experiences and lives other than our own in hopes of bettering our understanding of one another and fostering safe and productive conversations.
Resources
Books
The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcom X & Alex Haley
Becoming – Michelle Obama
Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
Blackedballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy – Darryl Pinckney
Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment – Patricia Hill Collins
The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
This Bridge Called My Back, Fourth Edition: Writings by Radical Women of Color – Cherrie Moraga & Gloria Anzaldua
The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America – Anders Walker
Chokehold: Policing Black Men
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America – Richard Rothstein
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, with a New Preface – Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court – Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve
A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural America – Ronald Takaki
Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland – Jonathan M. Metzl
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower – Dr. Brittney Cooper
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City – Matthew Desmond
The Fire Next Time – James Baldwin
From #blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation – Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Heavy: An American Memoir – Kiese Laymon
How to be an Antiracist – Ibram X. Kendi
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness – Austin Channing Brown
Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color – Andrea Ritchie
Just Mercy – Bryan Stevenson
Killing Rage: Ending Racism – Bell Hooks
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong – James W. Loewen
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor – Layla F. Saad
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies – Resmaa Menakem
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century – Grace Lee Boggs
Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond
Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Paulo Freire
A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn
The Radical King – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Raising Our Hands: How White Women Can Stop Avoiding Hard Conversations, Start Accepting Responsibility, and Find Our Place on the New Frontlines – Jenna Arnold
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More – Janet Mock
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches – Audre Lorde
So You Want to Talk about Race – Ijeoma Oluo
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America – Ibram X. Kendi
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration – Isabel Wilkerson
Women, Race, & Class – Angela Y. Davis
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism – Robin Diangelo
White Privilege – Shannon Sullivan
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race – Beverly Daniel Tatum
Films
12 Years a Slave
13th Film
1619
About Race
American Son
BlacKkKlansman
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Black Power Mixtape: 1967 – 1975
Blindspotting
The Central Park Five
Clemency
The Color Purple
Dear White People
The Diversity Gap
Fruitvale Station
Get Out
Green Book
The Hate U Give
I Am Not Your Negro
Intersectionality Matters
If Beale Street Could Talk
Juanita
Just Mercy
King in the Wilderness
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
Moonlight
Pod For The Cause
Pod Save The People
Queen & Slim
See You Yesterday
Selma
Strong Island
When They See Us
I hope you find the above tools helpful. I will continue to support empathy and understanding and urge us all to please respect each other, learn together and from one another to achieve better.
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