Monday, January 18 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States, and the library will be closed. As we honor the memory of Dr. King, we must look back at his mission and look forward to what we can do to help it come to fruition. If you need help contextualizing the dream of Dr. King in today’s world, here are some titles from the library that can help.
Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and its urgent lessons for our own by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., 2020. Available on OverDrive. James Baldwin, rightly seen as part of the literary canon for his transcendent novels, was also a civil rights leader. Through his written works, Glaude recreates his political journey in the mid-late 20th century as he wrestled with questions of identity and disillusionment. The themes of racial disenfranchisement and the difficulty of civil rights work ring as true today as they did in Baldwin’s time. As many people have been experiencing similar difficulties in the late 2010s to what Baldwin went through in the 1960s, we can use his parallel development as a potential answer to the question: what do we do now? How do we find hope and the will to do the work when, as Baldwin himself wrote, “The horror is that America […] changes all the time, without ever changing at all”?
Me and white supremacy : combat racism, change the world, and become a good ancestor by Layla F. Saad, 2020. Available as audio CD, OverDrive ebook, OverDrive audiobook, Hoopla ebook, and Hoopla audiobook. Saad was the author of a viral Instagram challenge (#MeAndWhiteSupremacy) that encouraged participants to, over the course of twenty-eight days, examine their white privilege, redefine allyship, and how to create social change (among other things). This book, with the same title, takes the substance of that challenge off Instagram and brings it to a new audience, updated and expanded. Identifying white supremacy is the first step toward dismantling it, and Saad’s book is full of first steps for creating conversations and reframing our thinking. This is a beginner-level primer for white people looking to learn the basics, including personal anecdotes and journal prompts to help newcomers gain a foothold with these difficult topics.
Say it louder! : Black voters, white narratives, and saving our democracy by Tiffany D. Cross, 2020. Available on Hoopla. Black voters have a rising political power in the United States, though they are often dismissed as a special interest group. Filled with up-to-date research, this book looks at the historical and modern impact of Black votes, as well as the contrasting force of voter suppression on their numbers. Racial inequality and lack of representation are self-perpetuating monsters, and it is only when Black people are given the space to contribute to our democracy that we will have any hope of change. Cross concludes her narrative with some ideas for how Black people can use their power to overcome oppression and influence the government.
The color of compromise : the truth about the American church’s complicity in racism by Jemar Tisby, 2019. Available on Hoopla as an ebook and audiobook. Because Dr. King was himself a Baptist minister, it feels fitting to end with Tisby’s account of how white evangelicals have historically worked against the causes of racial justice. The church’s commitment to maintaining the oppressive and violent racial status quo is detailed here in concrete and undeniable ways. However, Tisby, like Dr. King, is not raising this issue merely to point a finger. Instead, this book is a call to love and action for a more racially inclusive Christianity. But any move toward equity must begin with knowledge, and Tisby gives us a good foundation on which to build our shared future.
Stay safe, and enjoy the holiday.
