This week’s reading list has three parts. Part One features Black authors writing explicitly about anti-Black police brutality. Part Two features Black authors writing about subjects other than police brutality, because maybe it’s in your best interest not to subject yourself to more mental anguish than is necessary, and because Black people deserve to write about so much more than their deaths at the hands of police. Finally, I grouped together resources for non-Black POC and white people who want to stand in solidarity against police brutality and violence against the Black community.

Part One:

1. “Am I Going to Write About Murdered Black People Forever?” (Kara Brown, Jezebel, July 2016)

2. “Alton Sterling and When Black Lives Stopped Mattering.” (Roxane Gay, New York Times, July 2016)

3. “What Black Parents Tell Their Sons About the Police.”(Jazmine Hughes, Gawker, August 2014)

4. “How Many Black People Can You Mourn in One Week?” (Hannah Giorgis, BuzzFeed News, July 2016)

5. “I Need Justice, I Need Peace: A QTPOC Roundtable.” (Alaina Monts, Autostraddle, July 2016)

6. “Summer Heat.” (Mariame Kaba,The New Inquiry, June 2015)

7. “This Country Needs a Truth and Reconciliation Process on Violence Against African Americans—Right Now.” (Fania Davis, YES! Magazine, July 2016)

Part Two:

1. “Despite Legacy of Racism, Black Women Rock On.” (Latonya Pennington, The Establishment, July 2016)

2. “The Negro Motorist Green Book and Black America’s Perpetual Search for a Home.” (Carvell Wallace, The Toast, June 2016)

3. “After a Century In Decline, Black Farmers are Back and On the Rise.” (Leah Penniman, YES! Magazine, May 2016)

4. “No Apologies For Queer White Tears.” (Faith Cheltenham, Elixher, April 2016)

5. “The Black Journalist and the Racial Mountain.” (Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, June 2016)

6. “Visible: Women Writers of Color #3: Cole Lavalais.” (Deeshaw Philyaw, The Rumpus, June 2016)

Take Action:

Self-Care:

For Non-Black and/or White Allies: