Honoring Humans with Beautiful Brown Hue
Beyond racism, #blacklivesmatter, the civil rights movement & MLK, there are remarkable stories, impressive communities, & beautiful brown bodies making history that call for ample celebration.
Especially in our world today, we need to be reading literature. With this election year, we have coined the term “alternative facts”. Like I said, we need to be reading literature. If you want to take part in a worthwhile movement, or even have an educated dialogue, start in a novel & add in reputable new sources as you feel interested here & there.
Below are some of my favorite reads that celebrate black lives & their meaningful struggles & contributions to our society. Ask questions & get involved. Grab your slippers & a hot cup of tea & jump in! (:
The List.
Between the World & Me -Ta-Nehisi Coates
A compilation of thoughtful & aching letters from a man of color to his son. Painfully honest & real.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness -Michelle Alexander
Required reading that details our prison system & it’s systematic affects on our colored population. Her facts & arguments are undeniably outstanding.
The Warmth of Other Suns -Isabel Wilkerson
Her title serving as an ode to the controversial & acclaimed writer Richard Wright who fled Mississippi to “feel the warmth of those other suns”, Isabel collected more than a thousand interviews to put this novel together. She paints a digestible but honest Great Migration by following the journeys of 3 Southern blacks from 3 decades & with 3 different destinations. This book is on Oprah’s coffee table for a reason & should be on yours as well.
Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black & White -Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem is well known for his activism in the social justice arena, & he writes powerfully on race & economic inequality, women’s issues, music & the influence of the media.
The Fire Next Time -James Baldwin
As a highly regarded author, radical, activist, public intellectual, man of color, James Baldwin is known for unapologetically & bravely writing of race & sexual identity. We should all also go quick get tickets to his documentary in theaters right now titled, “I Am Not Your Negro,” which was inspired by an unfinished manuscript Baldwin was working on at the time of his death in 1987 about the lives of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X & Medgar Evers.
Next on My List.
If you’ve already read through & wholly absorbed my top 5, take a gander below to get some further suggestions. There’s really a lot of great work out there. Let me know in the comments if you’ve read something inspiring that I should add in here!
A People’s History of the United States -Howard Zinn
Salt -Nayyirah Waheed
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America -Michael Eric
Up from Slavery -Booker T. Washington
Long Walk to Freedom -Nelson Mandela
Big time thanks to my incredible partner Darrell Stewart & niece Olivia Aiko for being my beautiful models that intrigued everyone to continue reading.
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