For the past few weeks, we at Era of Good Feeling have been struggling to put into words our thoughts regarding society’s status. To be honest, we’ve never taken any sort of political stance and often times have avoided doing so. It has never been our nature to side with political viewpoints. But the silence from us has lasted far too long, and the public dissolution going right now is only fueled by it. That being said, we stand with our black and LGBTQ friends who have made us better people and the world a better place, and who continue to fight for their lives and what they believe. We are here for you.
In addition to donating, we feel the other best thing we can do is to educate and raise awareness of the various aspects of black culture we so take for granted every day. Below is a compiled list of resources to study in support of black liberation. Read up and catch up.
Music:
–Culture Clash: Dread Meets Punk by Don Letts
–Detroit is Techno City, and techno is Black by Imani Mixon
–Why is Everyone Always Stealing Black Music? by Wesley Morris
–The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop – and Why It Matters by Tricia Rose
Film:
–Black Panthers – directed by Agnes Varda
–George Washington – directed by David Gordon Green
–4 Little Girls – directed by Spike Lee
–The Black Power Mixtape – directed by Goran Hugo Olsson
–13th – directed by Ava DuVernay
–Blindspotting – directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada
TV:
Literature:
–The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes
– Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination by Toni Morrison
–The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
–The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
–Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge