Black Lives Matter: 72 Racism Awareness Books, Movies, Resources and More

The past week has been a heavy one. The reality of anti-Black racism in the US, Canada and around the world is no secret. But over the last several days, the outrage over repeated and systemic violence against Black people reached a boiling point, fuelled by a recent spate of police brutality. In response, white people and other non-Black folk around the world are taking it upon themselves—finally—to educate themselves to be better allies, to unlearn generations of internalized racism, and to attempt to become the anti-racist citizens the world needs in order to have a chance at lasting change.

The past week may have been a wake-up call for some but the truth is, nothing about this is new. This is what Black communities have been living with for centuries. As Roxane Gay writes in a recent op-ed for the New York Times, about the post-pandemic status quo people are hoping to return to: “The rest of the world yearns to get back to normal. For Black people, normal is the very thing from which we yearn to be free.”

If you’re a non-Black person who has never fully engaged with the reality of systemic racism due to your own privilege, it’s on you to educate yourself. Read on for a list of films, television shows, books, social media accounts and other resources to turn to in the coming weeks, months and years to understand better the history of anti-Black racism.

FILMS & TV SHOWS
13th, Ava DuVernay (Netflix) Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler (on demand) The Hate U Give, George Tillman Jr. (Crave) Ninth Floor, Mina Shum (National Film Board of Canada) Selma, Ava DuVernay (on demand) I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck (Amazon Prime Video) If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins (Amazon Prime Video) Do The Right Thing, Spike Lee (on demand) Just Mercy, Destin Daniel Cretton (on demand) Clemency, Chinonye Chukwu (on demand) Watchmen, Damon Lindelof (Crave) Journey to Justice, Roger McTair (National Film Board of Canada) Les Misérables, Ladj Ly (on demand) When They See Us, Ava DuVernay (Netflix) BlackKklansman, Spike Lee (Crave) The Good Fight, Robert King, Michelle King and Phil Alden Robinson (on demand) Beyond Moving, Vikram Dasgupta (Hot Docs Canada) The Colour of Beauty, Elizabeth St. Philip (National Film Board of Canada) Atlanta, Donald Glover (on demand) Coded Bias, Shalini Kantayya (Hot Docs Canada) Whose Streets?, Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis (Paradise Theatre, Canada)

BOOKS
White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates Me and White Supremacy, Layla F Saad Born a Crime, Trevor Noah Becoming, Michelle Obama The Color Purple, Alice Walker Beastgirl and Other Origin Myths, Elizabeth Acevedo (children’s book) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi Sulwe, Lupita Nyong’o (children’s book) Beloved, Toni Morrison Counting Descent, Clint Smith III Stamped, Ibram X Kendi and Jason Reynolds (YA book) They Said This Would Be Fun, Eternity Martis The Skin We’re In, Desmond Cole

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS Rachel Elizabeth Cargle, writer and activist (Instagram) Deray Mckesson, activist (Twitter) Brittany Packnett, activist (Twitter) Tyrone Rex Edwards, reporter (Instagram) Tracy Peart, makeup artist (Instagram) Nikki Ogunnaike, Deputy Fashion Director, GQ (Instagram) Nikole Hannah Jones, journalist (Twitter) Donte Colley, influencer (Instagram) Mustafa the Poet, poet and songwriter (Instagram) Danielle Prescod, Style Director, BET (Instagram) Kathleen Newman-Bremang, writer (Twitter) Roxane Gay, writer (Twitter) Shannae Ingleton Smith, entrepreneur (Instagram) Sasha Exeter, influencer (Instagram) Clint Smith III, writer, poet and scholar (Twitter)

PODCASTS
Still Processing, hosted by Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris (The New York Times) Pod Save the People, hosted by Deray Mckesson (Crooked Media) 1619, hosted by Nikole Hannah Jones (The New York Times) Code Switch, hosted by Shereen Marisol Meraji and Gene Demby (NPR) Code Black, co-founded by Renee Duncan, Bunmi Adeoye and Maxine McDonald (Code Black Communicator Network) Seeing White, hosted by John Biewen (Scene on Radio) The Diversity Gap Podcast, hosted by Bethaney Wilkinson (The Diversity Gap)

RESOURCES By Blacks (Instagram) Black Art 365 (Instagram) The Conscious Kid (Instagram) Black Artist Space (Instagram) Black Lives Matter (Instagram) Black Lives Matter Toronto (Twitter) Gal-Dem Zine (Instagram) Black Legal Action Centre (website) NIA Centre for the Arts (website) Federation of Black Canadians (website) Womanly Mag (Instagram)