I Can’t Breathe: A Resource List

by | Jun 7, 2020 | Ancestries, Identities, Social Change | 0 comments

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your responses to my post: I can’t breathe.

In some responses, you asked where to look and where you might start on your journey to some of the STOPS I requested of you. At first, I felt the burden of being asked to educate further about anti-black racism, a common double-bind people of colour find themselves in once this conversation is ventured into across interracial lines. Then I remembered our mutuality and the fact that while I have been living with conscious and unconscious anti-black racism for a lifetime, you may only be venturing into this doorway now. And I want you to stay here and keep taking the journey all the way. My greatest fear right now is that you and I will turn away from the winds of change because it is too hard. The winds are blowing and it is physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually draining. But I am choosing to keep facing the windstorm and I pray you do too. I believe that if we all stay in this, we can walk forward together, one scary step at a time for the long haul.

Proud aunty to the tall black man in the centre of this picture-Jeremiah Kabia @ peaceful protest march in Vancouver, BC. photo credit: @ashauntihf (on IG). Posted with permission.

So here is a follow-up list of places to look and resources to delve into. A quick google scholar or any library database search will pull up research evidence and the debates corresponding to any of the topics. A disclaimer that I am not an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion professional and this is not a comprehensive list. There are many lists going around so please look beyond this to those spaces that can offer even more resources and address other forms of racism. This is an offering based on my lived experience, my learning by association of being and the human development, social change and Global African/Black-Canadian lens with which I view the world. I have read/engaged with some of these and am still working through others. I am still transforming and unlearning my own biases and colonized mentalities too. I will keep adding to this list as I come across more useful links. It’s overwhelming but remember this is a long game that starts with acceptance. Please stay here, in the discomfort, the learning, the focus on a new normal that includes a fair, just and humane society for us all.

Quick Starts: Short but Impactful Videos & Resources

Anti-Racist Comprehensive Resource List/Books

Black Canadian History/Black in Canada/Black in Vancouver

Black Literature

Hollywood and Racism in America

Other Resources & Blog Posts I’ve Authored

Yours in solidarity and humanity,

Yabome (a still grieving Black sister)