Unlearning In Celebration Of Juneteenth
The stickers above were purchased from a friend's younger sister who makes them. Her Instagram is @stickersbyjoellen. She does a lot of cute custom stickers, so definitely check her out!
June 19, 1885 was the day that Texan slaves, the last people to be enslaved, found out that they had been free since the Emancipation Proclamation had been made over two years prior. Now June 19th is known as Juneteenth, a day that celebrates the end of slavery in the United States and represents the ways freedom for Black people has been withheld from them due to institutional and systemic oppression in America.
In honor of Juneteenth, I decided to dedicate this day to work on unlearning some of American history for myself. I started by listening to the entirety of The New York Times “1619” podcast. It is a seven episode series that goes through different periods of American history and explains how Black people in this country have been oppressed and negatively affected.
In the evening I watched the “13th” on Netflix. This documentary is about how the 13th amendment to the constitution made slavery legal through the criminal justice system. This documentary is so powerful; I learned so much about institutionalized racism and I feel like I already have a better understanding of the criminal justice system and why it is so problematic from this film.
I highly recommend both of these resources for any unlearning/learning about American history and how Black people have been treated unjustly in this country for years.
These are some of the next resources I want to consume to continue educating myself on racism and Black lives in America. If you have any other good resources to share, please feel free to DM me!
Podcasts:
NPR’s Code Switch
The Nod
Truth Be Told hosted by Tonya Mosley (this one is an advice podcast, which is the type of podcasts I usually listen to, but I am working on diversifying WHO I am listening to, not just white podcasters)
Pod Save the People
Yo, Is This Racist?
Netflix:
Explained: The Racial Wealth Gap (Season 1, episode 20)
Who Killed Malcolm X
Miss Virginia
Moonlight
Books:
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
All about Love by bell hooks
My sister, who usually does most of my editing, (shout out to Daniela!) also suggested some more books to read:
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum [She would personally recommend the 20th edition version]
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo