books

12 books to read about racism abroad and in Australia.

 

As protestors continue to spread across America, and now the globe, over the killing of George Floyd, many people are wondering how they can better educate themselves on the the irrefutable and systematic injustice black citizens continue to experience at the hands of authorities. Not just overseas, but in Australia too.

Self-education is just one of the crucial ways in which people can help the cause to end racial discrimination.

So, we’ve compiled a list of those books that have been routinely recommended in the last week – trending on social media, and selling out of bookshops.

The following 12 books are a mere droplet in the sea of texts that exist on racism, anti-racism and the experiences of people of colour.

We would love for you, our readers, to add to this list by posting your suggestions in the comments section below this article.

Books on race and racism.

Me And White Supremacy – Layla Saad



White Fragility - Robin Diangelo⁣⁣


How To Be An Antiracist -  Ibram X. Kendi


Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge⁣⁣



They Can’t Kill Us All - Wesley Lowery



The Hate Race - Maxine Beneba Clarke⁣⁣


I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
⁣⁣


So You Want to Talk About Race - Ijeoma Oluo


Books by Indigenous writers

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia - edited by Anita Heiss


Dark Emu - Bruce Pascoe⁣⁣


Welcome to Country - Marcia Langton⁣⁣


Australia Day - Stan Grant


If you have the means to do so, you can actively help the Black Lives Matter cause in Australia and the United States by donating to organisations working towards racial justice, such as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance and the Justice for David Dungay fund to support the family of David Dungay Junior, an Aboriginal man who died in a Sydney jail. You can also donate to the Black Lives Matter Global Network here. If you can, consider regularly donating to Indigenous-run organisations and First Nations causes.

Other active ways to help include signing petitions, attending peaceful protests, listening to BIPOC, raising their voices, educating yourself on racism and privilege and ensuring we are all taking part in the conversation to dismantle systemic racism.


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Top Comments

mamamia-team 4 years ago

Thank you for joining the conversation. We are now disabling comments for this article.


birdie 4 years ago
I’ve experienced racism myself, so I know how it feels. When we lived in a country town on the mid north coast of NSW, I knew what was going to happen to me when I was walking into one of the shopping malls from my car.
EVERY TIME, I would be greeted by, mostly females, singing out ‘White c... white bitch, white ho!’ Often I would be approached and asked for cigarettes or money and abused when I told them I don’t smoke and I couldn’t afford to give them money. At the time, I was in my mid 60s and walking with a stick.
I only write about this because I know from long experience, that racism exists in every culture. My first serious boyfriend was Aboriginal, whom I met when I was studying in a town in the New England region of NSW. I often had meals in their home and one night, his parents told me we had to stop seeing each other. I was devastated because I really liked them and thought they liked me. However, they told me that many of their family members were giving them a hard time because they were allowing their son to go out with a white girl. They also told me that I would experience hostility from white people, which I already had. It was water off a duck’s back to me but it hurt my boyfriend.
We reluctantly split up but that was my introduction to racism and it came from both white and black.

laura__palmer 4 years ago
@birdie Difference is, black people have less power than white people.