Critical Linking is a daily roundup of the most interesting bookish links from around the web sponsored by Amazon Publishing.
“The poem calls out the privileges bestowed upon those with lighter skin and the injustices thrust upon members of the Black community. As a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement, the opening clip shows a graphic listing the names of hundreds of Black men and women who lost their lives in instances of police brutality. ‘A lot of times, I think, people have a hard time accepting certain things as racist because they know that they’ve done those things,’ Lacey told POPSUGAR. ‘Nobody wants to look like the bad guy. Nobody wants to look like the monster under the bed.’”
Confronting internalized racism should make you uncomfortable. A powerful poem chock-full o’ truth.
“Queer people are nothing if not resilient and creative, and one way we both process and contribute to our own communities and society as a whole is through art. This Pride month, while you’re reflecting on what it means to liberate all bodies from oppression and fighting however you can, it’s a great time to read the literature of both past and contemporary LGBTQ+ voices — to learn from them, internalize them, debate them, and use them to question the norms around you.”
A truly phenomenal list, and not a bunch of the same books that pop up on lots of other lists.
“To quote Alex S. Vitale, author of The End of Policing: ‘It’s time for everyone to quit thinking that jailing one more killer cop will do anything to change the nature of American policing. We must move, instead, to significantly defund the police and redirect resources into community-based initiatives that can produce real safety and security without the violence and racism inherent in the criminal justice system.’”
I’ve learned this week that a lot of folks—myself included—don’t understand what defunding the police means or how it might work. Time to read up.
Bonus: the ebook of The End of Policing is available for free right now, along with several other books on police violence.
Source : A Powerful Spoken Word Poem on White Privilege: Critical Linking, June 11, 2020
