Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1259894
A Summer Reading List Black Lives Matter R E C E N T E V E N T S in the United States have spurred protests and calls for change around the world. Many of us are conscious of the absolute and urgent need, individually and collectively, to work toward anti-racism. But what does that mean, exactly? According to the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre, anti-racism is the active process of identifying and working toward racial justice by changing systems, organizational structures, policies, practices, norms and attitudes. at suggests that being anti-racist is not just purging our own racist attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. It also means that we challenge and fight racism in all spheres of our lives. To be better allies in the movement, it's helpful to be informed, to study cogent perspectives, histories, discussions and debates, and to challenge our own positionality. To that end, CTA recommends several insightful books for your summer reading. You can find a more complete — and growing — list of reading, watching and listening resources at cta.org/blacklivesmatter. We welcome your comments and suggestions on works that add to our knowledge base and public conversation. Let us know at wearecta@cta.org. Teaching for Black Lives (Edited by Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, Wayne Au; Rethinking Schools, 2018) This teaching guide is a compilation of essays, teaching activities, role-playing, poems and artwork designed to illu- minate the movement for black student lives, the school-to-prison pipeline, black history, gentrification, intersec- tional black identities, and more. How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi, One World, 2019) Kendi takes readers through a widening cir- cle of anti-racist ideas, from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities, that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poi- sonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (bell hooks, Routledge, 1994) Teaching students to "transgress" against racial, sexual and class boundaries to achieve the gift of freedom is, for hooks, a teacher's most important goal. She explores how to rethink teaching practices in our multi- cultural age, and how to deal with racism and sexism in the classroom. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Michelle Alexander, The New Press, anniver- sary edition 2020) Since first published in 2010, the book has spawned a generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations moti- vated by Alexander's argument that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." 48 cta.org Teaching & Learning