As I’ve been thinking about Black History Month, I’ve been reflecting on an experience I had a few years ago at a Barnes and Noble bookstore with my friend who identifies as a Black woman. We were at a conference and during our lunch break, she wanted to look for a book by a specific black author. I can’t recall who it was at the time but when we asked where to look, we were told it would be in the black history section. The black history section in this large two-level bookstore was literally only one standing aisle with 5 shelves. In my experience, it's pretty much the same in most bookstores unless they are black-owned. One shelf, one month…….
The absence of books on black history probably wouldn’t even have been on my radar several years ago. I can still feel the anger and shame that I experienced after taking my first Undoing Racism and Community Organizing workshop by the People’s Institute of Survival and Beyond. I remember feeling like I had been duped and brainwashed. How come I didn’t learn about any of this history in school? How was I not aware of all of these facts? Why were they whitewashed out of my education? When people say “all lives matter” or “why don’t we have a white history month?”, I think about the one shelf at the Barnes and Noble bookstore and how many other blindspots I still have.
Here are more resources (articles, videos, and training opportunities) to help you keep learning and growing beyond Black History Month.
See you on the journey,
Robin
Unpacking the Embodied Plantation Backpack: The White Body’s Burden
Part I: The Plantation Ethics of the White Body, by Resmaa Menakem:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/somatic-abolitionism/202102/unpacking-the-embodied-plantation-backpack-the-white-bodys-burden?eml
The Weight of White Guilt in the Workplace Is Too Damn Heavy
Video: “Keeping it Black but not brief” https://fb.watch/3xlyahxult/
Racially Responsible Podcast with Rorri Geller- Mohamed: Robin Alpern interview:https://anchor.fm/rorri-geller-mohamed/episodes/006-Learning-about-white-culture-and-anti-racism-work-with-Robin-Mallison-Alpern-eq88nn
Links to trainings:
PISAB (Undoing Racism Community Organizing Workshops) Zoom training: A comprehensive exploration of how racism shapes American institutions. It moves beyond a focus on the symptoms of racism to an understanding of what racism is, where it comes from, how it functions, why it persists and how it can be undone. To register call PISAB (504) 301-9292. Link: Training