For the first time in almost exactly six years and more than 400 issues, I find myself unable to ignore current events (and the politics that are part of it) here. In addition to the demands of my conscience, I realized that of the many newsletters I read, the ones that pretend it’s business as usual right now inspire feelings ranging from frustration to outright repulsion. Silence isn’t an option. I hope you read in solidarity and remain a subscriber, but if the former is impossible, the latter probably should be too.
I’ve read, listened to, watched or engaged with everything I’m sharing. Some a long time ago, many in the past few weeks. I keep coming back to the words of Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech:
I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lies are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men and women are prosecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must–at that moment–become the center of the universe.
Allowables
I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn’t
And she scared me
And I smashed her
I don’t think
I’m allowed
To kill something
Because I am
Frightened
—Nikki Giovanni
—found in Chasing Utopia (2013)
insurrection · /in-sə-REK-shən/ · /ˌɪnsəˈrɛkʃən/. noun. Organized opposition, uprising, rebellion, or revolt against government or civil authority. From Late Latin insurrectiō, from insurgere (to rise up). See also: insurgency, revolution, putsch, coup d’état.
“When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is the most sacred of the rights, and one of the most indispensable duties of the people.” (popularly attributed to Marquis de Lafayette; found unattributed in M. A. Thiers’ History of the French Revolution)
“…insurrection is an art quite as much as war or any another, and subject to certain rules of proceeding, which, when neglected, will produce the ruin of the party neglecting them […] Insurrection is a calculus with very indefinite magnitudes, the value of which may change every day; the forces opposed to you have all the advantage of organization, discipline, and habitual authority; unless you bring strong odds against them you are defeated and ruined.” (Karl Marx)
“The Revolution is aimed at new arrangements; insurrection leads us no longer to let ourselves be arranged, but to arrange ourselves, and sets no glittering hope on ‘institutions’. It is not a fight against the established, since, if it prospers, the established collapses of itself; it is only a working forth of me out of the established. If I leave the established it is dead and passes into decay.” (Max Stirner)
Explainer: what is systemic racism and institutional racism? ※ Racial Injustice has Benefited Me - A Confession
The anger behind the protests, explained in 4 charts ※ Don’t Call It Rioting ※ There isn’t a simple story about looting
Violent protests are not the story. Police violence is. ※ How Western media would cover Minneapolis if it happened in another country ※ Police Erupt in Violence Nationwide
De-escalation Keeps Protesters And Police Safer. Departments Respond With Force Anyway. ※ How Much Do We Need The Police? ※ How to reform American police, according to experts ※ National Police Accountability Project ※ 8CantWait
Brené Brown with Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist ※ Kendi on The American Nightmare ※ Q&A with Ibram X. Kendi on the Current Protests, Joining BU, and Anti-racist Research
What it means to be anti-racist ※ First, Listen. Then, Learn: Anti-Racism Resources For White People ※ Anti-Racist Resource Guide ※ You can order today from these black-owned independent bookstores
Seeing White ※ 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge ※ Anti-Racism Daily Newsletter ※ Guide to Allyship ※ Ally Resource List
Photos and Voices of the George Floyd Protests: ‘We Deserve to Be Heard’ ※ From Minneapolis to Syria, Artists Are Honoring George Floyd Through Murals and Public Artworks ※ Meet the Artists Behind Some of the Most Widespread Images Amid George Floyd Protests
There are many excellent places to donate in the links above. The five I chose: Justice for George Floyd ※ Black Visions Collective ※ We The Protesters ※ Campaign Zero ※ National Bail Fund Network
Today in 1943, poet, teacher and activist Nikki Giovanni is born in Knoxville, Tennessee. Once dubbed “the poet of the Black Revolution,” gained fame as one of the foremost authors of the Black Arts Movement and has continued to be one of America’s most important writers ever since. Giovanni has taught at Virginia Tech (where she is a University Distinguished Professor) since 1987, where she delivered an acclaimed commencement address/chant poem after the 2007 mass shooting there. Giovanni has won seven NAACP Image awards, the Langston Hughes Award, the Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, the Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award and a Presidential Medal of Honor, among scores of others. ※ Poet Nikki Giovanni On The Darker Side Of Her Life ※ ► James Baldwin & Nikki Giovanni, a conversation (1971) ※ ► Nikki Giovanni Reads her own Poems ※ ► Explorations in Black Leadership: Nikki Giovanni ※ The best place to start reading Giovanni’s work: The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998.
► The danger of silence | Clint Smith
“Foster, 80, carrying a ‘black lives matter’ sign, said she came out because it was important to show people that she had no hatred in her heart. […] ‘I’m 80 years old. If I die too bad,’ she said about the risks of someone her age marching.” → Woman, 80, is sole protester at event in Town of Palm Beach.
Reader B.: “Maybe a little hope when we need it. It doesn’t take as many people to win as you might think. Check out The ‘3.5% rule’: How a small minority can change the world”
Reader D.: “The good folks of the Katexic Clamor should get their free copy of Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States while they can.”
Reader S.: “I’m an Indian, and this is about the indigenous experience, but it’s never been more relevant: How to Survive an Apocalypse and Keep Dreaming.”
Reader T.: “Do you know about The Highlighter? It’s been an essential newsletter on race, education, and culture for a long time.”
A different Reader B.: "So much this:
ESQ: How can we get the black people to cool it?
JAMES BALDWIN: It is not for us to cool it.
ESQ: But aren’t you the ones who are getting hurt the most?
JAMES BALDWIN: No, we are only the ones who are dying fastest.
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