BLACK LIVES MATTER.

This week I’m not releasing a podcast episode. Instead, in the 40 minutes you would have spent listening to this podcast, I urge you to read, listen, donate, sign, email, call, petition, protest.

As a white person, I have benefitted from and upheld a system that is built on racial exploitation and inequality. This is a situation that white people have created, and we must put in the work to change the system.

To my Australian listeners: This is not just an American issue. Australia has its own terrible history of systemic oppression and violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. I urge you to take this opportunity to reflect on the systemic racism in our own culture and history. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal Land.

To my white listeners: this is an opportunity to step up and take action. White silence is white violence: talk to your white friends, family and peers about these issues. These conversations will be uncomfortable, but they’re supposed to be. WE must do the work – people of colour should not have to spend their time and energy and emotional labour teaching us about racism and how to be a better ally. The resources are out there. You can self-educate.

Down below is a suggested lists of resources, organised by action. This is not a comprehensive list, and I encourage you to seek out more resources local to your area.

JUSTICE FOR GEORGE FLOYD

JUSTICE FOR BREONNA TAYLOR

JUSTICE FOR DAVID DUNGAY JUNIOR

JUSTICE FOR YUENDUMU WALKER

JUSTICE FOR TANYA DAY

JUSTICE FOR TONY MCDADE

Donate

Australia

  • Aboriginal Legal Service – provides legal service to Indigenous Australians

  • Sisters Inside – advocates for the rights of First Nations women and girls in prison

  • Seed Mob – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people for Climate Justice

  • Healing Foundation – works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to help heal the trauma caused by the forced removal of children from their families

  • Grandmothers Against Removals – grassroots organisation led by Aboriginal grandmothers

  • NATSIWA – National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance

  • Bridging the Gap – Foundation for Indigenous health and education

International

Sign

Watch

Read

(note: in this list, I have only included works that I have read myself)

Fiction

Non-fiction

More anti-racist reading lists

Something important to remember

“Don’t just read Black literature in this moment. Read Black lit for the rest of your life. Read and support the work of Black essayists, novelists, poets, today and forever and always. Do NOT make your support conditional on whether or not racism is in the headlines.” – by Ashia Monet – @ashiamonet on Twitter, 2nd June 2020

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3.1 Choosing Between What is Right and What is Easy: Discussing J. K. Rowling

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2.19 All That Glitters is Probably a Vampire with Kali and Maija