Book Club

Book clubs have been a wonderful way for our group to explore many different ideas. The book club began in 2019 and as we have learned and grown together, we have generated a lot of material and collated many resources. If you'd like to lead or facilitate your own book club, we've put together a guide that has helped us navigate these discussions .

Books

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

p. 3-21: Intro, Preface, Planting sweetgrass: Skywoman Falling, The Council of Pecans
p. 22-47: The Gift of Strawberries, An Offering, Asters and Goldenrod
p. 48-81: Learning the Grammar of Animacy, Tending Sweetgrass: Maple Sugar Moon, Witch Hazel
p. 82-117: A Mother’s Work, The Consolation of Water Lilies, Allegiance to Gratitude
p. 118-155: Picking Sweetgrass: Epiphany in the Beans, The Three Sisters, Wisgaak Gokpenagen: A Black Ash Basket
p. 156-201: Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass, Maple Nation: A Citizenship Guide, The Honorable Harvest
p. 202-240: Braiding Sweetgrass: In the Footsteps of Nanabozho: Becoming Indigenous to Place, The Sound of Silverbells, Sitting in a Circle
p. 241-276: Burning Cascade Head, Putting Down Roots, Umbilicaria: The Belly Button of the World

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Intro and Chapter 1
Chapters 2-4
Chapters 5-6
Chapters 7-8
Chapters 9-11

White Fragility by Robin Diangelo

Intro & Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3-4
Chapter 5-6
Chapters 7-10
Chapters 11-12
Recap

Articles, Podcasts, Videos and Essays

In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month

The Making of Race in America

Reparations

The Case for Reparations

Solidarity and Civil Rights

Throughline - Our Own People

Working in Multi-Racial Groups

Keep Your Friends Closer
Robin DiAngelo. "Nothing to Add: A Challenge to White Silence in Racial Discussions"

Indigenous Land Stewardship

How to Save a Planet - The Tribe that's Moving Earth (and Water) to Solve the Climate Crisis

Segregation and Red-Lining

Nice White Parents
Why are Black & White Funeral Homes STILL Separate? (video)
Planet Money - Rethinking Black Wealth
Andre M. Perry, Jonathan Rothwell, and David Harshbarger. "The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods: The case of residential property." Brookings.

Medical Racism

Jonathan M. Metzl, MD, PhD and Dorothey E. Roberts, JD. "Structural Competency Meets Structural Racism: Race, Politics, and the Structure of Medical Knowledge." AMA Journal of Ethics.
'Henrietta Lacks': A Donor's Immortal Legacy
Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper - Chapter 5
Lisa Ko. "Unwanted Sterilization and Eugenics Programs in the United States." PBS Independent Lens.
Margalit Fox. "Lia Lee Dies; Life Went On Around Her, Redefining Care." The New York Times.

Police Reform and Abolition

Maya Dukmasova. "Abolish the police? Organizers say it's less crazy than it sounds." Chicago Reader.
Sarah Holder. "What Happened to Crime in Camden?" Bloomberg CityLab.
Throughline Podcast: American Police

The Prison Industrial Complex

Ava DuVernay's documentary "13th". If you didn't yet have a chance to watch it, you can do so here. And here's the guide we used at the post-viewing discussion.

Indigenous Schools

Maggie Severns. "How Washington created some of the worst schools in America." Politico.
Carlisle Indian School Project
Rob Manning and Tony Schick. "Life And Death At Chemawa Indian School." OPB.

Xenophobia and Immigration

Natasha Hussain. "I'm Muslim and Live in Baltimore. Fear Made Me Become a U.S. Citizen." The New York Times.
Laura Smith. "Trump's immigration ban is another page in the long story of xenophobia in America." LSE United States Centre.

Racism and White Supremacy in Academia

Is 'Race Science' Making A Comeback?
Morgan, Allison, Aaron Clauset, Daniel Larremore, Nicholas LaBerge, and Mirta Galesic. 2021. “Socioeconomic Roots of Academic Faculty.” SocArXiv. doi:10.31235/osf.io/6wjxc.
#BlackInTheIvory

Celebrating People

Guion Bluford, the first African American man in space!
Dr. Patricia Bath: Creator of the Laserphaco Probe, a device that provides a non-invasive, almost-permanent, solution to cataracts.
John Henry Thompson: Creator of LINGO, a scripting language that renders visuals and animations within computer programs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqISbaJ7qug (speaking on race @ ~22 min)
Jessica O. Matthews: CEO of Uncharted Power, a renewable power company that specializes in harnessing kinetic energy, energy of motion, to create ecosystems of power for communities around the world.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaT5JHBPHPg
- https://ghc.anitab.org/speaker/jessica-o-matthews/
Octavia E. Butler. She was the first Science Fiction writer to win the McArthur Genius Award, and the first Black author to win the Hugo award in science fiction. She is credited with shaping Afro-futurism to neo-slave genres, and she defines her protagonists as “Black and female, behave as though they have no limitations.”
- NPR Throughline episode that analyzes her work
- read or listen to one of her short stories.

Oct 12, 2020

Black History Year - Is there Black Power in a Loaded Gun?

AVDS Book Club Resources