My anti-racism list update

  My list of reading & movies to learn and unlearn the history of racism in our country continues to grow.  Not that you can't just watch the daily news to get a dose, but learning some history and hearing the insights of black Americans helps broaden my thinking.

I am listening to Don Lemon's book now, it is called 'This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism'. Don Lemon is a CNN journalist and so far the book is a well-written but emotional roller coaster and a very sad history of racism in America.

One Night in Miami was an entertaining movie about a real life event where Sam Cook, Cassius Clay, Malcolm X & Jim Brown happened to meet up in Miami by chance.  The storyline is fictitious in that there are no historical accounts of the conversations, but the movie takes a an educated guess.  The acting is excellent.

✅ Black Panther, the movie.Starring Chadwick Boseman.  T'Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must step forward to lead his people into a new future and must confront a challenger from his country's past.

✅  Marshall, the movie.  Starring Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice, and focuses on one of the first cases of his career, the State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell.
✅ MSNBC "Hope & Fury: MLK, the Movement"  This documentary includes segments of some of the other programming listed below, but focuses more on Martin Luther King and his story of peaceful resistance.

✅"The Untold Story of Emmett Luis Till".  Another disturbing story of hatred, bigotry and murder in our country's history of racism.  A 14 year old boy, who made the mistake of whistling at a white woman in 1955, was brutally beaten and killed.  His mother was courageous through it all and did not let it go without shining a light on the crime. 

✅Freedom Summer

I'm so impressed with all the young people who went to Mississippi during Freedom Summer. This documentary was full of history that I missed, partly because I was a young teen, but mostly because we didn't study the contemporary history after this happened. Black lives matter.

✅Documentary on Netflix called 13th

✅The movie I Am Not Your Negroe

✅The movie Selma

✅The Central Park Five by Ken Burns

Documentary of the accusation and false imprisonment of 5 boys in New York.

✅When They See Us on Netflix

The story of the Central Park five as a movie.

✅America in Black and Blue: PBS Newshour Weekend Special Report

 A special report hosted by Alison Stewart.  It was a very interesting selection of interviews and worth viewing for sure.  I have also subscribed to Alison Stewart's podcast, "Need to Know".

✅Round table discussion on Zoom with other Barron County Democrats

✅The Uncomfortable Truth

This is a documentary that is revealing and includes history that is new to me.  The systemic racism is all about power and from the very roots of our country, there has been a baked in thought that blacks are inferior and that whites being superior was good for all.  This was designed into our government and the law, and made law enforcement dependent on white supremacy.

✅Juneteenth: A Celebration of Overcoming. 

The day that the slaves in Texas learned of the Emancipation Proclamation that had been signed 2 years before now celebrated across our country.

✅"The I Have A Dream Project" on YouTube

It was amazing, touching, sad, happy, and inspirational.

✅ "One Night in Miami " 

Based on a real event when Sam COOK, Cassius Clay, Malcolm X and Jim Brown meet up in Miami.  

✅ 'This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism'. Don Lemon is a CNN journalist and so far the book is a well-written but emotional roller coaster and a very sad history of racism in America.