Sable Elyse Smith
Father by Tschabalala Self
How to listen. How to dismantle systemic racism. How to remember the dead. How to have difficult conversations. How to act. How to learn from Bell Hooks, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, Ntozake Shange, Pauli Murray, Phillis Wheatley, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, James Baldwin (below), Toni Morrison, Frantz Fanon, Terrance Hayes, Roxane Gay, Boots Riley, Yaa Gyasi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Gil Scott-Heron, Teju Cole, Michelle Alexander, Maya Angelou, Aja Monet, Jericho Brown, Claudia Rankine, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Chinua Achebe, Shayla Lawson, Marcus Wicker, Marc Lamont Hill, Katherine D. Morgan, Camonghne Felix, Danez Smith, Octavia Butler, Lucille Clifton, Assata Shakur, Hanif Abdurraqib, Ross Gay, Angela Davis, Buchi Emecheta, Kimberly Jones (below), Dr. Martin Luther King, Porsha O., Alice Walker, Morgan Parker, Coretta Scott King, Amiri Baraka, James Brown, Roy Ayers, Erykah Badu, Betty Davis, Prince, Nina Simone (below), Peter Tosh, Syd, Grace Jones, Michael Fountaine, Jackie Shane, Aretha Frankin, Janelle Monáe, Sylvester, Taj Mahal, Tyler, Izora Armstead, Mahalia Jackson, Shamir, Little Richard, Miriam Makeba, Beyoncé, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Diana Ross, The Creator, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Fela Kuti, Odetta, Doug Hream Blunt, Earlene Bentley, Edwin Birdsong, John Coltrane, Keith Jarrett, Frank Ocean, Nick Cave, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, LaToya Ruby Frazier, William Pope.L, Sharyll Burroughs, Dawoud Bey, Dread Scott, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Nat Turner Project, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Julie Mehretu, Isaka Shamsud-Din, Edmonia Lewis, Arnold Kemp, Jaleesa Johnston, Wangechi Mutu, Cauleen Smith, Paa Joe, Amy Sherald, Intisar Abioto, Alma Thomas, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Faith Ringgold, Tschabalala Self (above), Bill Traylor, Deana Lawson, Betye Saar, Kehinde Wiley, Mickalene Thomas, Valerie Maynard, SHAN Wallace, Clementine Hunter, Xaviera Simmons, Hank Willis Thomas, Titus Kaphar, and many others I don’t know and could get to know.
“If a society permits one portion of its citizenry to be menaced or destroyed, then, very soon, no one in that society is safe. The forces thus released in the people can never be held in check, but run their devouring course, destroying the very foundations which it was imagined they would save.”
Over the last four months Beckett has had an aversion to police. Every time she hears a siren, she clings onto my leg. Every time she sees a police officer, she asks whether or not they might hurt someone. I haven't ever gone into the gory details of police brutality with her (she's 4), but it's clear this shit is in the ether, she already knows.
Dread Scott
