As the United States grapples with waves of protests after the killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, at the hands of a police officer, many are reflecting on our collective history of racism, civil unrest, police violence, and civic action.  It can be hard to understand how we got here and where we go from here.

To help us, great writers, thinkers, and educators have given us books, videos, and resources that are available right now at your library.  If you are struggling right now to make sense of it all, here are some recommendations that might provide you with some perspective, some understanding, and some healing.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Winner of the National Book Award and hailed by Toni Morrison as “essential reading”, this letter from a father to his son describes his revelations growing up and moving through U.S. history as a black man.  He takes readers along on his journey through America’s history of race and his series of personal awakenings — moments when he discovered some new truth about our long, tangled history of race, whether through his myth-busting professors at Howard University, a trip to a Civil War battlefield with a rogue historian, a journey to Chicago’s South Side to visit aging survivors of 20th century America’s ‘long war on black people,’ or a visit with the mother of a beloved friend who was shot down by the police.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. Their first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.  Winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

March by Congressman John Lewis, Nate Powell, Andrew Aydin, and others

Winner of the National Book Award, this graphic novel trilogy depicts the story of the Civil Rights Movement from the perspective of the man who lived it.  In 1965, John Lewis and was savagely beaten by police as he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. across the Selma bridge on what came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.”  The novels not only depict this incident, but they tell the story of other pivotal events in the movement including the Freedom Riders, the Birmingham Church bombing, and the activities of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

This young adult novel, now a film (also available at the library), gives us a first-person account of 16-year old black woman who watches her friend, also black, killed by a police officer right in front of her eyes.  The death becomes national news, and she struggles to find her path through personal and abstract problems like systemic racism.  It won numerous awards for young adult fiction and was long-listed for the National Book Award.

3 ½ Minutes and 10 Bullets

On Black Friday 2012, four African American teenagers stopped at a gas station to buy gum and cigarettes. One of them, Jordan Davis, argued with Michael Dunn, a white man parked beside them, over the volume of music playing in their car. The altercation turned to tragedy when Dunn fired 10 bullets at the unarmed boys, killing Davis almost instantly. This streaming documentary film explores the danger and subjectivity of Florida’s Stand Your Ground self – defense laws by weaving Dunn’s trial with a chorus of citizen and pundit opinions, alongside the wrenching experiences of Jordan Davis’ parents.  It was short-listed for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Do Not Resist

This streaming documentary explores the rapid militarization of the police in the United States. Starting on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, as the community grapples with the death of Michael Brown, this film offers a stunning look at the current state of policing in America and a glimpse into the future. This Tribeca Film Festival winner for Best Documentary puts viewers in the center of the action, from a ride-along with a South Carolina SWAT team to inside a police training seminar that teaches the importance of “righteous violence.”

13^th

This documentary, freely available on Youtube, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and a Primetime Emmy.  Named for the 13^th Amendment that abolished slavery, it features interviews with scholars, activists and politicians analyzing the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom.

Opposing Viewpoints

If you are looking for up-to-date, reputable sources of information, facts, statistics, academic journal articles, video, audio, primary sources, and opinions about current events, this database is your one-stop shop.  It is searchable by keyword, but you can browse all 478+ topic pages on current events like Police Brutality, Black Lives Matter, Hate Groups, Civil Rights, Social Justice, Community Policing, Racial Profiling, Riots in the US, and more.

Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

This government-produced document from 2015 provides the recommendations of a federally appointed task force created to strengthen community policing and trust among law enforcement officers and the communities they serve.  Assembled by then President Barack Obama, its members included law enforcement, community activists, educators, and policy experts.  It includes six pillars of action including building trust with community, protecting the safety of officers, providing effective training, policy and oversight, effectively using technology, and community policing.

Shame: How America’s Past Sins Have Polarized the Country by Shelby Steel

In this conservative take on race-relations, author Shelby Steele asserts that the greatest barrier to racial equality today is not overt racism, but white liberals. Under the guise of benevolence, liberals today maintain their position of power over blacks by continuing to cast them as victims in need of saving. This ideology underlies liberal social policies from affirmative action to welfare, which actually exacerbate racial inequality rather than mitigating it. Drawing on empirical data as well as his own personal experience, Steele argues that these policies have not only failed, but have made it impossible to address the problems that plague the modern black community, and have ensured that black Americans will never be truly equal to their white countrymen, in their own minds or in practice.  Shelby Steele is a Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, and his earlier book, Content of Our Character, won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

If you have found yourself wondering else you can do to help change the world, the library has another option: voter registration.  There are voter registration forms located at the Circulation Desk and at the Reference Desk.  They are free for anyone.  Once you fill out your registration form, you can either turn it in to the County Clerk’s office or mail it in.  To participate in local, state, and federal elections, you must have your voter registration form turned at least 30 days prior to those elections.  For more information about voting in Arkansas, visit the Secretary of State’s website.  You can also sign up for election reminders at Vote.org.

Remember your library is open this summer with social distancing guidelines in place. Stay safe, stay informed, and stay connected to us—virtually—via chat, text, phone, social media (Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter), or email.