Books to educate about racism

Does Bernadine Evaristo's novel "Girl, Woman, Other" count as educational in this context?
I think fiction is so important in shedding light on social issues. Think Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Orwell.... as well as more recent books already mentioned.

I love Girl woman Other and think that good fiction can be very effective. How about Zadie Smith "On Beauty"

Heard Paul Mendez - Rainbow Milk - interviewed on Radio 4 yesterday. Race, sexual orientation and religion

Forced Out by Kevin Maxwell is a good book to enlighten you about racism in the UK police

Why do we need books to tell us how not to be racist?

Maybe because sometimes we don't think we're racist when we are...even if unintentionally.

I love Small Island by Andrea Levy.
I'd like a book that would be suitable for an 11 year old. There are very few black people around here & I don't want my GC growing up without knowing that every one is equal.
I grew up in Thornton Heath which was in Surrey then- before they moved the London boundaries so I mixed with a lot of different races & I am so glad I did!
Now we live further south & rarely see anything but very white faces. I think it is a shame.

Kartush Fri 05-Jun-20 10:13:39Marching in the streets, waving banners, And creating a public nuisance will not help.

Just as well Martin Luther King didn't agree with you. The Civil Rights Movement would never have happened and the rights gained would never have been achieved.

My synical self wonders would there have been a public outcry is the man had been white.

This is gas lighting and I'm afraid is a racist response. The point is, it probably WOULDN'T have happened if he'd been white. White people do not suffer systemic and institutionalised police violence based solely on an external factor such as skin colour.

aepgirl
How right you are.
Thirty years ago H and self decided to upsticks and make a move. Same country ?yes but a mere three hundred miles from where we were born and bred.
I still get 'not from these parts are you'

EllieBrum
The book I recommend is the one that tells us to 'Love thy neighbour as thyself.'

Shall I kill myself now for being born white...I'm grotesquely over privilieged and obviously my whole life is at the expense of anyone else...If I virtue signal by going on a BLM demo it wont make the slightest difference because my existence as a white person is an affront .I feel absolutely terrible.And I have read most of the books listed..

Nano you can't feel apologetic for being who you are and where you have come from. Many people have struggles, born with disabilities and are far from successful.

The cold bloody killing of George Floyd was beyond belief and yes black lives matter.

And through the demonstrations although most are peaceful, some are not and the treatment of the police here as been unfair and I can't stop thinking of the policeman who was killed Keith Blakelock years before.

I would stand along side BLM I would kneel on one knee in solidarity because we all need to come together.
However There is a virus out there which has killed and is still killing and I wouldn't want to be part of killing anymore people.

To kill a mockingbird is a good book, classical favourite.

There is a lovely true film called A United Kingdom.

Teaching English as a foreign language I included racism as one of the themes for my sixteen year olds.

We watched Mississippi Burning, Malcom X and a film called Black and White dealing with the treatment of Australian aborigines. I tried including Bloody Sunday as well, but found it hard to watch myself.

I know none of these films are contemporary, but I chose them partly because they weren't. I knew most of my classes had either read Anne Franck's Diary or seen a film version, but it is an option too.

I shirked reading The color purple myself, but it is a possibility too.

There is a fair amount of literature on the treatment of Roma (gypsies) and if you have a strong stomach there is Stefan Zweig's books, or H.H.ben Sasson A History of the Jewish People, or Theodor Herzl The Jewish State.

Can any of you remember the title of the film that deals with the Notting Hill Riots in the late 1950s,

I have been quite unable to find that film, because I can't remember its title. Googling Notting Hill Riots didn't help.

I thought this thread was about understanding racism, not how to avoid being a racist. Which comes later. It's not what we personally say or do which might infringe the law of the land, but what we feel in our hearts, and why.
My daughter bought me Small Island when I was recovering from a hip op. - I still re-read it. It was made into a tv series, but not as good as the book

I recently watched Noughts and Crosses On tv (May still be on iplayer) and this helped me to see racism from a different perspective

Fennel lots of threads go of the main topic than get back on to it. Really don't know how you can say how to avoid being a racist? That's implying some are. Being picked on for the colour of your skin comes in many forms and I for one have been on the recieving end.

I’ve just seen this link for books for children on FB.
www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/childrens-books-about-race-and-racism?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharefacebook

I have just bought a book titled “It’s not about the Burqa” edited by Mariam Khan which is a series of essays by British Muslim women.

Chaitriona - I like that kind of book, learning more about the other ethnic groups.
I've admitted before that I used to be prejudiced about Germans (Dad away fighting them in WW2.) But after persuasion by younger family members started to read more about pre-war Germany. Especially Frauen by Alison Owings. Which broadened my mind.
So I admit I've had racist views from time to time.

If anyone has sky then there has been some documents on there. One reasonly about the segregation at proms in Georgia. The first integrated prom in 2012 which is just wow.

Recently not reasonly.

It does the BAME cause no good to depict white non racists as racists or to stifle debate with emotive sloganising.

Whats done is done and disgusting that the poor man was choked to death on the roadside. One thing I would say when that was being filmed I did not see one onlooker try to come to the aid of that poor man.
I might not be a very big woman but if I had been there without a word of a lie I would have been over there trying to drag that officer off of his neck and stuff the consequences.

Would you really, 3Nanny6? You’d approach four men armed to the teeth? You’d probably end up dead, too, especially if you’re BAME.

You can bet your life I would do it SueDonim. Faced with fear perhaps but still do it would you stand by and watch someone being murdered? They may be armed with guns but I could be armed with my strength and courage and outrage that any one thinks they have the right to kill someone like that. (It was only a petty offence not even worthwhile to do what they done).
I have argued with a police officer in U.K. before when someone was down on the ground and he was still going to be tasered, the officer changed his mind and two officers just cuffed him up instead, it was an incident that did not call for tasering.