What happens when blocking the reading haters distracts us from our other political goals? What happens when we let people who don’t have our interests in mind dictate our reading? What is “Black” about an author’s writing? All these questions and so much more
Liberated Language Arts is our series for readers of all ages trying to foster our love for Black writing, critical reading, and asking ourselves what happens when we have to read under racial capitalism and colonialism.
0:00 – Intro
1:30 -The unseriousness of Book Bans
5:18 – Explaining purpose of video
7:00 – Racial Surveillance, Souveillance and Black Book Bans
11:50 – Books as Media and Reading critically
17:58 – Cold War Parallels letting enemies define resistance
21:13 – Profiting and Consumerism as resistance
23:49 – Political Goals of 1619 Project and Black Patriotic Literature
30:00 – Black authors show their politics in their solutions
35:40 – Children’s Literature and Bus Boycotts
40:50 – Conclusion
links:
Simone Browne giving a talk on racial surveillance and Dark souveillance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsMFdiLsqbg
Lauren Michele Jackson 1619 Project Review: https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-1619-project-and-the-demands-of-public-history
“What is an Anti- Racist Reading List For?”: https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/anti-racist-reading-lists-what-are-they-for.html
“Pies from Nowhere” Social Justice Books Article: https://socialjusticebooks.org/pies-revised/
More about Social Justice Books: https://socialjusticebooks.org/about/
Full Transcript of Criteria of Negro Art by W.E.B. Du Bois: http://www.webdubois.org/dbCriteriaNArt.html
Year of the Black Memoir by Imani Perry: https://www.publicbooks.org/the-year-of-black-memoir/
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