No Stardew this week, just some nice warm anti-racism link soup:
What it means to be an anti-racist. This is a helpful starter if your jumping off point is "But I'm not racist, I don't care if your skin is purple etc."
An interesting conversation about racism as a public health crisis. There are many facets of racist systems beyond over-policing that kill black Americans, and this discussion touches on one known as "John Henryism."
A list of children's books to support discussion of race, racism, and resistance. White parents! This is super important! And anecdotally, as a somewhat lackadaisical distance teacher myself, it made it much easier on my end to talk about what happened to George Floyd with my 10-year-old when her immediate response was "Oh, like Ghost Boys." Tough subject matter is less intimidating when you let authors who know what they're doing provide context.
(In terms of parental laziness, I have also been thinking a lot about how much I have depended on my children attending a diverse elementary school to do the work for me--if the majority of their classmates are not white, surely they will have a natural understanding that people are just people etc. But that only addresses half the issue--they also need to know about the reality of racial disparity in our institutions and the often-invisible-to-white-people obstacles that POC face in this country. "I don't see color" elides responsibility and allows the racist status quo to continue.)
Some black-owned independent bookstores to provide you with said context-helpers.
For my fellow Austinites who also view all of life through the lens of food, here's a list of black-owned restaurants in Austin to support. Can personally vouch for: The Rolling Rooster. There's a location right by our house and the seasoning on the chicken is incredible. It's slightly sweet, slightly spicy. Impossible to stop eating.
Plus a list of Austin restaurants donating to organizations that help support black communities and protesters. Can personally vouch for: Rosen's Bagels. Holy cow these are good bagels. Get some frozen rosemary bagels, support the Austin Justice Coalition, and then come back here and thank me for this extremely valuable food tip.
(I am also donating $5 to the Austin Justice Coalition for every candle sold in June, but if you have to pick one I frankly would go with the bagels.)
