Building Block is reading, watching, listening, reflecting, protesting, learning, and taking action toward an anti-racist future.

As a small team of five women of color, we stand against police brutality, against a government that emboldens racism, and stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. As minorities ourselves, we acknowledge the path of success that has been paved for us by black activists who have fought, and continue to fight, for a more just society. We also know that the more we can inform ourselves the better, so we would like to share some resources that we’ve collectively found useful in examining ourselves further. There is an understanding that the education doesn't stop here however, listening is the first step, so we would love to hear your recommendations at info@building--block.com anytime.

In addition, we will be donating 40% of our webshop sales this week towards the ACLU, Know Your Rights Camp, and The Innocence Project.

With love,
The Building Block Team

(*image by Henry Ossawa Turner)

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CALLING & SIGNING:

–LA Budget Reform
–Budget reform for other states within the US
–Justice for George Floyd
–Justice for Breonna Taylor
–Justice for Tony McDade
–Justice for Julius Jones
–Reopen Sandra Bland’s case
–Pass Georgia Hate Crime Bill
–Reject EARN IT

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READING:

–Riot by Gwendolyn Brooks
–Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
–The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
–Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
–The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
–Uses Of Anger by Audre Lorde
–Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis
–The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
–On Intersectionality by Kimberlé Crenshaw
–Whiteness: A Wayward Construction, essays by David R. Roediger, Amelia Jones, and Ken Gonzales-Day
–Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble
–bell hooks
–Cassandra Press

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WATCHING:

–Black Girl, Ousmane Sembène
–Daughters of the Dust, Julie Dash
–Eurydice, Kandis Williams
–13th, Ava DuVernay‎; Spencer Averick
–I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck
–The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975
–If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins

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EXPLORING:
(Black artists and designers)

–Nicole Miller
–Howardena Pindell
–Lorna Simpson
–Carrie Mae Weems
–Chakaia Booker
–Xaviera Simmons
–Hassan Rahim (12:01 Creative Studio)
–Gee’s Bend Quilts

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EATING:
(at Black-owned restaurants)

–Caribbean Gourmet (Los Angeles)
–Bloom & Plume Coffee (Los Angeles)
–VanillaBlack Coffee (Los Angeles)
–Comfort LA (Los Angeles)
–Poppy + Rose (Los Angeles)
–Buna (Los Angeles)
–Alta (Los Angeles)

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LISTENING:

–George Floyd + DJ Screw
–Code Switch Podcast
–1619 Project Podcast
–Brown Up Your Feed with Mandy Harris Williams, NTS Radio
–Also: Thelonious Monk, Frankie Knuckles, Larry Levan, Fela Kuti, Lijadu sisters

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ADDITIONAL DONATING:

–Black Lives Matter local chapters
–Color of Change
–The Okra Project
–Wide Rainbow
–Movement 4 Black Lives
–Moms 4 Housing
–National Bail Out Fund
–Loveland Foundation Therapy Fund for Black Women & Girls