February 2021

The last thing people may think to do as others march down streets and burn down buildings is to sit down and… read a book. In the year of 2020 when the opaque screen that racial injustice and police violence against Black people seemed to be hiding behind started to become transparent, folks took to Twitter offering to share their reading suggestions on how everyone can take part in what seemed to be the start of a revolution. Not only that, but there was growing encouragement to buy books from local bookstores and to ditch giving money to major money-making corporations such as Amazon, even if online shopping is quicker than shopping in person. How can reading books help with fighting present-day oppressive systems?