Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.
So you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
No House To Call My Home: Love, Family & Other Transgressions
by Ryan Berg
Family Support Center Stands in Solidarity With Anti-Racist Movements
Family Support Center grieves the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAttee and Jacob Blake. Their killings represent a small, publicly visible segment of the long legacy of violence caused by police officers and other individuals and systems fueled by racism and white supremacy. The ramifications of this legacy include the deaths of those whose names are familiar -- Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Emmett Till, Martin Luther King, Jr. – and countless others who have suffered and died over the past 400 years, since this country’s colonialist foundation was seeded with the violence perpetrated against enslaved African people.
As an anti-violence organization, we understand that interpersonal violence and institutional violence are interconnected. We cannot respond only to people’s experiences of interpersonal violence without responding to broader systems of oppression. Both interpersonal and institutional forms of violence are rooted in intersectional and systemic structures of power and control.
We are also aware that our own movement is not immune to enabling oppressive systems. Historically and currently, the voices of Black women, Indigenous women, other women of color, and those with multiple marginalized identities, which shaped the very beliefs that drive our work today, have been co-opted and silenced.
All systems – judicial, educational, health care, social services -- must take action: not only to eliminate racist practices, but to explicitly commit to anti-racism. We cannot rely only on the continuation of past and present efforts to achieve these goals. Well intentioned or not, these efforts have not worked, and the killing and abuse of people of color by systems of power, especially those operating under the guise of “protecting” communities from harm, has continued for far too long. We will not look away from this moment in our history, where the safety and worth of Black and Brown individuals, families, and communities continues to be undermined: especially in light of the COVID-19 crisis’ disproportionate effects. We must decolonize our minds and start anew.
Family Support Center, with deference to BIPOC and others most impacted by all forms of violence, is committed to evaluating our internal policies and practices, our external partnerships, and our guiding principles. We hope you will join us in the difficult but vital work to break the cycle of trauma inflicted by racism and violence.