- Sharon's Anti-Racism Newsletter
- Posts
- Anti-Racism Reading List July 2025
Anti-Racism Reading List July 2025
10+ informative articles to foster anti-racism learning and action
Sharon Hurley Hall
July 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes
In partnership with
Hello friends,
For many of us, July has felt heavy. The whole year has, but there's something about seeing the powers that be enshrine their callousness in law in the US that sticks in many of our throats. This month's curation shares a modern example of literal extraction from Black people, explorations of how we got here and what's next, how to approach disrupting the status quo, and much more. Are you ready?
1. We Were Promised Change. We Got a Constitutional Crisis. by Georgia Fort
This "how we got here" piece, published on the anniversary of George Floyd's murder, makes sobering reading, and urges us to keep truth-telling if we want to see real and lasting change:
“In many ways, the reckoning failed—not for lack of effort, but because there was never full buy-in. While some of us worked tirelessly to build equity, others were busy dismantling democratic norms. They attacked voting rights, rolled back civil protections, ignored court rulings, and tested the limits of authoritarian power. And no one stopped them.
The warnings were clear—but the people with power chose to protect white supremacy instead of dismantling it.”
2. Black men in Kenya are being harvested for their kidneys. by Korinne Sky
If you're anything like me, that title stopped you in your tracks, then you probably thought "of COURSE this is happening". Because our ancestors were always disposable - and for some, that hasn't changed. The link is to the author's post, but check the comments to see a link to the full investigation published in English in Der Spiegel:
"In Eldoret, Kenya, a young man was promised $2,000 and a motorbike.
He signed papers he didn’t understand.
They took his kidney.
A woman in Germany paid €200,000 for it.
She flew home.
He went back — broke, bleeding, and silent.
This is NOT a “deal.”
It’s a transnational crime."
3. Primary Sources: Black People Built America. The Nottaway Plantation Is Proof by Michael Harriott
Yeah, I couldn't be upset about the end of this plantation. Those places carry the energy of the people brutalised and traumatised there. This article delves into the enslavement financial complex, so to speak, and it's pretty instructive:
"Using enslaved people as collateral was not unusual. It’s how Jefferson borrowed money. Edmund Randolph did it. All the Randolphs did. And it’s how John Hampden Randolph got the lump sum to expand the slave camp that would become Nottaway"
4. When DEI Progress Stalls: A Systems Approach to Disrupting Resistance by Mareisha N. Winters Reese
I thought this was interesting as an approach to resistance over the long term - what do you think?
"If resistance is systemic, then change must be, too. That means moving beyond one-off initiatives or performative gestures and focusing instead on the deeper patterns, structures, and mental models that sustain inequity. In systems thinking, these are called leverage points—places where a small but strategic shift can create ripple effects throughout the whole system."
5. Let It Rot: by Causha A Spellman-Timmons
This is an article that says of Black people "we're out and here's why". Makes sense to me.
"we’re expected to care. To watch. To comment. To be engaged.
But we’re doing something far more subversive. We’re redirecting our energy.
Instead of doom-scrolling, we’re co-creating joy. Organizing mutual aid. Holding healing circles. Taking naps that our ancestors didn’t get to take.
Our refusal to participate in the spectacle is not ignorance, it’s strategy. It’s spiritual hygiene. It’s knowing the difference between what's urgent and what's bait"
Reply