Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #tonimorrison
Most recents (9)
Am I about to shout out every book, author, and illustrator on the Central York school district banned book list?
You bet your reading glasses I am!
Because banning books stifles children's growth and this *pediatrician who loves to read* will not go down without a fight. 1/
You bet your reading glasses I am!
Because banning books stifles children's growth and this *pediatrician who loves to read* will not go down without a fight. 1/
We need mirrors and windows in what we read (esp kids). Mirrors reflect ourselves so we value ourselves. Windows show us other lives and experiences so we value everyone. Banning a (window) book shows exactly who/what one values. Make a banned book list your TBR list 2/
I'm doing the ENTIRE list (abc order). It will take days. It's worth it. If you👍🏼a book/creator, buy it! Go to the library! Rec it to a friend!
Follow @CYBannedBooks for info & to donate the banned books to Little Free Libraries in York, PA, sign a petition, donate $, etc 3/
Follow @CYBannedBooks for info & to donate the banned books to Little Free Libraries in York, PA, sign a petition, donate $, etc 3/
1/n I write this without knowing where to start, but what I know is I have a voice and that voice may reach people where other voices may not, or at least reinforce the voices of others.
After reading, listening, talking with those effected, here is what I know and what I dont
After reading, listening, talking with those effected, here is what I know and what I dont
2/n Staying quiet, respectful, and polite is not enough. I need to actively be anti-racist. I need to actively be willing to relinquish power, and encourage others to as well to accelerate equality in America. Although some of that power was earned, much was also born into
3/n This problem has been here before I was born, and black people have every right to be annoyed that people are now trying to step up when it has been going on for hundreds of years.
When #ToniMorrison said, "...the very serious function of racism is distraction," I believe she wasn't just referring to how white supremacy forces us to constantly prove ourselves, but also how it forces us to defend the world as it is. #COVID19 blockclubchicago.org/2020/05/01/chi…
That nurses are forced to defend the public from white nationalist militias, when they should be not merely saving lives, but demanding safer working conditions, proper funding of their hospitals, universal healthcare, and well beyond, is itself a distraction. #COVID19
To truly combat #COVID19 we need more than just the right to stay at home--though we certainly do need that. We also need a #MassRelaseNow for incarcerated people, we need #Medicare4All, and we need to meet every demand of striking #MayDay workers at #Amazon and beyond.
This thread is for #white #vegans & #animalrights activists who recognize we are often the problem in the way we articulate issues having to do with the other animals. One step is to learn as much as you can about #WhiteSupremacy & #WhitePrivilege. Read! #BlackHistoryMonth2020
Do you know the history of the Civil Rights movement? You could start by reading vol 1 of "America in the King Years," "Parting the Waters" by @taylorbranch. simonandschuster.com/books/Parting-…
@taylorbranch In 1962, the Civil Rights Commission was going to make a very strong statement about racism. Politically, it would be problematic for President Kennedy. JFK was told "It is legal for the police to use dogs." So, turn to "Afro-Dog" next. cup.columbia.edu/book/afro-dog/…
"Fascism only talks ideology but it really is just marketing, marketing for power. It’s recognizable by its need to purge, the strategies it uses to purge and its terror of truly democratic goals. It changes citizens into taxpayers so individuals become rife with anger at.. 
.. the notion of the public good. It changes citizens into consumers so the measure of our value as humans is not our humanity, nor our compassion, nor our generosity, none of the virtues that human beings aspire to claim. None of that but what we own.
And in so doing produces the perfect capitalist. The one who is willing to kill a human being for a product—a sneaker, a jacket, a car, a company. That is the ideal situation for a consumer, lay capitalist society. You don’t have to advertise any more. It changes parenting..
Happy Sunday! I came to do my weekly #SundayReads roundup but truth is, I've obsessively read #ToniMorrison tributes, and since @wellreadblkgirl has already done a beautiful job of collecting them, I'll just share that. (Thanks @EverjoiceWin for flagging)
bit.ly/2GWRjCL
bit.ly/2GWRjCL
All the #ToniMorrison tributes have not just moved me; they've got me wondering why we tend to celebrate our icons only when they're no longer here to feel our love. Looking forward, I'll be celebrating my #Afrifem sheroes on Eyala while they're still alive and well.
But for now, I'm using a much-needed family vacation as a chance to take a break from social media. I hear it's called a #digitaldetox. Or #selfcare 🤷🏾‍♀️
I'm hoping to rest and reflect, but I'll mostly be fuming over the SCAM that is family vacation for mothers...
I'm hoping to rest and reflect, but I'll mostly be fuming over the SCAM that is family vacation for mothers...
To honour #ToniMorrison, several pieces have been published and videos shared to remind us that she insisted on centering Black women and not the white gaze. Those pieces & clips have either not been by Black Women or were about the white haze. So, a few essays by Black women
“It is not hyperbolic to call Toni Morrison the greatest figure in American letters. After all, she made the world pay rapt attention to the interior lives of Black women — ordinary, struggling Black women — to care about our imaginations and hearts.” thecut.com/2019/08/yearni…
“It is too seldom acknowledged that the greatest novelist this country has ever produced was a single black mother. She had two sons...and how many daughters? If...mothering is to broker the link between two generations, then what else can she be?“ newyorker.com/books/page-tur…
White folks. Stop saying #ToniMorrison wrote for everyone. She wrote for us, for black folks & most especially black women. She literally said in an interview “I write for black women.” Period. Full stop. Her work was not *for* you, you just got the privilege to read it.
Quote I reference is cited here: scirp.org/pdf/JSS_201511…
I didn’t read my first Toni Morrison novel until I was in 22. That, in itself, was a failure of my schooling and my imagination. But I finally got into a popular class on her on works my senior year at NU.
The professor asked everyone to say why they took the class.
The professor asked everyone to say why they took the class.
Everyone else had a story about reading her novels changing their lives. I mentioned that I felt guilty that I hadn’t read anything of hers. The entire class laughed at me. The prof then said: “We will relieve you of your guilt!”
I was indeed freed of the guilt, but her work provided another type of freedom. As a black journalist, so much of the discussion of my perceived value is described as being relational: To translate the black experience to the masses in ways that are digestible.
