Thread by @sarahsoonling

There’s a difference between being free and being never caught. #AntiracistBookfest

Dunbar: Networking among black women was a critical part of the abolition of slavery. Black women have always been at the center, even if it’s not part of how the narratives have been shaped. This continues through the Civil Rights Movement through today. #AntiracistBookfest

Writing history can be a project of justice when we tell stories from the viewpoint of those whose stories are less told. We have to also acknowledge how there are voices we no longer have access to in written words. #AntiracistBookfest

All US children learn about George Washington. They don’t learn about his enslavement of Black people. Adapting these texts for school age children is a critical next step. We need to disrupt cherry trees. It’s got to happen early. - Dunbar #AntiracistBookFest

“My life as a Black woman as a series of interruptions as I’m trying to just be, trying to get from A to B and B to C... I’m trying to put my life in the written word so other people won’t have to feel life that way” - Jerkins #AntiracistBookFest

On the extra work of needing to mitigate criticism ahead of time “If I do the mundane observations of life or Seinfeld-esque meandering, I’m going to get criticism that other people don’t get.” - Cottom #AntiracistBookFest

🔥🔥🔥 On code switching: “We’ve elevated a maladaptation into an art form... I want to make white audiences feel uncomfortable having to keep up with us in a narrative that isn’t their own” - Cottom #AntiracistBookFest

Reading texts by Black authors, audiences wait for the trauma or the bad stuff to happen. Jerkins, “What if there is no bad part in a story?” #AntiracistBookFest

For those who publish Black narrative there’s often a preference by of trauma over joy and dead over alive and history over presence. It becomes a sort of tragedy voyeurism. #AntiracistBookFest

“Yes we are magic, but we break. Yes we make miracles happen, but we’re tired. We have to navigate multiple intersections of ideas at the same time.” - Cottom #AntiracistBookFest

“Networks by another name are a called a gang. It’s whatever side of the criminal justice system you’re on.” @tressiemcphd #AntiracistBookFest

“On White Supremacy” with DeRay McKesson @deray and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton @MWilkers13 moderated by Wesley Lowery @WesleyLowery #AntiracistBookFest

First mention today of other racial groups. On my mind: I’ve heard a lot of language seeking to be inclusive by saying “both Black & white”... at the exclusion of other racial identities. White supremacy also hurts the formation of solidarity among IPOCs. #AntiracistBookFest

“Empathy only works when the power dynamic is shared. White people watching police violence on tv know that’ll never be them. That’s not empathy.” - @deray #AntiracistBookFest

‼️‼️‼️“I do preach to the choir. Being in the choir is hard work. Choir directors help you use your voice in ways you didn’t know you could use before and in ways you can use long after the choir is over.” @deray #AntiracistBookFest

“On Democracy” with Carol Anderson @ProfCAnderson and Ibram X. Kendi @DrIbram moderated by Alicia Garza @aliciagarza

Is democracy tinker-able to make it less racist? “We should be aspiring for democracy. This nation has never really had a democracy. We used to think freedom came first then power, but in order to have freedom you have to have power.” @DrIbram #AntiracistBookFest

We don’t want to talk about anger around systemic problems. We want to talk about individuals who are crazy or different from the rest. But white rage still shapes democracy - @aliciagarza #AntiracistBookFest

The narrative of Black pathology is central to many policies. The narrative of Black rage is used when what’s happening is really white rage. The white rage is the kindling of so many problems where we only pay attention to the flames. - @ProfCAnderson #AntiracistBookFest

“White rage is quiet. White rage moves through bureaucracies. White rage: you don’t see the bullets. But the bodies are everywhere.” - @ProfCAnderson #AntiracistBookFest

On disenfranchisement: “Well you’re electorally dead because you’re fraudulent” = “that unarmed Black man is dead because he was out of the norm” #AntiracistBookFest

“We have to simplify our conception of a racist policy and an anti-racist policy and recognize that there’s no such thing as a race-neutral policy. People believe the lie that we should judge a policy by intent.” - @DrIbram #AntiracistBookFest

We cut voting hours and sites in Black communities, claim this is fiscally responsible and equitable between very different precincts, and then blamed the voters and candidates for the outcome of the 2016 election. @ProfCAnderson #AntiracistBookFest

“When well-meaning people say “I don’t like politics” I hear “I don’t like power” and then I hear “I want to be a slave”. We have to think of being involved in politics as being involved in a struggle for power.” Otherwise systems of oppression deepen @DrIbram #antiracistbookfest

“No one becomes an anti-racist. We can only strive to be.” - @DrIbram #AntiracistBookFest

On identifying success as wealth: “That is some Reagan-era mess. That’s the scholarly term for it.” - @ProfCAnderson #AntiracistBookFest

Politics of the past 50-60 years focus on fear of the evil other and a promise that “I will save you.” And when it doesn’t happen, you’ve been systematically taught to blame the other. So many intersections of whiteness, paternalism, and Christianity here... #AntiracismBookfest

“Internalized racism is the real Black on Black crime.” - @DrIbram #AntiracistBookFest

Whites need to be talking to whites, because these policies are based on myth history, not real history. Crazy Uncle Charlie isn’t really crazy he’s just been steeped in America. You’ve got to un-steep him. - @ProfCAnderson #AntiracistBookFest

The original idea of the penitentiary was reform. The idea was that crime happened because of a lack of a work ethic, so the penitentiary was meant to force people to gain that. The original system was set up with profit motives. - @shane_bauer #AntiracistBookFest

The original narrative was that mass incarceration was an evil GOP brainchild related to gaining votes. The punitive turn in domestic policy really happened with Lyndon Johnson. We need to see the limitations of liberal social programs. - Hinton #AntiracistBookFest

With fear of gang violence came a decision to fight future crime in a way that completely failed and has not decreased violence while it has successfully criminalized generations of Black families @elizabhinton #AntiracistBookFest

“Whether you are a prisoner or a guard, prisons are not good places.” - @shane_bauer #AntiracistBookFest

Some prisons are shutting down book programs with the excuse that drugs are getting smuggled in books. Those switching to e-readers are adding in another cost for prisoners and a money making system for others into prison. - @shane_bauer #AntiracistBookFest

If you’re a Black kid skipping school in Chicago you get arrested and labeled a juvenile delinquent. A white kid in Evanston gets a call home. Middle class and white youth get called “children in trouble” and handled in the private sector. @elizabhinton #AntiracistBookFest

Prisons as a solution for rural communities dealing with deindustrialization: I think of Tallahatchie County and kids growing up between Parchman and the private prison. This landscape sends a message that your future is in a prison, either guard or locked up. #antiracistbookfest

We need to ask “What is the purpose of prison?” “Why do we have all these elderly people in prison?” - @angelajdavis

So relevant for MS: In rural communities, mass incarceration has also completely changed the electoral map. The rural counties where most incarcerated people live get counted for their incarcerated populations, who don’t get to vote. - @elizabhinton #antiracistbookfest