Black Lives Matter Word List

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Movement confronting systemic racism

WATCH

1. 13th — Ava DuVernay, 2016 · Documentary · The systemic racism BLM confronts traced from the 13th Amendment forward.

2. Strong Island — Yance Ford, 2017 · Documentary · A Black family’s reckoning with an unjust verdict; the grief that fuels BLM.

3. Do the Right Thing — Spike Lee, 1989 · Film · Police violence and racial tension; a film that predicted BLM by 25 years.

4. Fruitvale Station — Ryan Coogler, 2013 · Film · Oscar Grant’s last day; the human life behind the hashtag.

5. What Happened, Miss Simone? — Liz Garbus, 2015 · Documentary · Nina Simone’s rage and grief; the emotional ancestor of BLM.

6. Time — Garrett Bradley, 2020 · Documentary · A Black family fighting the prison system; intimate and devastating.

7. When They See Us — Ava DuVernay, 2019 · Series · The Central Park Five; systemic racism in action.

8. Whose Streets? — Sabaah Folayan, 2017 · Documentary · Ferguson from the inside; BLM’s origin story told by its participants.

9. John Lewis: Good Trouble — Dawn Porter, 2020 · Documentary · A lifetime of civil rights work that gave BLM its foundation.

10. I Am Not Your Negro — Raoul Peck, 2016 · Documentary · James Baldwin’s analysis of race in America; prophetic and present.

LISTEN

1. Pod Save the People — DeRay Mckesson · BLM co-organizer in conversation on race, justice, and policy.

2. 1619 Project — NYT · The historical foundation of everything BLM is addressing.

3. Justice in America — Josie Duffy Rice & Clint Smith · Criminal justice reform as the policy arm of BLM’s demands.

4. Scene on Radio: Seeing White — CDS · The structural racism BLM is dismantling; essential background.

5. Ear Hustle — Earlonne Woods & Nigel Poor · Black lives inside prison; the system BLM demands be reformed.

6. About Race — Reni Eddo-Lodge · UK-based but universal; the racism BLM confronts explained accessibly.

7. To Be Magdalene — Rhiannon Giddens · Black American musical heritage as cultural foundation of resistance.

8. Formation — Beyoncé, 2016 · Song · Black pride and police violence confronted in three minutes and thirty seconds.

9. Alright — Kendrick Lamar, 2015 · Song · The anthem of BLM; survival and defiance set to jazz-inflected hip-hop.

10. This American Life: Ferguson — Various · On-the-ground journalism from the moment BLM emerged as a national movement.

READ

1. The Purpose of Power — Alicia Garza · From one of BLM’s co-founders; how movements are built and sustained.

2. When They Call You a Terrorist — Patrisse Khan-Cullors · A BLM co-founder’s memoir; love, Blackness, and resistance.

3. Between the World and Me — Ta-Nehisi Coates · The letter that became BLM’s literary companion.

4. The New Jim Crow — Michelle Alexander · The systemic racism BLM demands be dismantled.

5. How We Fight for Our Lives — Saeed Jones · Black gay identity and the stakes of BLM’s work.

6. We Gon’ Be Alright — Jeff Chang · Race, culture, and the movement for Black lives examined with clarity.

7. Their Blood Cries Out — Various · Testimonies from families of police violence victims.

8. Losing the Race — John McWhorter · A counterpoint worth reading; understanding all positions in the BLM debate.

9. The Cooking Gene — Michael Twitty · Black identity, food, and ancestry; the cultural depth BLM is defending.

10. Stamped from the Beginning — Ibram X. Kendi · The history of racist ideas that BLM is working to uproot.