7 Things You Should Read On Forming Movements From Moments

This reader draws upon “From Moment to Movement: Conversations on Race in America,” New America’s collaborative partnership with Howard University.

Earlier this year, New America and Howard University launched a collaborative partnership, “From Moment to Movement: Conversations on Race in America.” Created to be an ongoing series that would incorporate public discussions, essays, and other forms of expressive dialogue, the title and intention of this partnership speak to an enduring and dynamic focus across our country in being more open and emphatic in the ways we discuss and engage race and racism.

To keep this conversation going, here are seven articles you should read to learn more about how moments of protest become movements for change.

Why Now Is the Time to Talk About Race in America

By Perry Bacon, Jr., The Weekly Wonk

A number of cultural, political, and social forces are coming together to provide what Bacon calls “a unique opportunity to address both familiar challenges and new concerns” when it comes to race in America. 2015 is the year to keep talking and take action.

White Millennials are products of a failed lesson in colorblindness

By Mychal Denzel Smith, PBS NewsHour

Millennials understand how to speak about diversity but the mantra of “colorblindness” has robbed them of the language of anti-racism.

Shades of Segregated Past in Today’s Campus Troubles

By Leslie M. Harris, The Conversation

Recent publicized episodes of racist behavior on college campuses have a long history behind them, but schools are struggling to come to terms with the past.

The Return of the Protest Song

By Salamishah Tillet, The Weekly Wonk

Young musical artists are finding their way from moment to movement by reviving the tradition of the protest song made famous by Nina Simone and Bob Dylan and now personified in performers like John Legend and Common.

A Movement Against Racism Should Be A Movement for Mental Health

By Veronica Womack, TIME

For people of color, engaging a society that consistently forces them to shift their cultural identities to “fit in” often has detrimental effects on their mental health. This disproportionate impact should be a part of the national conversation about race in the wake of Ferguson.

The New Printing of Citizen Adds a Haunting Message About Police Brutality

By Katy Waldman, Slate

Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, was the first book to be nominated for a National Book Critics’ Circle Award for both poetry and criticism (it won for poetry). This fluid treatise against racism has also been re-printed to include names of unarmed people of color killed by police since its original publication.

The Real-Life Stories of Race and Policing

By Jane Greenway Carr, The Weekly Wonk

The report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing is a good start but neglects the full range of conversation we need to have about race according to a professor, a civil rights attorney, and a DC police officer who recently found common ground through conversation on a panel at New America.