Juneteenth
Today marks the day of Juneteenth, a celebration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Not only today, but every day, we should be thinking about how each of us plays a role in social change. Black lives matter every day, Black lives matter to everyone, and Black lives matter in media and entertainment.
The entertainment industry has a lot of power to influence where we will go from here. From Netflix launching a ‘Black Lives Matter’ collection of programming, programs such as Law & Order to Paw Patrol being re-evaluated, holding cast and crew members accountable for their racism, and streaming services finally pulling content that offensively depicts Black people and POC, we’re just starting to see influential media companies exercise their corporate responsibility when it comes to addressing and combatting systemic racism. However, there’s a lot more work to be done.
I won’t pretend to be an expert on these issues, but it’s important that as individuals, we take the time to educate ourselves and have hard conversations so that we can then make larger impacts as a whole.
Here are some helpful resources for further informing ourselves on the issues, and organizations where we can make contributions on an individual level:
To Watch:
Documentaries:
“13th” (Netflix)
“Explained - Season 1, The Racial Wealth Gap”, Vox (Netflix)
“Strong Island” (Netflix)
“Whose Streets?” (Hulu)
“16 Shots” (Showtime)
Scripted:
“Malcolm X”, Spike Lee (Netflix)
“When They See Us”, Ava Duvernay (Netflix)
“Dear White People”, Justin Simien (Netflix)
Digital:
“Police: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO)
“The Broken Policing System: Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj” (Netflix)
Articles:
“The Death of George Floyd, in Context”, by Jelani Cobb (The New Yorker)
“Of Course There Are Protests. The State Is Failing Black People”, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (The New York Times)
“Why these protests are different”, by Sean Collins (Vox)
“The 1916 Project”, The New York Times
“The Case for Reparations”, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic)
“Abolish the police? It’s a real thing. Even cops say they’ve taken on too much” by John Wilkens, (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“The “abolish the police” movement, explained by 7 scholars and activists”, by Sean Illig (Vox)
Articles on Black Representation in Media:
"Op-Ed: Hey, HBO, ‘Gone With the Wind’ romanticizes the horrors of slavery. Take it off your platform for now", by John Ridley (LA Times)
“I Have Struggled": Black TV Journalists Talk George Floyd Coverage, Industry Diversity”, by Jeremy Barr (The Hollywood Reporter)
“How to watch police shows in the age of Black Lives Matter”, by Elias Rodriques (The Guardian)
Organizations to Support:
Bail & Mutual Aid Funds:
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Mutual Aid NYC (NYC)
The Legal Aid Society (NYC)
Policy-Based Orgs Against Police Violence:
Communities United for Police Reform (NY)
Legal Aid Against Wrongful Convictions:
Non-Profits Supporting Black Artists
List of Media Diversity Programs (NAACP)
10 Nonprofits You Can Support to Amplify Black Voices in the Arts, by Benjamin Sutton, (Artsy.net)