“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
Maya Angelou
An important part of journeying into everyday activism is educating ourselves. Gaining knowledge by intentionally investing our time in learning about and reckoning with our shared history of racism and resistance is key to becoming an effective activist. For most of us, the version of history we learn offers narratives consistently written by white people, centering white heroes. The truth is that there are a multitude of stories in our shared history just waiting to be unearthed.
Gaining knowledge is a life-long journey in which we learn everyday. The road in some places has curves and at other places is straightforward. Educating ourselves can be both frustrating and illuminating. It is a commitment and a privilege. We must do work to deconstruct and unlearn ideas that have been whitewashed throughout history. Keep an open mind, ask questions, and diversify your knowledge.
We are living through an era in which information is more available than it has ever been before. There are so many resources that it can seem overwhelming. The abundance of books, films, websites, podcasts, and other antiracist learning tools can be a blessing and a curse. When educating ourselves, we should be mindful of who created the content, who is being centered, and question everything.
Don’t know where to start? Visiting sankofaimpact.org and viewing our curated resource list is a great place to gain knowledge. We strive to keep the pages up to date and many resources are linked to Black-owned businesses, like Estelita’s Library. Sankofa Impact organizes learning tools by media type and also by issue.
Have suggestions for an addition to our resource list? Email Sankofa Impact at [email protected]. Everyday people. Everyday activists.
