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With a Donald Trump presidency on the way, the world is a frightening place. Our country has been fucked, but with a fascist leader empowering hate, things can only get more dismal. After you've gotten through several stages of grief, follow-through and organize.
If you're looking to get involved with social justice, here's a guide to get you started featuring books, websites, terminology, and other resources to get familiar with. This guide is not intended to be all-encompassing, there are a lot of topics to cover, but this guide is intended to move you forward in the right direction.
Here are some terms to become familiar with:
Privilege - a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others.
Intersectionality - the study of overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination. For example: I am a Black woman. I am Black, and also a woman. These identities intersect.
Feminism - the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.
Womanism - a social theory deeply rooted in the racial and gender-based oppression of black women.
Safe space - a space dedicated to the safety of marginalized groups; the space is typically regulated by not allowing hate speech and/or any other forms of violence whether verbal or physical.
Tone policing - a silencing tactic; telling people how to react to their oppression; is usually used when people are justifiably upset about the violence/oppression they face.
Gaslighting - also a silencing tactic that abusers often use to make the victim question their sanity. Gaslighting often involves sayings like "you're crazy," "that never happened," etc.
Neocolonialism - thepolicyofastrongnation (usually "developed" nations) inseekingpolitical andeconomiccontrol overa nation (usually poor or less "developed" nations)or geographicalareawithout claiming said nation as a colony.
Misogynoir - racialized misogyny specifically affecting Black women.
Cisgender - having the gender identity associated with the sex you were assigned at birth.
Transgender - (NOT: "transgendered") having a gender identity not associated with the sex you were assigned at birth.
Transmisogyny - misogyny that specifically affects Trans women.
Hegemonic masculinity - the belief and justification of men being superior to and having more access than women.
Ableism - discrimination against people with disabilities.
Books to check out:
An Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev
Race in North America by Audrey Smedley and Brian D. Smedley
Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis
Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano
Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins
Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer
Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog
This Bridge Called My Back collection edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington
Killing the Black Body by Dorothy Roberts
Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism by Daisy Hernandez
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Undoing Gender by Judith Butler
Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology edited by E. Patrick Johnson and Mae G. Henderson
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur
A Taste of Power by Elaine Brown
Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis
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Organizations and people you can support financially right now and get involved with:
Hashtags like #TransCrowdFund and #GiveYourMoneyToWomen are full of people in need of resources. What better way to make an impact than by giving financial support to people directly?
Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
National Center for Transgender Equality
Some angel on the Internet created a state-by-state list of Feminist, LGBTQIA, Race/Gender Inclusive, Progressive Volunteer Opportunities and Organizations
