Here are the things I’ve been absorbing this week to better educate myself of people of color (POC), and Black lives in particular:

13th - This documentary on Netflix is about how America transitioned from slavery to prisons for Black people. I have learned over the last year or so that our prison systems in America are incredibly overcrowded. But this film showed how they came to be that way. One of the things I appreciated about the film is the information regarding policy, laws and other acts that previous presidents put into place regarding policing and our prison systems. It also brought to light for me the disgusting words and beliefs of our current president when it comes to prison reform and POC.

See You Yesterday - I’m embarrassed to say I’ve had this movie in my Netflix queue for several months, but it took the events of the last two weeks to get me to sit down and watch it. I thought it was a great film, showing the culture and colors of Brooklyn and the Black community. Eden Duncan-Smith kills it as the lead of this movie, which appears at first to simply look at time-travel, but grows into a story about racial injustice, mistaken identity, and the prejudices toward and shootings of Black people by police.

I watched this episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and found it very educational. My initial reaction to “defund the police” was opposition and fear. I know there are good cops and bad cops. But I also have only ever felt like police were there to protect me. I’ll never understand the fear and anxiety in knowing you will be stereotyped (and so much worse) because of the color of your skin. As a counselor in training, I’m seeing the urgent need for more funding for social causes like housing, drug rehabilitation, family services, and others. We cannot expect police, who do not have the appropriate training, to fix these issues.

I’ve got a couple books on order from Amazon, so much more to come!

xxo