Annie Hoffman here, Student Journalist for the Libraries. My post last week addressed white readers, sharing a list of books that explore and explain antiracist work. Here’s what I’ve been up to this week.

I read this article entitled “What Is an Anti-Racist Reading List For?” by Lauren Michele Jackson. It examines the limitations of lists like the one I offered last week. This article is essential context, from a Black writer, for anyone (like me) who created, read, or purchased books from an antiracist reading list this week.

In her article Jackson suggests podcasts as another means, beyond books, to “glean the long-story-short of America.” This week I have been listening to 1619, a New York Times audio series that “examines the long shadow of American slavery.” I also recommend the June 4 episode of the NPR podcast Throughline, which is entitled “American Police.”

Finally, this week I formed a two-person book club with a friend to read Ibram X. Kendi’s How To Be An Antiracist. Thus far we have discussed the first two chapters, connecting them to other books, to TV shows, and to the work we have done in university courses. I look forward to deepening my engagement with this book through our conversations.

Fellow white members of the University community, please join me in working to amplify Black voices and to dismantle white supremacy in our neighborhoods and beyond.

—Annie Hoffman