25 Books About Racial Tension and Equality You Need to Read (Or Read to Your Kids) if You're White...

I have sat on my words for days and weeks, not to promote white silence, but more in an effort to listen first, pray second, and–if I must–speak last, in the wake of crime after crime against black Americans that seem fueled only by hate, power, and blinding inequality.

Our little family has never been ‘normal’.

Though we are white, we have always gone against the grain and tend to make others uncomfortable. From choosing to live tiny to including our son always, even with his extreme extra needs, to being married barefooted, outside, with nose rings and mohawks. We have chose where to live, where to educate our children, and where to work and worship and serve based on the diversity of everything from race to socioeconomics, availability and disability inclusion.

So for my friends who have reached out–my white friends asking what they can be doing or how they can be educating themselves, and my black and brown friends begging for peace and understanding, empathy and compassion–here is where we can start.

Don’t speak before we’ve educated ourselves. Here are 25 places to start teaching yourself, your kids, your neighbors, your community. There are millions more resources, btu these are all ones we have read, owned, and absolutely loved for reasons that have encouraged us, broken us, and laid our raw spots bare.

This is where to start.