If you are reading this near when I wrote it, you are likely aware of the worldwide protests related to the murder of George Floyd.
I have a lot of words that I could say about this, but you shouldn’t be listening to me. You should be listening to people who have actually lived this experience.
A good place to start is one or more of the books on this excellent list from the Toronto Public Library. The first book on the list is by Desmond Cole, an excellent local journalist, activist, and writer:
You can get these books from the library, but if you can, it is good to support writers, for example from a Toronto black owned bookstore: https://www.adifferentbooklist.com/
If you want to learn some more about the history of the civil rights movement in the mid-20th century, the story of Fred Hampton [Wikipedia] may be instructive, here summarized in a twitter thread.
There are some interesting findings about what does and does not work for police reform, summarized in a twitter thread here.
Some words about how to be a good ally.
12 ways you can be an activist without going to a protest.
And finally, some words from one of my favourite people in the world, Neil DeGrasse Tyson.