July is a quiet month in Houston due to the heat and summer vacations, making it a good time to disrupt whiteness in ourselves, to unlearn our harmful socialization and relearn truth about history, the lived experiences of people who have been targeted for systemic oppression, and our own and our family’s complicity.

Following is an incomplete list of resources for summer that may invoke quiet reflection. Some questions you might ask yourself include: Why didn’t I know this? How does this feel in my body? What urges am I feeling? What white/straight ally can I share or process this with? If you buy any books, please buy from Kindred Stories (in their store or through Bookshop). They have a great list of books you can find here: https://kindredstorieshtx.com/

* (my favorites)

Fiction: Houston based – Atticka Locke, Anita R. Bunkley. Others: Anything by N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Zora Neale Hurston, Nnedi Okorafor, Octavia Butler, Alice Walker, Sister Souljah, Leonard Pitts, , R. F. Kuang*, Justin Torres. Also Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah*, True Biz*, Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore*, The Personal Librarian, Take My Hand, Leaving Atlanta, Martyr*.

Nonfiction: Houston based – Annette Gordon Reed, and see compiled list below . Others: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson*. It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic*. Let This Radicalize You*.

Memoir: Joy Harjo, Malcolm X, Deep in Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement, Being Heumann*, Darnell Moore Jr*., Patrice Cullers, Chanel Miller*, Janet Mock, Raja Shehadeh, Viet Thanh Nguyen*, Thi Bui

Audiobooks: Trevor Noah Born a Crime* and Malcolm Gladwell Talking to Strangers* and Ayad Akhtar Homeland Elegies*.

Compiled book lists / my wish list: Houston based: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/bayou-city-history/article/books-about-Houston-s-racial-history-15324672.php Other: Native American Children’s Literature: https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/ Native American literature: https://bookshop.org/shop/quietquailbooks Indigenous queer and two-spirit authors https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/1338249780/1593880749 Black trans writers: https://medium.com/@BlaQSociologist/hear-us-roar-bfb26fe0dc8d Latinx trans writers: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/three-recent-books-about-trans-latinx-lives AAPI LGBTQIA+ authors https://focuslgbt.com/blog/10-queer-books-by-aapi-authors-we-love/ Afrofuturism: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/must-read-afrofuturism-and-africanfuturism-books/

Healing resources: Resmaa Menakem / Black Octopus Society July workshops on Somatic Abolition https://blackoctopussociety.com/ Ancestry work https://reparations4slavery.com/ and https://comingtothetable.org/ Therapy for Black Girls podcast https://therapyforblackgirls.com/podcast/

Podcasts: Houston based: Chicano Squad, I See You with Eddie Robinson, the UpEnd podcast. Others: Guerilla Muse, Scene on Radio, American Genocide, Integrated Schools.

Streaming: Houston based: Mo. Others: Reservation Dogs, Rumble, AJ and the Queen, Queer Eye, 13th, Rustin, Shuttlesworth, Black Barbie, Israelism, Palestine as a Queer Struggle, When They See Us, Origin, Moonlight, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Gentefied.

Events and actions in Houston and virtual

July 1-7 UniverSoul Circus https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/special_events/article/houston-book-events-universoul-circus-19503457.php

July 3 Victor Wooten and the Wooten Brothers at Heights Theater https://www.prekindle.com/event/72623-victor-wooten-and-the-wooten-brothers-houston

July 3 Jeffrey “B-Boy” Jeffro Lewis, Houstonian competing in Olympics for breakdance, Zoom for Houston Chronicle subscribers. https://hearst.zoom.us/rest/webinar/registrant/WN_vyyymoEmR6mWrBYo-fe1rQ/info?tk=0pa8IRHK-39NpqNq1NsH20Ii_JNkPaG9-9gkn7FkD2OE_GdXlAabFew.z7gkDbqMOA219dwN&ac=approved&timezone_id=America/Chicago#/registration

July 4 Alabama Coushata Reservation Fireworks https://www.alabama-coushatta.com/

July 6 – CAMH Community Collage inspired by Theaster Gates exhibit https://camh.org/event/open-studio-collaborative-art-july-2024/

July 10-25 Black Octopus Society Somatic Abolition Series (virtual) https://blackoctopussociety.com/

July 11-13 Netroots Nation (virtual) Sign up early for access to webcasts prior to July 11  https://registration.socio.events/e/netroots24

July 11 Houston DSA general meeting https://houstondsa.org/event/chapter-general-meeting-15/2024-07-11/

July 11 CA4Y Harris County Youth Justice Transformation Cohort presentation https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdGSCdzCc3dvoodhWfC2INO7pSp5O5kUHih23YG12It8f91A/viewform

July 11 opening of Holocaust Museum Houston exhibit Facing Survival https://hmh.org/event/facing-survival-david-kassan/

July 13 Community Voice for Public Summer Forum Uncloaking Inequity Education https://www.houstoncvpe.org/forum2024 

July 13 Houston DSA Saturday morning Socialism book discussion https://houstondsa.org/event/houston-dsa-saturday-morning-socialism-3/2024-07-13/

July 14 TMO Using Local Issues to Build Power in the 2024 election https://www.tmohouston.org/2407_tmo_da?utm_campaign=tmo_delegates_assembly_2024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=gulfcoastlc

July 15 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting 1001 Preston 1st Floor or watch live https://www.harriscountytx.gov/Government/Court-Agenda/Court-Videos  This will be good preparation for when their budget talks start in August and we will need to make comments in support of targeted communities.

July 16 Houston Climate Movement general meeting (virtual) https://www.facebook.com/events/492036709952150/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A%2229%22%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3A%22plan_user_invited%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&notif_id=1719949123731228&notif_t=plan_user_invited&ref=notif

July 16-20 Filipino American National Historical Society 20th Annual Conference https://whova.com/web/SooF1PcQdAMX8tHGtMQN25PVn7h-pZTTQfetF78ibiY%3D/

July 18 Houston DSA Palestinian Liberation Working Group https://houstondsa.org/event/palestinian-liberation-working-group-10/

July 19 City of Houston Public Safety Committee Meeting 10am 901 Bagby https://www.houstontx.gov/council/committees/publicsafety.html

July 20 Rothko Chapel – Origenes https://rothkochapel.org/experience/events/register/2572

July 22 Indivisible of Grapevine letter writing to encourage unlikely blue state voters in toss-up districts to vote based on overturn of Roe  grapevineindivisible@gmail.com

July 25 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting  1001 Preston 1st Floor or watch online https://www.harriscountytx.gov/Government/Court-Agenda/Court-Videos

July 25-28 Melanin Minds Mental Health Conference  https://melaninminds.org/conference?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMAABHSNKysajQoY09UR43Y2LklmnIbxcB7tMO0G6sl85zhVJ1PUkk6SPT70vxg_aem_ExNVJ5VGnM5k_mRnKBTTag

July 27 Los Skarnales at Heights Theater https://www.prekindle.com/event/48885-los-skarnales-houston

July 31 UpEnd Movement Book Study (virtual) towardliberation@substack.com

Through August 2 application period for United Way Emerging Leaders Institute https://unitedwayhouston.org/for-nonprofits/nonprofit-connection/emerging-leaders-institute/

Kindred Stories author talks https://kindredstorieshtx.com/pages/events

CAMH – Theaster Gates exhibit re Houston’s 4th ward https://camh.org/event/theaster-gates-the-gift-and-the-renege/

Lawndale Arts – Mothers March and The Big Show Turns 40  https://lawndaleartcenter.org/exhibition/sheila-pree-bright/

Asia Society a lot of events https://asiasociety.org/texas/events

Eternal Gandhi Museum (year-round) https://egmh.org/

Write postcards to swing state voters https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-bM_poEOTHtEQ8Ip5OEJ3FOu5sEQ5dxpAb9DYI_1ax4/edit

Become a Voter Registrar:  https://poweredxpeople.org/texas-vdr/

Center for the Healing of Racism – ask Cherry if you can sit in on a training session with her summer intern. cfhr1@juno.com