Article
The social justice bookshelf has a few separate but interrelated purposes:
1. Popular book platforms often lack diversity when it comes to the writers, books and topics they promote. With this project, books that cover social justice issues will be put on the forefront, as well as books that are written by BIPOC, female, disabled and LGBTQ+ authors.
2. People who want to learn more about social justice issues or diversify their information sources are often overwhelmed by the available material and do not know where to start. By providing a clear overview of resources that speak to a variety of interests and reading levels, the project hopes to make it easier to navigate the different ways to learn about social justice.
3. In the age of Instagram and social media, people often get their news from infographics. While these are certainly helpful at bringing attention to important news events, they are often simplified and do not contain some of the necessary background information to create a truly informed view on an issue. By promoting more detailed sources to get information from, the project hopes to inspire people to find a deeper understanding of current events.
4. The project does not only promote resources that discuss violence and oppression, but also aims to promote books that discuss the joy, love and culture that are present in marginalized communities. People who are active in or new to social justice activism can feel overwhelmed by negative thoughts about the world which can lead to fatigue, mental health concerns and burnout. Therefore, it is important to not only share resources that are strictly informative (and often include violence and/or graphic descriptions), but to also share sources that include stories of the joy, love and culture in marginalized communities. This is to prevent a one-dimensional view of marginalized folks that only includes violence, pain, and trauma.