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@mattmcgorry : "Lovable Racists, Magical Negroes, and White Messiahs" by David Ikard @blkeducator # This book is a very astute criticism of how notions of white superiority and Black inferiority (aka white supremacy) are unconsciously fused to our belief systems through all media, but especially film, television, and art. I first became familiar with the "magical negro" trope a few years ago in an article written by @feministajones called "This Isn't The 'Magic' We Are Talking About" (which I'd recommend Googling). It opened my eyes to the ways that white supremacy is taught to all people who consume this content without a critical lens, and especially to white people. A film doesn't need to be D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" to reinforce white supremacy. Even many of the films, made by white directors, that make us (white people) feel like we are having positive feelings about Black folks can and often are still be teaching us white supremacy culture in insidious ways.  # I do not believe that ill-intentions are what cause these narratives to persist. In fact, despite our good intentions as white people, we often produce and reproduce these harmful narratives without really questioning them. Without trying to understand more deeply what messages have been taught to us, and in turn the beliefs that we have been socialized into, we will continue to perpetuate the narratives of white superiority and Black inferiority (white supremacy). And ultimately, falling back on “good intentions” rather than the racist impact that we have is a luxury born out of white privilege. This is why we must be ANTI-racist in our education, our life, and our practices of solidarity.  If we rest on the notions that we are "good people" because we don't believe ourselves to be racist, then we will never be capable of fully recognizing the pervasiveness of white supremacy (even in white liberal Hollywood) or of interrupting it.  And without both of those things, we will continue to miss the mark of two