So many little things have become intrinsic to me as a person through reading. There are lines that I quote daily. There are passages I tear up just thinking about. There are words that have become essential to my vocabulary. I can barely begin to express in words how much reading has changed my life. When I read, I am expanding who I am as a person in a myriad of infinitesimal ways that I will never fully comprehend. As Frederick Douglass once said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”
It’s important now more than ever to read literature that pushes boundaries. Not only to provide better recommendations, but to have a more well-rounded, thoughtful appreciation for the world around us.
Black History Month is a perfect excuse to step outside of your comfort zone. Everywhere you turn there is a recommendation from somewhere and someone with a new point of view that you have never considered. Black literature is a world of possibilities each unique, but woefully unappreciated. While reading this month, I invite you to engage in a little exercise: try it Black.
If you normally read science fiction, try Rivers Solomon, Octavia E. Butler, or Samuel R. Delany.
If you normally read romance, try Beverly Jenkins, Talia Hibbert or Tia Williams.
If you normally read thrillers, try Walter Mosley, S.A. Cosby or Alyssa Cole.
It’s very easy to get settled into a bubble of comfort reads by the same pool of authors. It’s hard to have your worldview challenged whether it be something small like your idea of the types of music a Black character might listen to or something big like your idea of what it might be like to live in the world while Black. But the challenge is the point – it’s the only real way to grow.
More than that, after decades of being forcibly removed from the narrative, Black works deserve to be acknowledged. Years have been wasted ignoring the contributions of Black authors and those cannot be recaptured. However, we can still choose to do better everyday as we move forward. We can choose now to provide support that is long overdue. By reading Black literature we are rectifying a great wrong. It may seem small, but think about it this way: if it is so small, why is it still so unachievable for many? There is a great power in any action whatever the size because that is only the beginning. More can always be done later.
I encourage everyone to allow Black voices to be heard and themselves to be touched by the Black experience. But I also encourage everyone to see this month as the start of a new era, because it is always a good time to read Black literature.
Read Black every month because it’s not only February that needs it. Read Black because you’re bored. Read Black because you’re in a slump. Read Black because you’re in a good mood. Read Black because you’re scared. Read Black.
Mariah is a Youth Program Specialist at OCLS
