Books We Share That Make Us Care

This year, Patta and The Black Archives are joining forces, making hidden stories and history around Hip Hop and street culture visible. Patta was born out of a passion for Hip Hop, sneakers and street culture. The Black Archives is a unique historical archive for inspiring conversations, activities and literature from Black and other perspectives that are often overlooked elsewhere, and was founded on passion for black history, culture and literature. Hip Hop is a culture created Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean and Latin American youth in 1970s New York that is now being embraced by billions of people worldwide. Hip Hop, street culture, black literature and history are inextricably linked. Because we care about Eternal Education we will be sharing one book from The Black Archives on black history, culture and literature every month. This month: Gloria Wekker - White Innocence

Why you should read it: In White Innocence Gloria Wekker explores a central paradox of Dutch life -the passionate denial of racial discrimination and colonial violence coexisting alongside aggressive racism and xenophobia- to show how the narrative of Dutch racial exceptionalism elides the Netherland's colonial past and safeguards white privilege.

We are celebrating Keti Koti and Surinam Emancipation Day on June 30th at Het Hem, with a day filled with discussion, education, art and entertainment. Learn more about that here.