UFCF Board of Directors Statement on Recent Events & Recommendations

Diversity & Inclusion Committee:

Led By Julien Serrano-O’Neil, Second Vice President, Office of Giving & Advancement

​In the wake of the latest killings of unarmed Black Americans, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Daunte Wright, Ahmaud Arbery, and others, we need to pause for a minute to perceive the hurt and torment numerous locally are confronting. The brutality Black Americans face in this country because of unmistakable, subliminal, and methodical bigotry is inadmissible, and the United Foundation of Central Florida and Future Leaders United After-School Enrichment and Mentoring Program remain in fortitude with those battling against injustice.

At this time of history, we should maintain the UFCF principles we live by Equality, Equity, Faith, Nonviolence, Education, Love, Leadership, Selflessness, and Hope, and remain with those endeavoring to accomplish equity for all minorities. We likewise urge our individuals to instruct themselves on the historical backdrop of these issues and the designs that maintain the brutality we are seeing and to share this information with their networks.

As the Directors of UFCF and FLU, we are expressly finding a way to address these complicated and significant issues in our personal lives and ways to impact a national platform. Below our statement, we have incorporated an examination of books, articles, albums, and internet content we've been perusing that have been useful to us in our excursions. Everything is hyperlinked to provide summaries (for the books and most albums) and full-reads/views (for the articles and internet content).


Books.

  1. Abrams, Stacey. Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose and the Fight for a Fair America (2020).

  2. Acho, Emmanuel. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man (2020).

  3. Abu-Jamal, Mumia. Live From Death Row (1995).

  4. Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart (1959).

  5. Akbar, Na’im. Visions for Black Men (1991).

  6. Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2012).

  7. Appiah, Anthony Kwame. The Lies that Bind: Rethinking Identity (2018)

  8. Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time (1963).

  9. Burrell, Tom. Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority (2010).

  10. Butler, Paul. Choke Hold: Policing Black Men (2017).

  11. Campbell, Mary Schmidt. An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Beardon (2018).

  12. Cole, Johnnetta Betsch, and Guy-Sheftall, Beverly. Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women’s Equality in African American Communities (2003).

  13. Collins, Patricia Hill. Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory (2019)

  14. Du Bois, W. E. B. Souls of Black Folk (1903) and Black Lives 1900: W.E.B. Du Bois at the Paris Exposition (2019).

  15. King Jr., Martin Luther. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community (1967).

  16. Mays, Benjamin E. Born to Rebel: An Autobiography (1971)

  17. Sellers, Bakari. My Vanishing Country: A Memoir (2020).

    Articles. Internet Content.

  1. Coates, Ta-Nehisi. The Case for Reparations (2014).

  2. Crenshaw, Kimberlé. The Urgency of Intersectionality (2016) and Crenshaw, Kimberlé and Ritchie, Andrea J. et al. Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women (2015).

  3. Dennis, Jr., David. Ahmaud Arbery Will Not Be Erased (2020).

  4. Fowler, Erin. What Nipsey Hussle Taught the Neighborhood (2019).

  5. Franklin, Robert Michael, and Younge, Sinead. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Opinion: Moral leadership’s still important (2021).

  6. Hannah-Jones, Nikole. America Wasn't A Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It One (2019).

  7. Kaepernick, Colin. Explains Why He Won’t Stand During National Anthem (2016).

  8. Keemotion. The Bigger Picture [by Lil Baby] - (2020).

  9. King, Jr., Martin Luther. Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963).

  10. Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. The Negro Family: The Case for National Action (1965).

  11. Murai, Hiro. This is America [by Childish Gambino] (2018).

  12. .Nwigwe, Tobe and Nate the Director TUNDAH FIYAH [by Nwigwe, Tobe ft. Nell & Mumu Fresh] - (2020).

  13. Ramsey, Donovan X. The Political Education of Killer Mike (2020).

Television. Film.

  1. Coogler, Ryan. Black Panther (2018).

  2. Dash, Julie. Daughters of the Dust (1991).

  3. DuVernay, Ava. When They See Us (2019).

  4. Green, Misha. Lovecraft Country (2020).

  5. Hudlin, Reginald. The Black Godfather (2019).

  6. Jenkins, Sacha. Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men (2019).

  7. King, Shaka. Judas and the Black Messiah (2021).

  8. Knowles-Carter, Beyoncé. Black is King (2020).

  9. Lindelof, Damon. Watchmen [TV Series] (2019).

  10. Miranda, Lin-Manuel et al. Hamilton [Disney+ Original] - (2020).

  11. Obama, Michelle. Becoming (2020).