Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race

Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race
Author: Thomas Chatterton Williams
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2019-10-15
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0393608875

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A meditation on race and identity from one of our most provocative cultural critics. A reckoning with the way we choose to see and define ourselves, Self-Portrait in Black and White is the searching story of one American family’s multigenerational transformation from what is called black to what is assumed to be white. Thomas Chatterton Williams, the son of a “black” father from the segregated South and a “white” mother from the West, spent his whole life believing the dictum that a single drop of “black blood” makes a person black. This was so fundamental to his self-conception that he’d never rigorously reflected on its foundations—but the shock of his experience as the black father of two extremely white-looking children led him to question these long-held convictions. It is not that he has come to believe that he is no longer black or that his kids are white, Williams notes. It is that these categories cannot adequately capture either of them—or anyone else, for that matter. Beautifully written and bound to upset received opinions on race, Self-Portrait in Black and White is an urgent work for our time.

Losing My Cool

Losing My Cool
Author: Thomas Chatterton Williams
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2010-04-29
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1101404345

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A pitch-perfect account of how hip-hop culture drew in the author and how his father drew him out again-with love, perseverance, and fifteen thousand books. Into Williams's childhood home-a one-story ranch house-his father crammed more books than the local library could hold. "Pappy" used some of these volumes to run an academic prep service; the rest he used in his unending pursuit of wisdom. His son's pursuits were quite different-"money, hoes, and clothes." The teenage Williams wore Medusa- faced Versace sunglasses and a hefty gold medallion, dumbed down and thugged up his speech, and did whatever else he could to fit into the intoxicating hip-hop culture that surrounded him. Like all his friends, he knew exactly where he was the day Biggie Smalls died, he could recite the lyrics to any Nas or Tupac song, and he kept his woman in line, with force if necessary. But Pappy, who grew up in the segregated South and hid in closets so he could read Aesop and Plato, had a different destiny in mind for his son. For years, Williams managed to juggle two disparate lifestyles- "keeping it real" in his friends' eyes and studying for the SATs under his father's strict tutelage. As college approached and the stakes of the thug lifestyle escalated, the revolving door between Williams's street life and home life threatened to spin out of control. Ultimately, Williams would have to decide between hip-hop and his future. Would he choose "street dreams" or a radically different dream- the one Martin Luther King spoke of or the one Pappy held out to him now? Williams is the first of his generation to measure the seductive power of hip-hop against its restrictive worldview, which ultimately leaves those who live it powerless. Losing My Cool portrays the allure and the danger of hip-hop culture like no book has before. Even more remarkably, Williams evokes the subtle salvation that literature offers and recounts with breathtaking clarity a burgeoning bond between father and son. Watch a Video

And Their Children After Them

And Their Children After Them
Author: Nicolas Mathieu
Publisher: Other Press, LLC
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1892746530

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Named a Best Book of the Year by The Times (UK) and the Los Angeles Public Library Winner of the 2018 Goncourt Prize, this poignant coming-of-age tale captures the distinct feeling of summer in a region left behind by global progress. August 1992. One afternoon during a heatwave in a desolate valley somewhere in eastern France, with its dormant blast furnaces and its lake, fourteen-year-old Anthony and his cousin decide to steal a canoe to explore the famous nude beach across the water. The trip ultimately takes Anthony to his first love and a summer that will determine everything that happens afterward. Nicolas Mathieu conjures up a valley, an era, and the political journey of a young generation that has to forge its own path in a dying world. Four summers and four defining moments, from “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to the 1998 World Cup, encapsulate the hectic lives of the inhabitants of a France far removed from the centers of globalization, torn between decency and rage.

White Fragility

White Fragility
Author: Dr. Robin DiAngelo
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2018-06-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0807047422

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The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality. In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

Race Cars

Race Cars
Author: Jenny Devenny
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Limited
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2021-05-04
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 071126290X

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Race Cars is a picture book that serves as a springboard for parents and educators to discuss race, privilege, and oppression with their kids.

All the White Friends I Couldn't Keep

All the White Friends I Couldn't Keep
Author: Andre Henry
Publisher: Convergent Books
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2022-03-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 059323989X

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A leading voice for social justice reveals how he stopped arguing with white people who deny the ongoing legacy of racism—and offers a proven path forward for Black people and people of color based on the history of nonviolent struggle. “A moving personal journey that lends practical insight for expanding and strengthening the global antiracist movement.”—Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, bestselling author of When They Call You a Terrorist When the rallying cry “Black Lives Matter” was heard across the world in 2013, Andre Henry was one of the millions for whom the movement caused a political awakening and a rupture in some of his closest relationships with white people. As he began using his artistic gifts to share his experiences and perspective, Henry was aggrieved to discover that many white Americans—people he called friends and family—were more interested in debating whether racism existed or whether Henry was being polite enough in the way he used his voice. In this personal and thought-provoking book, Henry explores how the historical divides between Black people and non-Black people are expressed through our most mundane interactions, and why this struggle won’t be resolved through civil discourse, diversity hires, interracial relationships, or education. What we need is a revolution, one that moves beyond symbolic progress to disrupt systems of racial violence and inequality in tangible, creative ways. Sharing stories from his own path to activism—from studying at seminary to becoming a student of nonviolent social change, from working as a praise leader to singing about social justice—and connecting those experiences to lessons from successful nonviolent struggles in America and around the world, Andre Henry calls on Black people and people of color to divest from whiteness and its false promises, trust what their lived experiences tell them, and practice hope as a discipline as they work for lasting change.

White Women

White Women
Author: Regina Jackson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2022-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0143136437

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An instant New York Times Bestseller! A no-holds-barred guidebook aimed at white women who want to stop being nice and start dismantling white supremacy from the team behind Race2Dinner and the documentary film, Deconstructing Karen It's no secret that white women are conditioned to be "nice," but did you know that the desire to be perfect and to avoid conflict at all costs are characteristics of white supremacy culture? As the founders of Race2Dinner, an organization which facilitates conversations between white women about racism and white supremacy, Regina Jackson and Saira Rao have noticed white women's tendency to maintain a veneer of niceness, and strive for perfection, even at the expense of anti-racism work. In this book, Jackson and Rao pose these urgent questions: how has being "nice" helped Black women, Indigenous women and other women of color? How has being "nice" helped you in your quest to end sexism? Has being "nice" earned you economic parity with white men? Beginning with freeing white women from this oppressive need to be nice, they deconstruct and analyze nine aspects of traditional white woman behavior--from tone-policing to weaponizing tears--that uphold white supremacy society, and hurt all of us who are trying to live a freer, more equitable life. White Women is a call to action to those of you who are looking to take the next steps in dismantling white supremacy. Your white supremacy. If you are in fact doing real anti-racism work, you will find few reasons to be nice, as other white people want to limit your membership in the club. If you are not ticking white people off on a regular basis, you are not doing it right.

The New Parisienne

The New Parisienne
Author: Lindsey Tramuta
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1683358783

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“Tramuta sweeps away the tired clichés of the Parisian woman with her vivid profiles of the dynamic and creative ‘femmes’ now powering the French capital.” —Eleanor Beardsley, NPR Paris correspondent The New Parisienne focuses on one of the city’s most prominent features, its women. Lifting the veil on the mythologized Parisian woman—white, lithe, ever fashionable—Lindsey Tramuta demystifies this oversimplified archetype and recasts the women of Paris as they truly are, in all their complexity. Featuring 50 activists, creators, educators, visionaries, and disruptors—like Leïla Slimani, Lauren Bastide, and Mayor Anne Hidalgo—the book reveals Paris as a blossoming cultural center of feminine power. Both the featured women and Tramuta herself offer up favorite destinations and women-owned businesses, including beloved shops, artistic venues, bistros, and more. The New Parisienne showcases “Parisianness” in all its multiplicity, highlighting those who are bucking tradition, making names for themselves, and transforming the city. “With stunning photographs and inspiring profiles, Lindsey Tramuta tramples the myths and takes us into the lives of real Parisiennes. Bravo!”—Pamela Druckerman, New York Times–bestselling author of Bringing Up Bébé “Like the subjects of her book, Lindsey Tramuta is a force. The New Parisienne is the go-to chronicle of the joyful, progressive, pioneering women of a city that Tramuta understands with deep intelligence.” —Lauren Collins, New York Times–bestselling author of When in French “Tramuta’s new book posits that Parisian women have been ahead of these radically changing times. But rather than being trendsetters in the stylish sense, they qualify as visionaries and agents of change across spheres of diversity, tech, culture, politics, and more.” —Vogue

The Color of Life

The Color of Life
Author: Cara Meredith
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2019-02-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310353009

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In this spiritual memoir, a white woman in an interracial marriage and mixed-race family paints a beautiful path from white privilege toward racial healing, from ignorance toward seeing the image of God in everyone she meets. Author and speaker Cara Meredith grew up in a colorless world. From childhood, she didn't think issues of race had anything to do with her, and she was ignorant of many of the racial realities (including individual and systemic racism) in America today. A colorblind rhetoric had been stamped across her education, world view, and Christian theology. Then as an adult, Cara's life took on new, colorful hues. She realized that white people in her generation, seeking to move beyond ancestral racism, had swung so far in believing a colorblind rhetoric that they tried to act as if they didn't see race at all. When Cara met and fell in love with the son of black icon, James Meredith, the power of love helped her see color. She began to notice the shades of life already present in the world around her, while also learning to listen in new ways to black voices of the past. After she married and their little family grew to include two mixed-race sons, Cara knew she would never see the world through a colorless lens again. Cara Meredith's journey will serve as an invitation into conversations of justice, race, and privilege, asking key questions, such as: What does it mean to navigate ongoing and desperately needed conversations of race and justice? What does it mean for white people to listen and learn from the realities our black and brown brothers and sisters face every day? What does it mean to teach the next generation a theology of justice, reconciliation, and love? What does it mean to dig into the stories of our past, both historically and theologically, to see the imago Dei in everyone? Plus, Cara offers an extensive Notes and Recommended Reading section at the end of the book, so you can continue learning, listening, and engaging in this important conversation.

Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race

Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race
Author: Megan Madison
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2021-03-16
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 0593382633

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Based on the research that race, gender, consent, and body positivity should be discussed with toddlers on up, this read-aloud board book series offers adults the opportunity to begin important conversations with young children in an informed, safe, and supported way. Developed by experts in the fields of early childhood and activism against injustice, this topic-driven board book offers clear, concrete language and beautiful imagery that young children can grasp and adults can leverage for further discussion. While young children are avid observers and questioners of their world, adults often shut down or postpone conversations on complicated topics because it's hard to know where to begin. Research shows that talking about issues like race and gender from the age of two not only helps children understand what they see, but also increases self-awareness, self-esteem, and allows them to recognize and confront things that are unfair, like discrimination and prejudice. This first book in the series begins the conversation on race, with a supportive approach that considers both the child and the adult. Stunning art accompanies the simple and interactive text, and the backmatter offers additional resources and ideas for extending this discussion.