A book list for those of us who want to learn more about combating racism

I finished reading “The Blood of Emmett Till” by Timothy B. Tyson, a book chosen for our book club, just a couple of weeks before George Floyd died under the knee of a white police office in Minnesota. That book haunted me as did the images of what took place in Minneapolis.

As a white woman, I am finally understanding my own complicity in the system that led to the death of both of these human beings, among countless others. That’s what privilege does; it puts blinders on you. And, these blinders are comfortable and safe, and they are designed to keep people like me from doing better for my black and brown neighbors. I’m working to remove them.

Part of my efforts will involve educating myself, and I know others interested in doing the same have been seeing various lists online about where to start when it comes to exploring these issues. So, I thought that instead of my usual Wednesday post about self-care or goals, I would share with you a list of books that I have added to my reading list in an effort to educate myself about systemic racism in our country.

The list is comprised of books that I keep seeing on various “top 10” or “best of” reading lists for those seeking to better understand Anti-Racism and Racial Inequity.* Moreover, as I tend to use Goodreads as a way to manage my own reading lists, and I have found their summaries and discussion questions helpful, I am turning to Goodreads’ book summaries to provide additional information on these titles I have yet to read.

Each of these books has appeared on at least 3 different lists. I figured if they are being recommended by so many sources, they’re probably a good place to start.

Here is the list, in no particular order:

“So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo. According to this Goodreads summary, “In this breakout book, Ijeoma Oluo explores the complex reality of today’s racial landscape–from white privilege and police brutality to systemic discrimination and the Black Lives Matter movement–offering straightforward clarity that readers need to contribute to the dismantling of the racial divide.”

“Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The Goodreads summary for this book reads, in part, “In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of ‘race,’ a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son.”

“How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi. According to this Goodreads summary, “Ibram X. Kendi’s concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America–but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to be an Antiracist, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.“

(In addition to this book, Kendi has also written the children’s board book, “Anti-Racist Baby” and “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” co-written with Jason Reynolds and geared toward younger readers.)

“White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin J. Diangelo. This book has made nearly every list that I found. As Goodreads explains here, “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, anti-racist educator Robin DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what can be done to engage more constructively.”

“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race” by Beverley Daniel Tatum. According to the Goodreads summary, “Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides. These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious.”

“White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide” by Carol Anderson. The Goodreads description for this book begins, “As Ferguson, Missouri, erupted in August 2014, and media commentators across the ideological spectrum referred to the angry response of African Americans as ‘black rage,’ historian Carol Anderson wrote a remarkable op-ed in the Washington Post showing that this was, instead, ‘white rage at work. With so much attention on the flames,’ she writes, ‘everyone had ignored the kindling.’ . . . Anderson pulls back the veil that has long covered actions made in the name of protecting democracy, fiscal responsibility, or protection against fraud, rendering visible the long lineage of white rage.”

“Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race” by Renni Eddo-Lodge. In its summary, Goodreads explains that, “In 2014, award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote about her frustration with the way that discussions of race and racism in Britain were being led by those who weren’t affected by it. She posted a piece on her blog, entitled: ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’ that led to this book. Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge and counter racism. It is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today.”

“The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander. This Goodreads summary states, in part, “In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community–and all of us–to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.”

“Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad. According to Goodreads, “Based on the viral Instagram challenge that captivated participants worldwide, Me and White Supremacy takes readers on a 28-day journey of how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.”

“The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin. Per this Goodreads blurb, “A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation and gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement. At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document. It consists of two ‘letters,’ written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as ‘sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle…all presented in searing, brilliant prose,‘ The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of our literature.”

“They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, And A New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement” by Wesley Lowery The Goodreads summary states, in part, “Conducting hundreds of interviews during the course of over one year reporting on the ground, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled from Ferguson, Missouri, to Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and Baltimore, Maryland; and then back to Ferguson to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise neglected, corners of America today. In an effort to grasp the magnitude of the repose to Michael Brown’s death and understand the scale of the problem police violence represents, Lowery speaks to Brown’s family and the families of other victims other victims’ families as well as local activists. By posing the question, ‘What does the loss of any one life mean to the rest of the nation?’ Lowery examines the cumulative effect of decades of racially biased policing in segregated neighborhoods with failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and too few jobs.”

Time To Learn

What I learned from the past week’s events is that I have a lot to learn about racism in our country. And, I am dedicating myself to that education.

Again, this list is a partial list made up of the books that commonly make the lists of the best books to read on racial justice issues. I cannot vouch for them as I have not read them yet, but I do plan on getting started as soon as some are back in stock (yes, hard copies are selling out) or I am able to take them out of the library.

If you would like a copy of the full list I compiled (which I’m sure is in no way a complete list of all the books on the subject, but again is a start) please leave a comment below, and I will email it to you.

*Please note that all of the links to these books are linked through Amazon.com. Although I am an Amazon affiliate, I have not used any affiliate links in this post.

** Images in the graphics courtesy of Pixabay.