Books
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
This book is not perfect, but was an important starting place for my own education. The Atlantic published a thoughtful article titled: The Dehumanizing Condensation of White Fragility: The popular book aims to combat racism but talks down to Black people.
The article above is a must-read for anyone who has read White Fragility.
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi
Dr. Kendi is a writer, author and historian and is currently the director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University.
This book is more than 500 pages and is a historical journey exploring racism from the Greek Philosophers to present day. This book dives deep into history and is a recommended read for anyone who wants more context to understand antiracism as Dr Kendi explains it today and I’d recommend reading it before reading Dr Kendi’s book called How to be Antiracist (discussed later in this article).
Be ready for a detailed historical journey as you read this book. As a warning, this book does take quite a while to finish because of its depth and detail, so I recommend being ready for a longer read before you start reading. That said, by gaining a historical view you’ll have a much more nuanced understanding of the present day, and for that reason I highly recommend this read.
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
This memoir is a powerful journey into Brown’s life growing up Black in America. If this title sounds familiar, you may have heard of the author or the title from Oprah’s Book Club, Reese’s Book Club, or Brene Brown’s podcast.
The book starts with Austin describing how she learned, at age 7, that her parents named her Austin so that others would assume she was white. Austin talks about evangelical Christianity and the work place in particular. As someone who grew up in the evangelical Christian church and has been processing racism within education at the workplace, Channing explores these themes within this fantastic memoir that will make you laugh, cry and maybe even throw the book across the room.
Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist by Franchesca Ramsey
In this book, Ramsey discusses her journey from a YouTuber with a day job to a network TV commentator and comedian. This book is a series of essays that are funny, personal, and insightful. Ramsey starts by discussing what happened when a YouTube video went viral, and she became YouTube famous, with all the accolades and criticism that came with it. Ramsey’s viral YouTube video called “What White Girls Say….To Black Girls” was both praised and criticized. Through this, Ramsey discusses what she learned about “call in” versus “call out” culture and navigating the online space while discussing racism and white supremacy.
This book is a recommended read for anyone who is in the social media space and wants a thoughtful (and funny) discussion on these topics.
How to Be an Anitracist by Ibram X. Kendi
I recommend reading Stamped from the Beginning first, this book really discusses the 1980s and onward. Dr. Kendi talks about his own childhood, his own experience and his parent’s experiences with racism and offers a guide on how to be an Antiracist. Kendi discusses how to move forward for those who want to move forward from an awareness of racism to learning what antiracism is and how to work towards it.
This book came highly recommended to me, but I found it just as dense and academic as Stamped, but a lot more wandering. This particular book wasn’t my favorite on the list - but again, reading is personal. I know this book has been transformative for many people.
Currently Reading
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
This book is a 28 day educational and journaling experience. There’s daily information and then thoughtful journal prompts. This book is taking me some time to do, both because the journal prompts are so powerful I sometimes need more time to dig into each. I highly recommend doing these activities with a friend so that you can discuss the journal prompts and support each other and learn from each other in the process.
A discussion about how our bodies store and process trauma.
There are so many wonderful book lists out there if you want more information, including this list from the NY Times and this list from Goodreads.
