The White Allies Handbook


Book Description

You’ve read White Fragility and How to Be an Antiracist, but what comes next? The answer lies in this clear, actionable guide providing a vital 4-week program for becoming an ally who makes a real difference in the racial justice fight. Get the tools you need to get off the sidelines and onto the frontlines of allyship, combat racism while supporting Black women, and avoid common pitfalls white people fall into when they think about and discuss racism. “[T]his timely, no-nonsense handbook offers an important blueprint for White allies to carry out the often uncomfortable but necessary work of promoting racial equality among all marginalized people. Welcome straight talk for a new age in race relations.” —Kirkus Reviews Black women have always been the driving force behind real change in this country—especially when it comes to racial justice work. But they shouldn’t have to do it alone. If you’re ready to stop standing on the sidelines and become anti-racist instead of passively “not racist,” then this book is what you need. You’ll discover: How to have difficult conversations about white supremacy, racism, and white privilege How to listen to criticism without defensiveness Why it’s harmful to ignore race or claim to be colorblind How to expand your racial justice circle by joining groups led by Black women and cultivating a group of like-minded allies Racism can only be defeated if white people educate themselves and actively engage in antiracism work, especially in their inner circles. With this book, you’ll learn how to change from someone who defends and protects racism to someone who fights against it. And you’ll become an example to others that true allies are made, not born. “Recommended for reading groups looking for active discussions of racism. This book will help readers learn more about racism and its lasting effects on society.” —Library Journal




White Fragility


Book Description

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.




The Good Ally


Book Description

‘I invite you to be courageous and get comfortable with being uncomfortable, because any discomfort you feel is temporary and pales in comparison to what black and brown people often have to experience on a daily basis. Are you ready? Let’s get started, we have work to do.’




Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race


Book Description

'Every voice raised against racism chips away at its power. We can't afford to stay silent. This book is an attempt to speak' The book that sparked a national conversation. Exploring everything from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand race relations in Britain today. THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS NON-FICTION NARRATIVE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 FOYLES NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BLACKWELL'S NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE JHALAK PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR A BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD




Dear White People


Book Description

*Now a Netflix Original Series* In the satirical tradition of the New York Times bestseller Stuff White People Like comes this witty companion book to the “incredibly entertaining” (Indiewire) film of the same name, which “heralds a fresh and funny new voice” (Variety). Right out of college, Justin Simien wrote a screenplay about the nuanced experiences of four black students on a predominantly white college campus. The film, Dear White People, garnered a Sundance Award for “Breakthrough Talent” and has been hailed by critics everywhere. Channeling the sensibility of the film into this book, Simien will keep you laughing with his humorous observations, even if you haven’t seen the satiric film. News Flash—the minimum number of black friends needed to not seem racist has just been raised to two. Rather than panic, readers are advised to purchase a copy of Dear White People. Whether you are a dear white person wondering why your black office mate is avoiding eye contact with you after you ran your fingers through her hair, or you’re a black nerd who has to break it to your white friends that you’ve never seen The Wire, this myth-busting, stereotype-diffusing guide to a post-Obama world has something for you! With decision-making trees to help you decide when it’s the right time to wear Blackface (hint: probably never) and quizzes to determine whether you’ve become the Token Black Friend™, Dear White People is the ultimate silly-yet-authoritative handbook to help the curious and confused navigate racial microaggressions in their daily lives. Based on the eponymous, award-winning film, which has been lauded as “a smart, hilarious satire,” this tongue-in-cheek guide is a must-have that anybody who is in semi-regular contact with black people can’t afford to miss!




Refusing Racism


Book Description

Why and how have whites joined people of colour to fight against white supremacy in the United States? What have they risked and what have they gained? For anyone who has wondered about the character, motivations, and contributions of white civil rights activists, Refusing Racism offers rich portraits of four contemporary white American activists who have dedicated their lives to the struggle for civil rights. Drawing heavily on interviews and memoirs, this volume offers honest accounts of their thoughts and experiences and shows how their commitments are central to our ongoing history. Meet the White Allies: Virginia Foster Durr, J. Waties Waring, Anne McCarty Braden, and Herbert R. Kohl.




Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice


Book Description

While we are all familiar with the lives of prominent Black civil rights leaders, few of us have a sense of what is entailed in developing a White anti-racist identity. Few of us can name the White activists who joined the struggle against discrimination, let alone understand the complexities, stresses and contradictions of doing this work while benefiting from the privileges they enjoyed as Whites. This book fills that gap by vividly presenting – in their own words – the personal stories, experiences and reflections of fifteen prominent White anti-racists. They recount the circumstances that led them to undertake this work, describe key moments and insights along their journeys, and frankly admit their continuing lapses and mistakes. They make it clear that confronting oppression (including their own prejudices) – whether about race, sexual orientation, ability or other differences – is a lifelong process of learning. The chapters in this book are full of inspirational and lesson-rich stories about the expanding awareness of White social justice advocates and activists who grappled with their White privilege and their early socialization and decided to work against structural injustice and personal prejudice. The authors are also self-critical, questioning their motivations and commitments, and acknowledging that – as Whites and possessors of other privileged identities – they continue to benefit from White privilege even as they work against it.This is an eye-opening book for anyone who wants to understand what it means to be White and the reality of what is involved in becoming a White anti-racist and social justice advocate; is interested in the paths taken by those who have gone before; and wants to engage reflectively and critically in this difficult and important work.Contributing AuthorsWarren J. BlumenfeldAbby L. FerberJane K. FernandesMichelle FineDiane J. GoodmanPaul C. GorskiHeather W. HackmanGary R. HowardKevin JenningsFrances E. KendallPaul KivelJames W. LoewenPeggy McIntoshJulie O’MaraAlan RabinowitzAndrea RabinowitzChristine E. Sleeter







Nice Racism


Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Building on the groundwork laid in the New York Times bestseller White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explores how a culture of niceness inadvertently promotes racism. In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explained how racism is a system into which all white people are socialized and challenged the belief that racism is a simple matter of good people versus bad. DiAngelo also made a provocative claim: white progressives cause the most daily harm to people of color. In Nice Racism, her follow-up work, she explains how they do so. Drawing on her background as a sociologist and over 25 years working as an anti-racist educator, she picks up where White Fragility left off and moves the conversation forward. Writing directly to white people as a white person, DiAngelo identifies many common white racial patterns and breaks down how well-intentioned white people unknowingly perpetuate racial harm. These patterns include: • rushing to prove that we are “not racist” • downplaying white advantage • romanticizing Black, Indigenous and other peoples of color (BIPOC) • pretending white segregation “just happens” • expecting BIPOC people to teach us about racism • carefulness • and feeling immobilized by shame. DiAngelo explains how spiritual white progressives seeking community by co-opting Indigenous and other groups’ rituals create separation, not connection. She challenges the ideology of individualism and explains why it is OK to generalize about white people, and she demonstrates how white people who experience other oppressions still benefit from systemic racism. Writing candidly about her own missteps and struggles, she models a path forward, encouraging white readers to continually face their complicity and embrace courage, lifelong commitment, and accountability. Nice Racism is an essential work for any white person who recognizes the existence of systemic racism and white supremacy and wants to take steps to align their values with their actual practice. BIPOC readers may also find the “insiders” perspective useful for navigating whiteness. Includes a study guide.




Good White People


Book Description

Argues for the necessity of a new ethos for middle-class white anti-racism. Building on her book Revealing Whiteness, Shannon Sullivan identifies a constellation of attitudes common among well-meaning white liberals that she sums up as “white middle-class goodness,” an orientation she critiques for being more concerned with establishing anti-racist bona fides than with confronting systematic racism and privilege. Sullivan untangles the complex relationships between class and race in contemporary white identity and outlines four ways this orientation is expressed, each serving to establish one’s lack of racism: the denigration of lower-class white people as responsible for ongoing white racism, the demonization of antebellum slaveholders, an emphasis on colorblindness—especially in the context of white childrearing—and the cultivation of attitudes of white guilt, shame, and betrayal. To move beyond these distancing strategies, Sullivan argues, white people need a new ethos that acknowledges and transforms their whiteness in the pursuit of racial justice rather than seeking a self-righteous distance from it.