This guide contains supporting material for the 2020 LU Reads for Change book selections: This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell and How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.as well as other resources on Anti-Racism.
Copies of both books are available from the library at the circulation desk on the first floor.
More information and sign-up for the LU Reads for Change program is available at here.
This Book Is Anti-Racist by
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Recommended by Oprah's Book Club, ESSENCE, We Need Diverse Books, ellentube, Brit + Co, PureWow, Teen Vogue, Time, New York, USA TODAY, and TODAY.com Now available: This Book Is Anti-Racist Journal, a guided journal with more than 50 activities to support your anti-racism journey Who are you? What is racism? Where does it come from? Why does it exist? What can you do to disrupt it? Learn about social identities, the history of racism and resistance against it, and how you can use your anti-racist lens and voice to move the world toward equity and liberation. "In a racist society, it's not enough to be non-racist--we must be ANTI-RACIST." --Angela Davis Gain a deeper understanding of your anti-racist self as you progress through 20 chapters that spark introspection, reveal the origins of racism that we are still experiencing, and give you the courage and power to undo it. Each chapter builds on the previous one as you learn more about yourself and racial oppression. 20 activities get you thinking and help you grow with the knowledge. All you need is a pen and paper. Author Tiffany Jewell, an anti-bias, anti-racist educator and activist, builds solidarity beginning with the language she chooses--using gender neutral words to honor everyone who reads the book. Illustrator Aurélia Durand brings the stories and characters to life with kaleidoscopic vibrancy. After examining the concepts of social identity, race, ethnicity, and racism, learn about some of the ways people of different races have been oppressed, from indigenous Americans and Australians being sent to boarding school to be "civilized" to a generation of Caribbean immigrants once welcomed to the UK being threatened with deportation by strict immigration laws. Find hope in stories of strength, love, joy, and revolution that are part of our history, too, with such figures as the former slave Toussaint Louverture, who led a rebellion against white planters that eventually led to Haiti's independence, and Yuri Kochiyama, who, after spending time in an internment camp for Japanese Americans during WWII, dedicated her life to supporting political prisoners and advocating reparations for those wrongfully interned. Learn language and phrases to interrupt and disrupt racism. So, when you hear a microaggression or racial slur, you'll know how to act next time. This book is written for EVERYONE who lives in this racialized society--including the young person who doesn't know how to speak up to the racist adults in their life, the kid who has lost themself at times trying to fit into the dominant culture, the children who have been harmed (physically and emotionally) because no one stood up for them or they couldn't stand up for themselves, and also for their families, teachers, and administrators. With this book, be empowered to actively defy racism and xenophobia to create a community (large and small) that truly honors everyone.
The library has 5 physical copies of this book available from reserves at the first floor circulation desk
Black Mirror by
Blackness, as the entertainment and sports industries well know, is a prized commodity in American pop culture. Marketed to white consumers, black culture invites whites to view themselves in a mirror of racial difference, while at the same time offering the illusory reassurance that they remain ?wholly? white. Charting a rich landscape that includes classic American literature, Hollywood films, pop music, and investigative journalism, Eric Lott reveals the hidden dynamics of this self-and-other mirroring of racial symbolic capital. Black Mirror is a timely reflection on the ways provocative representations of racial difference serve to sustain white cultural dominance. As Lott demonstrates, the fraught symbolism of racial difference props up white hegemony, but it also tantalizingly threatens to expose the contradictions and hypocrisies upon which the edifice of white power has been built. Mark Twain's still-controversial depiction of black characters and dialect, John Howard Griffin's experimental cross-racial reporting, Joni Mitchell's perverse penchant for cross-dressing as a black pimp, Bob Dylan's knowing thefts of black folk music: these instances and more show how racial fantasy, structured through the mirroring of identification and appropriation so visible in blackface performance, still thrives in American culture, despite intervening decades of civil rights activism, multiculturalism, and the alleged post-racialism of the twenty-first century. In Black Mirror, white and black Americans view themselves through a glass darkly, but also face to face.
The New Jim Crow by
In a bold and innovative argument, a rising legal star shows readers how the mass incarceration of a disproportionate number of black men amounts to a devastating system of racial control. This is a terrifying reality that exists in the UK as much as in the US. Despite the triumphant dismantling of the Jim Crow laws, the system that once forced African-Americans into a segregated second-class citizenship still haunts and the criminal justice system still unfairly targets black men and deprives an entire segment of the population of their basic rights.
Our Racist Heart? by
Few people today would admit to being a racist, or to making assumptions about individuals based on their skin colour, or on their gender or social class. In this book, leading psychologist Geoffrey Beattie asks if prejudice, more subtle than before, is still a major part of our everyday lives. Beattie suggests that implicit biases based around race are not just found in small sections of our society, but that they also exist in the psyches of even the most liberal, educated and fair-minded of us. More importantly, the book outlines how these 'hidden' attitudes and prejudices can be revealed and measured, and how they in turn predict behaviours in a number of important social situations. Our Racist Heart? takes a fresh look at our racial attitudes, using new technology and experimental approaches to show how unconscious biases influence our everyday actions and thinking. These groundbreaking results are brought to life using the author's own experiences of class and religious prejudice in Northern Ireland, and are also discussed in relation to the history of race, racism and social psychological theory.
Out of Bounds by
This collection of essays highlights the controversies surrounding racism in sports and African American athletes, examining the racial discrimination that exists in one of the most public arenas in the 21st century. Despite increasing diversity in the American population, race and racial bias continue to be significant issues in the United States. Sports_one of the most visible and important subsets of American culture_directly reflect our society's beliefs about race. This book examines racial controversy and conflict in various sports in the United States in both previous eras as well as the current "Age of Obama." The essays in the work explain how racial ideologies are created and recreated in all areas of public life, including the world of sports. The authors address a wide range of sports, including ones where racial minorities are in the numerical minority, such as hockey. Specific topics covered include the devaluation of black athletes, racism in Major League Baseball, and the treatment of black female athletes. Enables readers to comprehend how sports influence_and are influenced by_society, and grasp that both race and sports are powerful social constructions Contains contributions from sociologist and social theorist Joe Feagin, a highly respected authority on the subject of race Identifies and discusses the institutional barriers and personal practices regarding African Americans that perpetuate racism in sports and our society at large
(Requires LEA login)
(Requires LEA login)
(Requires LEA login)
How to Be an Antiracist by
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a "groundbreaking" (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society--and in ourselves. "The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind."--The New York Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review * Time * NPR * The Washington Post * Shelf Awareness * Library Journal * Publishers Weekly * Kirkus Reviews Antiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism--and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At its core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human value; its warped logic extends beyond race, from the way we regard people of different ethnicities or skin colors to the way we treat people of different sexes, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas--from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities--that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves. Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science with his own personal story of awakening to antiracism. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a just and equitable society. Praise for How to Be an Antiracist "Ibram X. Kendi's new book, How to Be an Antiracist, couldn't come at a better time. . . . Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author's own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism. . . . How to Be an Antiracist gives us a clear and compelling way to approach, as Kendi puts it in his introduction, 'the basic struggle we're all in, the struggle to be fully human and to see that others are fully human.' "--NPR "Kendi dissects why in a society where so few people consider themselves to be racist the divisions and inequalities of racism remain so prevalent. How to Be an Antiracist punctures the myths of a post-racial America, examining what racism really is--and what we should do about it."--Time
The library has 5 physical copies of this book available from reserves at the first floor circulation desk and 1 electronic copy available from the library website or by clicking the title above.
The Color of the Third Degree by
Available for the first time in English, The Color of the Third Degree uncovers the still-hidden history of police torture in the Jim Crow South. Based on a wide array of previously neglected archival sources, Silvan Niedermeier argues that as public lynching decreased, less visible practices of racial subjugation and repression became central to southern white supremacy. In an effort to deter unruly white mobs, as well as oppress black communities, white southern law officers violently extorted confessions and testimony from black suspects and defendants in jail cells and police stations to secure speedy convictions. In response, black citizens and the NAACP fought to expose these brutal practices through individual action, local organizing, and litigation. In spite of these efforts, police torture remained a widespread, powerful form of racial control and suppression well into the late twentieth century. The first historical study of police torture in the American South, Niedermeier draws attention to the willing acceptance of violent coercion by prosecutors, judges, and juries, and brings to light the deep historical roots of police violence against African Americans, one of the most urgent and distressing issues of our time.
The Racial Healing Handbook by
A powerful and practical guide to help you navigate racism, challenge privilege, manage stress and trauma, and begin to heal. Healing from racism is a journey that often involves reliving trauma and experiencing feelings of shame, guilt, and anxiety. This journey can be a bumpy ride, and before we begin healing, we need to gain an understanding of the role history plays in racial/ethnic myths and stereotypes. In so many ways, to heal from racism, you must re-educate yourself and unlearn the processes of racism. This book can help guide you. The Racial Healing Handbook offers practical tools to help you navigate daily and past experiences of racism, challenge internalized negative messages and privileges, and handle feelings of stress and shame. You'll also learn to develop a profound racial consciousness and conscientiousness, and heal from grief and trauma. Most importantly, you'll discover the building blocks to creating a community of healing in a world still filled with racial microaggressions and discrimination. This book is not just about ending racial harm--it is about racial liberation. This journey is one that we must take together. It promises the possibility of moving through this pain and grief to experience the hope, resilience, and freedom that helps you not only self-actualize, but also makes the world a better place.
Raciolinguistics by
Raciolinguistics reveals the central role that language plays in shaping our ideas about race and vice versa. The book brings together a team of leading scholars-working both within and beyond the United States-to share powerful, much-needed research that helps us understand the increasingly vexed relationships between race, ethnicity, and language in our rapidly changing world. Combining the innovative, cutting-edge approaches of race and ethnic studies with fine-grained linguistic analyses, authors cover a wide range of topics including the struggle over the very term "African American," the racialized language education debates within the increasing number of "majority-minority" immigrant communities in the U.S., the dangers of multicultural education in a Europe that is struggling to meet the needs of new migrants, and the sociopolitical and cultural meanings of linguistic styles used in Brazilian favelas, South African townships, Mexican and Puerto Rican barrios in Chicago, and Korean American "cram schools" in New York City, among other sites. Taking into account rapidly changing demographics in the U.S and shifting cultural and media trends across the globe--from Hip Hop cultures, to transnational Mexican popular and street cultures, to Israeli reality TV, to new immigration trends across Africa and Europe--Raciolinguistics shapes the future of scholarship on race, ethnicity, and language. By taking a comparative look across a diverse range of language and literacy contexts, the volume seeks not only to set the research agenda in this burgeoning area of study, but also to help resolve pressing educational and political problems in some of the most contested raciolinguistic contexts in the world.
Racism by
Race and separate races of human beings do not exist. They are a myth. Yet, racism is very real. Because racism is the namesake of something that does not exist, there is general confusion about what it actually is. This confusion has served to protect racism, and even reinforce it. By reviewing the entire history of racism, this book shows exactly what racism is: a subjective system of ranking groups of people and the belief that there is a natural social order of those groups. The lie of inferior and superior groups of people originated as a justification for slavery. Plantation owners, lawmakers, and scientists carefully nurtured the myth until long after slavery had ended. It has survived for centuries and continues to be used to separate people. Every white person needs to be aware of that history in order to understand how the myth of race and a hierarchy of humanity lingers in each of us and in all of our institutions. ""John Lovchik chronicles his journey as a white man seeking understanding of racism and his role in it with conviction and clarity. He acknowledges those who mentored and inspired him from the beginning. This is not always done. Now his task is to reach out to those beyond his comfort zone, which he also acknowledges. How do you organize those who don't share his truth and are even reluctant to learn about it--white people in denial or those who have been lulled into a sort of racial stupor? He knows this will not be easy. Read this book and then write your own."" --David Billings, author of Deep Denial: The Persistence of White Supremacy in United States History and Life ""John Lovchik provides an impressive historical overview of the devastating process of racism in the United States. Lovchik weaves history with an urgent call to take action. This is an accessible and powerful book about our collective, ongoing task of dismantling white supremacy. White folks will want to share this book with friends and family."" --Rose Ernst, author of The Price of Progressive Politics: The Welfare Rights Movement in an Era of Colorblind Racism John Lovchik has been an anti-racism activist for more than twenty years as a member of a number of white collectives and organizations led by people of color. He is a member of the Seattle Race Conference Planning Committee and has been a trainer with the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond.
White Guys on Campus by
Winner of the 2019 AERA Division J Outstanding Publication Award and the 2019 ASHE Outstanding Book Award On April 22, 2015, Boston University professor Saida Grundy set off a Twitter storm with her provocative question: "Why is white America so reluctant to identify white college males as a problem population?" White Guys on Campus is a critical examination of race in higher education, centering Whiteness, in an effort to unveil the frequently unconscious habits of racism among White male undergraduates. Nolan L. Cabrera moves beyond the "few bad apples" frame of contemporary racism, and explores the structures, policies, ideologies, and experiences that allow racism to flourish. This book details many of the contours of contemporary, systemic racism, while engaging the possibility of White students to participate in anti-racism. Ultimately, White Guys on Campus calls upon institutions of higher education to be sites of social transformation instead of reinforcing systemic racism, while creating a platform to engage and challenge the public discourse of "post- racialism."
Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
