Summer Reading For My White Friends
A list for those seeking to understand this American race dynamics
Dear White Friends,
Only in the past year have I come to know that I’m a white man. I know that sounds odd - that it would take me 40 years to realize this. I was surprised too!
I’ve read a lot about whiteness and the Black experience recently and come to realize that in fact the only thing more dangerous than a white (wo)man, is one that doesn’t know they’re white…or “doesn’t see color.” So my hope is to make you and me a little less dangerous right now.
If those sentences pisses you off, mystify you, or you feel attacked in some way — GREAT. That means there’s some interesting work to do and the books below are going to blow your mind in such a wonderful way. You can thank me later! You’re also welcome to avoid this self-education for a while longer, but I assure you that you do so at your own risk and at the risk of harming people of color further than you/we white people have already. You could lose your job. Your reputation. Your everything.
Or not. After all, it’s a white world and we white people are running it.
These books have had a profound impact on me.
If you’re skeptical about why you should read more about whiteness and the Black American experience, here’s a list of the “value propositions for white folks” that might be compelling to you. Perhaps they will convince you to do some of this reading if the inherent moral/humanist reasons to do so aren’t so apparent. White folks love value propositions! I know I do.
So here they are. If you read these books you will:
Cause less harm to people of color
Understand what’s happening in America today
Be less afraid of what’s happening in America today
Be more active in helping the community around you
Be less likely to say the wrong thing
Be able to communicate with POC about race
Be less likely to get fired from a job for being racist
Be less likely to have your employees/co-workers consider you an out of touch white guy/gal - or worse
Develop the interest and ability to have intimate relationships with POC
Be more in tune with your spiritual beliefs if you have them
Be more prepared for the next several decades of cultural upheaval at our doorstep
Learn how to be a partner to historical civil rights movements like Black Lives Matter
Sounds pretty transactional right? Man, white people…we love transactions.
So here’s the list - I encourage you to read them in the order I listed, but I’m not sure that matters. If any one of you reads them all - please comment or email me and you’ll receive a special gift from me (white people love incentives).
Summer 2020 Reading For My White Friends:
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley
The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
BONUS: For my buddhist friends like me…
The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality, and Gender
Double Bonus: Next on my reading list is…
Wishing you all the best this Summer!
-Peter