Liberate Your Mind First, Then Your Humanity
My anti-racism reading list to start your own journey of self-reflection & interrogation
I write a lot about my journey to become an anti-racist. I came to this work late in my life, at the ripe old age of 47.
Sure, I grew up in a “progressive” family of democrats, but I was still a racist and white feminist. I know, I know. Right now, you’re imagining me at a KKK rally with a white hood and a tiki torch.
But most racists aren’t overt like that. Most are much more subtle which is what makes racism so pernicious, dangerous and deadly.
We might think we’re doing all the right things to be a good human, but until we’re intentional about unraveling our beliefs about racialized people (and women, folks in the LGBTQ+ community, Muslim people, Jewish people, disabled people, etc.), we’re garden variety racists.
My parents were pro-civil rights, pro-union, anti-war, anti-gun, anti-organized religion and for all the liberal things. And they still each held racist ideas about people who weren’t white Christians.
My father had mad respect for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Angela Y. Davis and instilled that respect in me. I still remember when my dad showed me this photo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos giving the Black power sign at the 1968 Olympics. He was in awe of the courage of these two men, and he talked to me about the severe retaliation they suffered for years after. Even today, this is my favorite photo of all-time. Yet, my dad would still use the N word when he believed a Black person cut him off in traffic.
My mother was exceedingly kind, compassionate and warm. Yet, I’ll never forget her talking about her sorority experience at Penn State and going on a tangent about the obnoxiousness of the “Jewish sororities.”
I’ve come to learn these sorts of inconsistencies in beliefs are pretty common. We live in a system of white supremacy. This system has persisted for centuries. It’s woven into the fabric of our being. It shapes all of our systems and binds our thinking.
If you’re a white person reading this, the first step in your anti-racist journey is admitting you’re a racist. Let me reposition that word, because it’s been used simplistically, as a way to shut down discussions instead of beginning them.
Talking about racism and our own racist ideas is uncomfortable for white people. So, most of the time, we don’t discuss it. When the term “racist” does come up, it’s like waving a big red flag in front of a bull. The word has become a proxy for “bad.” Don’t misunderstand me, racism is bad. But if we focus solely on that, we never get anywhere.
The anti-racism journey is about liberating our minds with curiosity, knowledge and self-reflection.
There’s a confounding duality to human beings. A person can harbor both love and hate in their heart and can do both good and bad deeds. Having a binary view of the world is not helpful in anti-racist work because it tends to curtail exploration, excavation and discussion.
We can unravel this binary view of the world starting with ourselves. That starts with admitting we’re racists and educating ourselves on this system and the beliefs it encourages.
NOTE: DO NOT ask a person of color to educate you on your racism. It’s not their responsibility, plus it’s highly offensive to ask a traumatized person to explain the system that is traumatizing them to someone who upholds that system. This is our system (white people’s), and it’s up to us to educate ourselves and dismantle it accordingly.
Also, when a person of color gives you the gift of telling you about their lived experience, close your mouth, open your ears and believe them.
My anti-racist journey began with reading. I started with the non-fiction modern classics represented on this list. Those books gave me the language and framework required to transform my thinking.
I then started to yearn for fiction written by historically marginalized voices. I’m a huge fiction lover, and I’ve always believed that fiction taps into our empathy in a way non-fiction can’t. There’s incredible truth in novels, and that truth comes in the form of lived experience and compassion. It can also help us understand the nuances of racism in a more tangible, relatable way.
These works of fiction have changed how I read. It’s amazing how white-centric our imaginations are when we’re stuck in the white supremacy matrix. Until embarking on this journey, I imagined every protagonist and major character as white. Not very imaginative, huh?
Now, my imagination doesn’t automatically presume that. I just read a book called “The Awoken,” and in my mind, the protagonist was a young, Black woman. That represented a massive change in my thinking, an improvement to my imagination. Even when the protagonist was eventually described as clearly being white, I stubbornly held onto my vision of her. I simply liked my mentally-conjured character better.
This list is by no means exhaustive. I’m always looking for new books to read and add to it, so drop me a line if you think I’ve missed any good resources.
Happy reading…and unraveling!
The first research paper I ever did in 9th grade English class, I picked Their Eyes Were Watching God. I didn’t realize at the time what a subversive pick this was for a predominantly white, all girls school, but my teacher had adopted two black children, so I am sure she was happy with my choice. I should go back and read it again. I remember being so taken by it at the time.
I had my all white, Boomer (and 2 Gen X) ladies book club read The Vanishing Half during the pandemic. Whew, was that an interesting discussion. (Whiteness as aspirational is such a crux of our society.) And during this process of working on white feminism, I have had so many conversations with my 73 year old mother about what’s ingrained and how we are indoctrinated. Some days she’s more open to the ideas than others.
Have you started Koa Beck’s White Feminism yet? I have tabbed the hell out of it.