Better message and content than execution. Awarded three stars on Goodreads.
I appreciate the ways in which reading this book has educated me about the more subtle aspects of pervasive and ingrained racism, in society and in my own outlook. I think I’ve never before fully understood that the flip side of a racist society is the intense privilege that has been offered to white Americans for centuries. As a self help exercise, the author even offers some exercises you can do at the end of each chapter.
I suspect even the most active anti-racist will recognize his or her unintentional complicity in perpetuating racism in the US. And there are some real OMG moments of seeing how the government has subtly but systematically institutionalized racism.
This would be an excellent “must read” book for our nationwide middle school curriculum. However I must add that, as a piece of writing, the author took longer to make her points than was necessary, so the actual reading, for me, became a bit tedious.
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Toby A. Smith 