I’m crying my heart out! Trumpsters please stay clear

“ The right acknowledgment of black justice, humanity, freedom and happiness won’t be found in your book clubs, protest signs, chalk talks or organizational statements. It will be found in your earnest willingness to dismantle systems that stand in our way — be they at your job, in your social network, your neighborhood associations, your family or your home. It’s not just about amplifying our voices, it’s about investing in them and in our businesses, education, political representation, power, housing and art. It starts, also, with reflection on the harm you’ve probably caused in a black person’s life. It may have happened when you were 10, 16, 22, 36 or 42. Comforting as it may be to read and discuss the big questions about race and justice and America, making up for past wrongs means starting with the fact that you’ve done wrong in the past, perhaps without realizing it at the time: in the old workplace, neighborhood, classroom, softball field. Maybe even the book club.
I am at a beer garden in Fishtown when the Trayvon Martin murder case reaches its conclusion. I am home in bed, curled like a question mark, crying over the news that Philando Castile has just been shot in front of his partner and their child. Freddie Gray is dead and I am standing in the district office of the Camden City School District, mourning with black co-workers. And I am all these things at once again when I watch my white colleagues, friends, acquaintances and long-ago classmates reopen this time loop. Still learning how to be allies yet never making amends to us.”


This quote is from the Washington Post article. The authors name is Tre Johnson out of PA. A very good read.

www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/white-antiracist-allyship-book-clubs/2020/06/11/9edcc766-abf5-11ea-94d2-d7bc43b26bf9_story.html?outputType=amp

Who is to tell someone how and where they should come to those realizations?  And who is to say that reading a book (or God forbid, even a book club!) might not be a good place for someone to start exploring those things about themselves?

I like this: "The confusing, perhaps contradictory advice on what white people should do probably feels maddening. To be told to step up, no step back, read, no listen, protest, don’t protest, check on black friends, leave us alone, ask for help or do the work — it probably feels contradictory at times. And yet, you’ll figure it out. Black people have been similarly exhausted making the case for jobs, freedom, happiness, justice, equality and the like. It’s made us dizzy, but we’ve managed to find the means to walk straight."

I can handle being upset and confused. It won't kill me to deal with that and work through it. Anti-racism is worth it.

Uh....ok. Why is any different than mentioning any book that you think would be helpful to read? Or naming a source? Isn’t the goal to help people have insight into their own prejudice, history, and systemic racism? Why would it be a bad thing to mention a book that can help achieve that?

It’s ironic (or hypocritical?) that your post did exactly what you claim I was doing by referencing the book.

Thanks to everyone who recommended books. I can understand how many people might just read a book and feel like they’ve done their part, but I don’t think most of the women on this board fall into that category, judging by the posts, thoughts and actions that have been revealed in these types of discussions.

Reading helps me process things, gives me more insight into the multitude of views that are out there and then from reading, action is formulated. Thoughts, ideas, words, actions. This is my general process and I would imagine for others it is the same.

I’ve been in a situation at work since day 1 when I first walked in to my job having just moved and found my first friend in the state. She has become one of my closest and dearest friends and she is black. I love her dearly, we text and talk daily night and day, go out for coffee regularly, and with her I have observed the most “pleasant unintended“ racism in a state of predominantly white people and Trump supporters.

The recent protests have affected her, bringing up inner fears a woman can feel for her husband and children in this environment and, though she is usually a reserved and gentle soul, she took to Facebook to express her sadness. The responses by some in her church community were shocking and reprehensible. Through all of this, she has remained calm, full of grace and kindness in spite of fear. She has been a teacher and a role model of everything I want to be in the face of continuous turmoil and I admire her greatly.

So I want to read.

No problem! Thanks for your willingness to read them!

Not sure why you felt it necessary to post on my thread🙄