****
WTR (What’s Toby Reading)? provides unsolicited and unsponsored (I don’t get paid) opinions of books I have recently finished.
****
Some of you may recognize Robin DiAngelo from her #1 New York Times Bestselling title, White Fragility. In a completely on-brand move, I have chosen to pick up her second book first, Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm, at the library this week. With that said, I do not think that reading Diangelo’s first title is necessary to understand this effort.
Once I dove in, here are my highlights:
First, the oxymoronic title is perfect for the crowd of us that want to learn more about coping with and working to be anti-racist. No, this book is not reserved for the “woke” crowd. In fact, Nice Racism would be very useful to all white people/parents who have ever the following phrases:
“I am not at all racist.”
“I have black friends.”
“Of course, I support hiring more diversity.”
or “My kids are colorblind.”
Chances are that you have said or heard these statements so the book’s appeal is broad.
As I read, I kept coming back to Diangelo’s mention of a famous writing from Dr. Martin Luther King I had never heard. From jail, Dr. King scribed:
Owing to its immense popularity, there are so next page levitra uk many fraud pharmacies that are selling false drugs under the name of impotence by so many people. Brief storage between 59-86 degrees buy viagra cialis F (15-30 degrees C) away from moisture, heat and light and out of the reach of children. Some doctors, though not all will suggest that you ask your doctor or health find out address buy cialis advisor about it. When you are really in need of Physiotherapy for any of your ailments like, postural problems, neck and back pain, or any kind of sports injury, on the advice of their physician. viagra sales online“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice….who constantly states, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action.”
Martin Luther King, Jr,
The coy avoidance of white people for real, hard, painful, uncomfortable racial conversations, to me, is what Diangelo’s book is about. Admittedly, this is a heady topic that will not end with a basket of flowers or a finite solution.
No, Nice Racism leaves me with work to do. What role might my own biases play in racism around me? At very minimum, the book provides an informed point of view when you help your children navigate through this crazy world.
Let’s face it – they will.
Book Details:
