Slavery in the United States didn’t end with the 13th Amendment – it remained as punishment for a crime. And boy, did America come up with some crimes.
RACISM
Where did our ideas of "blackness" and "whiteness" come from? What consequences did they have throughout history? What is "systemic racism" or "critical race theory?" These books (hopefully) help explain how race has affected American history and our daily lives.
THE COLOR OF LAW – Richard Rothstein
Richard Rothstein has the receipts on how HOAs, city councils, banks, realtors, states and the federal government all actively and deliberately worked to keep our neighborhoods segregated. This read is informative, readable, and infuriating.
STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING – Ibram X. Kendi
Don’t let the size or heavy subject matter fool you: this is a fascinating, heartbreaking, and compulsively readable history of how “race” was constructed as an idea in America.
THE FIRE NEXT TIME – James Baldwin
A classic that spent way too long on my shelf unread. Can any discussion of race in America be complete without Baldwin’s voice?
HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST – Ibram K. Kendi
A personal, sharp look at how racism is constructed in America, how it serves the interest of those in power, and how to fight it.
This one is essential.
WHITE FRAGILITY – Robin DiAngelo
A guide to how white people manage to avoid racial discomfort and diversity while convincing themselves they’re free of prejudice. However, its corporate-HR overtones – and lack of awareness that racism is also a system of policies – makes the book feel hollow.
STONY THE ROAD – Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. writes a compelling, brief history of what African Americans truly accomplished during Reconstruction, and how that opportunity was crushed by a racist white counterrevolution that set the tone for decades’ more oppression.
