What do Bill McKibben, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Facing South all have in common?

Yesterday I received a note (along with a donation) saying this: “Thank you for all you do.  I have learned much from your writings… thank you for introducing me to the education I wish I had had many decades ago.”Linda S.

That pretty much sums up what I do, try to bring you the education that we all should have received years ago, but didn’t. The same education that so many are trying to exclude from our public schools in fear that learning about America’s history of race will diminish the accomplishments of white people. I’m pretty sure that it won’t diminish, but augment. But true enough, amongst some, there is a fear because learning about our true and full history doesn’t support our false national narrative that creates a belief – and an unavoidable unconscious bias - that a country that has such deep ties to race and slavery was brought to life and greatness pretty much solely with the labor and wisdom of white people. Mostly white men.

As I began to learn so much that was never taught to me, I found the history to be interesting as h…well, you know. I felt that not only would others find the history interesting, but motivational to set aside all the roadblocks, trauma, drama, harm, and hurt that America’s relationship with race has caused. I was probably optimistic and naïve, but I still hold onto much of that belief. So, Linda captured our mission to end racism through knowledge pretty accurately. It’s what The Civil Conversations Project does. The truth shall set you free sort of a thing.

Then last week two women that I did not previously know, both white, contacted me to ask if they could have some of my time to talk about race. Sure. Talking and writing and educating about race is what I seem to be spending my time doing during what was supposed to be my retirement. Both women had a deep curiosity about race in this country – a sign of how confusing race is, both want to see racial harmony, and both have a great deal of passion. I meet good folks like this on a frequent basis.

But moving the dial and becoming involved takes more than goodwill and passion. It takes some background knowledge. So this post is dedicated to providing you with some pretty easy, quick, and even enjoyable resources to help you understand America’s race thing – where we are and how the heck we got here. By my last count, there are over a zillion good books you can read to understand race in America.  Here are 2 easy and informative reads, 4 heavier lifts, 3 articles, and even 3 good videos. All of these resources will give you a good idea of the toll that race has taken on America. None of them focus on the harm done exclusively to Black Americans. Why? Because it is my belief that we’re all in this horror show together.

Books

One of the very best books I’ve ever read that gets right to the heart of race in this country is a book by Bill McKibben - a white man known as being one of America’s leading environmentalist and the first person to write a book for the everyman to explain climate change. The Cross, The Flag, and the Station Wagon. Read this book. It’s only three chapters. If you’re really pressed for time, just read the first chapter. And if for some reason you don’t even have the time for an 86 page chapter, then just read from the bottom of page 64 to the middle of page 73. If you just do that you’ll understand more about structural racism and the harm it has caused you and your children than most folks in America. Think about how much fun you’ll be at a party.

Climate Change Is Racist by Jeremy Williams is a fast and easy - albeit uncomfortable - read

that ties together far more than just climate change. It’s common knowledge that climate change – like all bad things – effects poor and brown people disproportionately. But rather than pointing out the obvious, Jeremy connects the dots between climate change – which affects you, your children, and their children – and how systemic racism is a fundamental cause of this terrifying thing.  

If you are willing to lift heavier material:

Dying Of Whiteness, How The Politics Of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland by Jonathan Metzel shows how Americans threw their support behind politicians who promised to re-elevate them to what they saw as their former, undisputed place at the top of the American social hierarchy and how the policies that resulted from that white backlash put those voters’ health at risk and ultimately threatened everyone’s well-being.

White Rage by Doctor Carol Anderson makes clear what every Black person knows and lives with: Since the 13th amendment outlawing slavery in the United States, every time Black Americans have made progress towards full participation in the Promise of America, white rage and resentment, usually in the courts and legislatures, has fueled a deliberate and relentless rollback of gains. Two steps forward one - or even two - steps back.

While not specifically focused on race, Adam Serwer’s book, The Cruelty Is The Point chronicles the careless cruelty of today’s politics not as an aberration but as an outgrowth of the United States’ fundamental inequalities, those of “a society founded by slaveholders on the principle that all men are created equal.” But as I wrote in my July 23rd post, The Root of All Hate – read it here - the cruelty and violence and hate that we now see every day – look no further than race to find the root cause.

And again, while not specifically focused on race, The Spirit Level, Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by researchers Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, shows how the more equitable a community or society is, the more improved the quality of life is for everybody – from teen pregnancy to high school graduation rates to healthcare outcomes to life expectancy to income and wealth. The connection to race? Where do you find the greatest inequities in America? Spoiler Alert – not Gross Pointe.

Articles

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ now famous article The Case For Reparations. Read it here.  Another spoiler alert: His definition of reparations has nothing to do with writing a check to individuals. But read this 17,000 word article and you’ll come away with a quick and relatively thorough understanding of how we got to where we got to.

I used to be caught up in the white supremacist belch, “Slavery was a long time. No American alive today owned slaves, so what does it have to do with today’s racism?” The answer is, “It has everything to do with today’s racism.” This 6,400 word article in the magazine Facing South does a long, but easy-to-read deep dive into myths that refuse to die. Read it here.

And confused about confederate monuments? Think that they just innocently represent history? For the best ever read on Understanding Confederate Monuments, read my piece here.

Videos/documentaries

13th on Netflix. The title refers to the 13th amendment outlawing slavery in the United States. Want to understand how a democracy that has 4.25% of the world’s population, has 25% of the world’s incarcerated people - mostly Black? Watch this 90 minute fascinating film.

Flint Town, also on Netflix is a 7 part series of the interactions between the Flint Police Department and the residents of this poor, mostly Black town. This is not an anti-cop film. It shows cops and residents as the complex humans that they are and the complex relationship between Black communities and the mostly white police departments that patrol them. This is a fun flick to watch, so watch it.

After Selma is only available if you buy it. It’s a suburb documentary on both how the Civil Rights Movement left Selma, the birth place of the movement, behind and still in severe poverty. But probably more importantly, After Selma is a deep dive into the problems, politics, tactics and racism of voter suppression. This is the best source of information on voter suppression that you’ll ever come across. Spend the 20 bucks. It’s worth way more than that. You can buy it here. Just do it!

And saving the best for last - Nicodemus is a 12 minute video that Mara Ferris of Gen9 Productions and I produced several years ago connecting the dots of racism that affected a still-living, post-Civil War, Black Kansas agricultural town then and now. Watch this film. Try to imagine yourself working as hard as these folks did under tough, hard, adverse conditions. Watch it here.

Enjoy becoming the smartest person in the room!