June 2020 Bookshelf

As we grapple with how to dismantle deep systemic racism, it’s important to examine the ways White people unknowingly do harm to their BIPOC neighbors—where the line is blurred between cultural appreciation and appropriation. This examination is complex and layered, as Greg Tate, editor of Everything But the Burden, showcases by amplifying Black voices that span “music, popular culture, the literary world, and the media.” These narratives are an invitation to participate in critical conversations and reflections within your learning community and beyond about the inherent privilege white skin embodies and lessons in properly honoring Black self-expression.

The July 16, 2009 arrest of Henry Louis Gates, MacArthur Fellow and Harvard Professor, while breaking into his home in Cambridge, MA, sparked a national dialogue about racial tensions and the presumptive threat Black men and women pose to society. A single incident illuminated that one’s achievement and class are not cures for the implicit and explicit racial biases pervading policing and our legal system. In The Presumption of Guilt, prominent Civil Rights expert Charles Ogletree draws from Gates’s story, along with his own encounters with law enforcement and extensive research into the intersectionality of “race, class, and crime,” to explore what’s needed to realize “racial and legal equality” for all in America. For any educator who desires to better understand the persistent and layered obstacles young learners of color and their families confront in society, this book is for you.

There are many questions to explore when confronting why young learners, in diverse learning spaces, are prone to self-segregate, by race, into their respective corners. Is it a defense mechanism? Are there deeper societal breakdowns in communication across race and ethnicity that begin at an early age? If so, how do we thoughtfully address them? Beverly Daniel Tatum, an authority on racism and psychology and author of Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? implores that honest exploration of racial identities is the key to breaking down barriers. This is an essential read for educators looking to understand (and change) how racial dynamics play out in their learning environments.

In a deeply personal and groundbreaking narrative, Ta-Nehisi Coates pens a letter to his son about coming face to face, over the course of his life, with his Blackness and how it fits (or doesn’t) in the world he lives in. Between the World and Me is a lens through which to view and absorb the role race and racism have played in America’s past and present, and the hope Ta-Nehisi holds for the future. It’s about learning to live in one’s skin—and the world around you—and is a powerful book to pass on to any young person of color wanting to connect more closely to their identity and education.

What does it mean to be a White, anti-racist activist? What are the circumstances, experiences, and choices that lead someone down that path? How is it to sit in the very privilege you’re fighting to subvert? Fifteen White social justice activists, through 15 unique stories, write about their journeys in Everyday White People Confront Racial and Social Injustice. The stories include the lifelong learning required to take on the fight against oppression and dismantle structural racism. Becoming anti-racist is a nuanced and emotional path. And, this book provides educators, parents, and young learners the questions, insights, tools, and courage to guide their own journey in becoming and being anti-racist.