I’ve been making my way through reading material that furthers my personal education about racial issues – especially since I didn’t get this education in school. There’s a lot of action that can be taken to help further the black lives matter movement, and that starts with educating yourself on how to act and what you can do. I’ll be sharing all the books I read here and being honest with my recommendations;

So You Wanna Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
If you only read one book this year, MAKE IT THIS ONE. Everything I wanted to read, learn, and explore was in this book. I appreciate so many things about this book – specifically how much intersectionality is highlighted. Ijeoma Oluo is an amazing writer, includes her own experiences, and speaks in a way that is truly eye opening. She gets into the good stuff right away, balances topics beautifully from chapter to chapter, and writes for all readers to walk away with insight. She covers areas such as affirmative action, cultural appropriation, the school-to-prison pipeline, the Martin/Malcom dichotomy, microaggressions, hair, the model-minority myth, anger, accountability, and so much more. I will be spending a lot of time suggesting this book on my social media and to people in my life, and I recommend it to anyone who is ready to have productive conversations about race in this world.

Privilege Check from So You Wanna Talk About Race: Are you white? Are you male? Are you non-disabled? Are you neuro-typical? Are you a documented citizen of the country you live in? Are you cisgender? Are you straight? Did you grow up middle class? Did you grow up in a stable home environment? Are you tall / thin / conventionally attractive?

White Tears / Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women Of Color by Ruby Hamad
Okay – this was packed with super important information. I couldn’t recommend this book more for anybody to read, as it covered so much ground from an intersectional perspective. (I also appreciated that the book called out its own short comings, with some references to fill in some gaps.) Essentially, the point of this book is that all women suffer, but women of color have a much more layered experience of life as a woman because of racism. Life is complex and often ugly, and this book discusses the obstacles faced by a variety of communities and the nuances that come with each. There’s a lot of history that is covered, most of it dark and uncomfortable, but it’s necessary to realize how far we’ve come and how much women have had to face. But again, the point is that if white women have climbed hills to have what we have now, then women of color have conquered mountains to get just a fraction of the same.

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
This book took a deep dive into how white people (even those who don’t consider themselves racist) are hurting and helping, for which I am grateful. I feel like this book held a mirror up to my white experience, down to even analyzing my experience as a white-presenting Hispanic individual. White people can benefit from reading this book because it points out how we fit into the mix, and then acknowledges how we should and should not react to conversations about race. She asks questions and explores ideas that opened my eyes to things I had not thought of before – to the point where I found some areas in which I needed to hold myself accountable. I’d recommend this read for white people, so we can make sure that we are better allies to people of color – there’s a lot to learn here.

Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man by Emmanuel Acho
While I very much appreciate all the dialogue that Emmanuel put into this book, I would categorize this as more of a “starter” book. The book does a great job of unpacking the basics and explaining things in a way that non-people of color can start to look at the world through a new lens, and there’s a huge reference section of additional reads and resources. However, for myself, a lot of the book was things I very much already knew, although I do appreciate learning some new ways to explain ideas I’ve already digested. I would also give just a small critique that the book was very much written from a straight male perspective; I would have loved more information about what black women specifically deal with, as well as trans and LGBTQ perspectives too. Again, this is packed full of great information and would be an easy read to recommend to your co-worker or relative that is just starting to understand the importance of these topics.

How To Be An AntiRacist by Ibram X. Kendi
I gained a lot of perspective from this book and had some really insightful discussions as a result. Kendi’s philosophical approach shows the layers and depths that exist and he’s able to shed light in ways that holds every single person accountable for coming to solutions. He urges people to admit that “racial inequality is a problem of bad policy, not bad people,” and identifies all its intersections and power. While this book may not give the absolute answers for how to rid the world of racism, it absolutely shows you how to open your mind in a way that promotes racial equality. This not only means respecting others and working towards policy change, but also understanding that being antiracist is a continuous process that requires constant self-awareness and criticism. This book is not an intro-level book, but is absolutely something everyone should be reading.
**Podcast

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
This is a quick/short book but a super impactful one. I mostly appreciated that this was a recount of the author’s experience of being a black woman. Every story is different, and I’m thankful that she wrote hers down for me to read. Since Austin Brown writes this as a story, it’s very easy to read and follow. Her viewpoint is unique, being given a presumably white man’s name and having to navigate the assumptions that came as a result. She also grew up in differently populated areas, creating a mix of culture that was often confusing to her growing up. I will say that her Christian viewpoint did get a little too Jesus-y for me at a few points, but I still think this is a wonderfully insightful read.

How The Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev
Okay, can I just start by saying that objectively speaking, this is one of the worst book covers I have ever seen in my life. Not only is the title so small that it seems his last name could be mistaken for the title, but it’s also supposed to be a picture of dark beer. This does not necessarily read as beer, and is a weird Irish stereotype to be leaning on considering he didn’t mention anything related in the book. So, I hate the cover. Now that we are past that, the book as a lot of great information. However, this is the most dense book I have read so far this year (and I read a 1,000+ page book on Andy Warhol last month…). Even though it’s only about 200 pages, it reads very scholarly and textbooky rather than as a story or something more easily digestible. If you can hang in through all that, it’s got some really great content. It highlights how the Irish immigrants were literally used as a tool to oppress freed slaves. Through some wild propaganda, white America was successfully able to gatekeep opportunities from both Irish- and Afro-Americans, create uneven distribution of job opportunities, displace POC, and pin the two groups against each other to distract them from the real enemy. It goes deep and the history is pretty dark and ridiculous of course, but important to know.

Black Love Matters edited by Jessica P Pryde
This is a collection of essays that are written by readers, writers, professors, scholars, podcast hosts, business owners and more. They all covered their personal angle on Black Love in the media and the importance of Happily Ever Afters. I loved hearing all the points of views, especially considering that college-educated Black women are the biggest reading demographic in America. The authors talked through their experience trying to find representation, characters that meant the most, the lack of intersectionality, and so many more ideas around Black Love. While the book itself was a bit repetitive, I really enjoyed this exploration.

This Book Is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell
This book is technically for kids, or is at least geared towards kids, but I think it could be read by anyone. It’s simplistic, but addresses a lot of important issues all while being very colorful and fun. There’s a good overview of history as well as ways to be a good ally in present day. It’s a very quick read, and would make a good coffee-table book for a setting with kids and teenagers.

War Against Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony by Nelson A. Denis
My girlfriend bought me this book because she was born in Puerto Rico and I’m so happy to have this knowledge, even if it often weighed heavy on my heart to read. America has caused literal terrorism in PR and it’s so angering to hear how they have and continue to treat Puerto Ricans. There was mass bombings, radiation experiments, sterilization of their women, wrongful imprisonment, and so much more. And even nowadays, America makes more money from stealing Puerto Rican resources than they would by just making them citizens and taxing them, which would give them voting power which of course is not offered today because of lack of statehood. It’s honestly disgusting and is such a disgrace to read about the lack of justice in this area. But again, I’m happy to have the knowledge at least, and I found this format very easy to read and consume.

Unbias: Addressing Unconscious Bias At Work by Stacey A Gordon
I read this one for work in preparation of a training that I am helping out with on this very subject next year. While I think this book has a ton of great information in it, it’s really more of a focus on diversity strategy overall rather than just unconscious bias specifically. I did, however, sign up for “Rework” and other courses online with Stacey so I’m excited to see what other tools she has available. It’s an important subject and I get the privilege of working on projects under this umbrella so I am looking for more like this in the future.

Need to add wayyyy more to this list for sure!

But as always, thanks for reading! (Last Updated: Oct 2023)