Week 2: Anti-Blackness, Racial Stereotypes, and Cultural Appropriation

Day 8: You and Color Blindness

"White people think it is a compliment when they do not 'see' you as a black person." — Morgan Jerkins, This Will Be My Undoing

Day 9: You and Anti-Blackness against Black Women

"Black women know what it means to love ourselves in a world that hates us." — Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage

Day 10: You and Anti-Blackness against Black Men

"Because white men can't police their imagination, black men are dying." — Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric

Day 11: You and Anti-Blackness against Black Children

"Black people love their hildren with a kind of obsession.  You are all we have, and you come to us endangered." — Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

Day 12: You and Racist Stereotypes

"We think them Barbarians
Beautiful and scaring them
Earth shakin' rattling
Be wild out loud again"
— Mona Haydar

Day 13: You and Cultural Appropriation

"When you're a member of the privileged group, you don't take kindly to someone telling you that you can't do something."
— Tim Wise, White Like Me

Day 14: Week 2 Review

To see the whole picture, we have to look at each piece in turn and see the entire story being told.

Footnote — The overview blog post for this book is found at this link:

Me and White Supremacy ~ by Layla F. Saad

Week 1: The Basics

Day 1: You and White Privilege

"I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group." — Peggy McIntosh

Day 2: You and White Fragility

"It is white people's resposibility to be less fragile; People of Color don't need to twist themselves into knots trying to navigate us as painlessly as possible." — Robin DiAngelo

Day 3: You and Tone Policing

"I speak out of direct and particular anger at an academic conference, and a white woman says, 'Tell me how you feel but don't say it too harshly or I cannot hear you.'  But is it my manner that keeps her from hearing, or the threat of a message that her life may change?" — Audre Lorde

Day 4: You and White Silence

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Day 5: You and White Superiority

"When I got honest with myself, I had to own up to the fact that I'd bought into the myth of white superiority, silently and privately, explaining to myself the pattern of white dominance I observed as a natural outgrowth of biologically wired superior white intelligence and ability." — Debby Irving

Day 6: You and White Exceptionalism

"White people desperately want to believe than only the lonely, isolated 'whites only' club members are racist.  This is why the word racist offends 'nice white people' so deeply.  It challenges their self-identification as good people.  Sadly, most white people are more worried about being called racist than about whether or not their actions are in fact racist or harmful." — Austin Channing Brown

Day 7: Week 1 Review

Step back and take stock of what you have learned so far.

Footnote — The overview blog post for this book is found at this link:

Me and White Supremacy ~ by Layla F. Saad

Me and White Supremacy ~ by Layla F. Saad

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor ~ by Layla F. Saad, 2020, race relations

This book challenges white people to do the essential work of unpacking our biases, and helps us dismantle the privilege within ourselves so that we can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color.  And it shows us, in turn, how to help other white people do better, too.  It gives us the language to understand racism and to dismantle our own biases by walking step-by-step through the work of individually examining:

• My own white privilege
• What allyship really means
• Anti-blackness, racial stereotypes, and cultural appropriation
• How to change the way I view and respond to race
• How to continue the work to create social change

Table of Contents

Foreword ~ by Robin DiAngelo

Part I:  Welcome to the Work

• A Little about Me
• What Is White Supremacy?
• Who Is This Work For?
• What You Will Need to Do This Work
• How to Use This Book
• Self-Care, Support, and Sustainability

Part II:  The Work

• Week 1:  The Basics
• Week 2:  Anti-Blackness, Racial Stereotypes, and Cultural Appropriation
• Week 3:  Allyship
• Week 4:  Power, Relationships, and Commitments
• Now What?  Continuing the Work after Day 28

Appendix:  Working in Groups: Me and White Supremacy Book Circles

Resources

• Glossary
• Further Learning

Notes
Acknowledgments
About the Author

Links to the book's website, author's page, and her blog.

Notes of a Native Son ~ by James Baldwin

Notes of a Native Son ~ by James Baldwin, 1955, essays

These ten essays explore what it means to be Black in America by capturing a view of black life and black thought at the dawn of the civil rights movement and as the movement slowly gained strength.  Baldwin probes the complex condition of being black in America.  He addressed the issue with a powerful mixture of outrage at the gross physical and political violence against black citizens and measured understanding of their oppressors, which helped awaken a white audience to the injustices under their noses.  The book collects ten of Baldwin's essays, which had previously appeared in such magazines as Harper's Magazine, Partisan Review, and The New Leader.

Summary

"Autobiographical Notes"

In spite of his father wanting him to be a preacher, Baldwin said he had always been a writer at heart.  He tried to find his path as a Negro writer; although he was not European, American culture is informed by that culture too — moreover, he had to grapple with other black writers.  He emphasizes the importance of his desire to be a good man and writer.

Part One

"Everybody's Protest Novel"

Baldwin castigates Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin for being too sentimental, and for depicting black slaves as praying to a white God so as to be cleansed and whitened.  He proceeds to repudiate Richard Wright's Native Son for portraying Bigger Thomas as an angry black man, viewing this as an example of stigmatizing categorization.

"Many Thousands Gone"

Baldwin offers a sharp critique of Richard Wright's Native Son, citing its main character, Bigger Thomas, as unrealistic, unsympathetic and stereotypical.

"Carmen Jones: The Dark Is Light Enough"

Baldwin criticises Carmen Jones, a film adaptation of Carmen using an all black cast.  Baldwin is unhappy that the characters display no connection to the condition of blacks and sees it as no coincidence that the main characters have lighter complexions.

Part Two

"The Harlem Ghetto"

Baldwin points out that the rent is very expensive in Harlem.  Although there are black politicians, the President is white.  On to the black press, Baldwin notes that it emulates the white press, with its scandalous spreads and so forth.  The black Church seems to him to be a unique forum for the spelling out of black injustice.  Finally, he ponders on antisemitism among blacks and comes to the conclusion that the frustration boils down to Jews being white and more powerful than Negroes.

"Journey to Atlanta"

Baldwin tells the story that happened to The Melodeers, a group of jazz singers employed by the Progressive Party to sing in Southern Churches.  However, once in Atlanta, Georgia, they were used for canvassing until they refused to sing at all and were returned to their hometown.  They now enjoy success in New York City.

"Notes of a Native Son"

Baldwin paints a vivid recollection of his time growing up with a paranoid father who was dying of tuberculosis, and his initial experience with Jim Crow style segregation.  Prior to his father's death, Baldwin was befriended by a white teacher whom his father disapproved of.  Later, he worked in New Jersey and was often turned down in segregated places — he recalls a time he hurled a cup half full of water at a waitress in a diner only to realize his actions could have dire consequences.  He goes on to say that blacks participating in military service in the South often got abused.  Finally, he recounts his father's death which occurred just before his mother gave birth to one of his sisters; his father's funeral was on his 19th birthday, the same day as the Harlem Riot of 1943.

Part Three

"Encounter on the Seine: Black Meets Brown"

Baldwin compares Black Americans to Blacks in France.  While Africans in France have a history and a country to hold on to, Black Americans don't — their history lies in the United States and it is in the making.

"A Question of Identity"

Baldwin explains how American students living in Paris are shocked when they arrive and are eager to return home.

"Equal in Paris"

Baldwin recounts getting arrested in Paris over the Christmas period in 1949, after an acquaintance of his had stolen a bedsheet from a hotel, which he had used.  The essay stresses his cultural inability to know how to behave with the police.

"Stranger in the Village"

Baldwin looks back to his time in a village in Switzerland — how he was the first black man most of the villagers had ever seen.  He goes on to reflect that blacks from European colonies are still mostly located in Africa, while the United States has been fully informed by blacks.

Born a Crime ~ by Trevor Noah

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood ~ by Trevor Noah, 2016, memoir (South Africa)

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act:  his birth.  Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison.  Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away.  Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

This is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist.  It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother — his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting.  Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty.  His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

Table of Contents

Immorality Act, 1927

Part I

Chapter 1 ~ Run
Chapter 2 ~ Born A Crime
Chapter 3 ~ Trevor, Pray
Chapter 4 ~ Chameleon
Chapter 5 ~ The Second Girl
Chapter 6 ~ Loopholes
Chapter 7 ~ Fufi
Chapter 8 ~ Robert

Part II

Chapter 9 ~ The Mulberry Tree
Chapter 10 ~ A Young Man's ... Education ... Part I: Valentine's Day
Chapter 11 ~ Outsider
Chapter 12 ~ A Young Man's ... Education ... Part II: The Crush
Chapter 13 ~ Colorblind
Chapter 14 ~ A Young Man's ... Education ... Part III: The Dance

Part III

Chapter 15 ~ Go Hitler!
Chapter 16 ~ The Cheese Boys
Chapter 17 ~ The World Doesn't Love You
Chapter 18 ~ My Mother's Life

Purple Hibiscus ~ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Purple Hibiscus ~ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2003, fiction (Nigeria)

Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a very privileged life.  They live in a beautiful house in Enugu, Nigeria and attend an exclusive missionary school, but their home life is not harmonious:  although their father is a respected businessman, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home.  When their loving and outspoken aunt persuades her brother that the children should visit her, Kambili and Jaja take their first trip away from home.  Once inside their Aunty Ifeoma's flat in the smaller city of Nsukka, they discover a whole new world.  And when they return home, changed by their newfound freedom, nothing can be the same as before.  Tension within the family esalates, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together — even after her mother commits a desperate act.

Click to enlarge the map

Where's Nigeria?

Here's a map, showing Nigeria on the west coast of Africa.  Can you find Enugu near the bottom of the country?  Nsukka is shown just north of Enugu.   Here are some quick facts about the country.  To learn more about Nigeria, read this Wikipedia article.

Instructions from Bonnie

Comment ANY time you like, even before we start reading the book.  Start by leaving a comment now to let us know you'll join us in the discussion.

As you read, you may want to comment about a particular scene or something that puzzles or intrigues you.  Ask questions.  Consider the first question below as you read, then comment if you like.  DO NOT read more than the first two or three questions before you have read the book, because there are spoilers in some of the questions.

If you are confused by my directions, tell me so I can make changes or clarify for you and everyone else.  We are not in any hurry to finish the book, and this post will always be here for you to come back to, even after our discussion ends.  At least, it will remain as long as "Blogger" doesn't delete the whole thing.  You can see on the sidebar (if you're on a computer) that we've discussed more than thirty books since 2007.

Discussion Questions

There are 15 discussion questions in the back of the book (the edition shown above), courtesy of ReadingGroupGuides.com.

1. What is the emotional atmosphere in Kambili's home?  What effect does this have on Kambili and Jaja?  Why is their father so strict?
2. When Kambili visits Aunty Ifeoma, she is immediately struck by how much laughter fills the house.  Why is it so surprising to her to hear people speak, laugh, and argue so freely?  How does she manage to regain her own ability to speak and, most importantly, to laugh?
3. When Kambili hears Amaka weeping after her grandfather's death, Kambili thinks:  "She had not learned the art of silent crying.  She had not needed to" (p. 185).  What does this passage suggest about the differences between Amaka and Kambili?  In what other ways are Aunty Ifeoma's children — Amaka, Obiora, and Chima — different from Kambili and Jaja?
4. Amaka says, "Uncle Eugene is not a bad man, really. . . . People have problems, people make mistakes" (p. 251).  Is he in fact a "bad man"?  Why does he violently abuse his wife and children?  What good deeds does he perform?  How can his generosity and political integrity coexist with his religious intolerance?
5. In what ways are Aunty Ifeoma and Eugene differrent from one another?  How does each character approach life?  How do they differ in their religious views?  Why is Ifeoma so much happier even though she is poor and her brother is rich?
6. Eugene boasts that his Kambili and Jaja are "not like those loud children people are raising these days, with no home training and no fear of God"; to which Ade Coker replies:  "Imagine what the Standard would be if we were all quiet" (p. 58).  Why is quiet obedience a questionable virtue in a country where the truth needs to be spoken?  In what ways is the refusal to be quiet dangerous?
7. What kind of man is Papa-Nnukwu?  What are his most appealing qualities?  What do the things he prays for say about his character?  Why has his son disowned him so completely?
8. What are the ironies involved in Eugene loving God the Father and Jesus the Son, but despising his own father and abusing his own son?
9. Why does Kambili's mother keep returning to her husband, even after he beats her so badly that he causes a miscarriage, and even after he nearly kills Kambili?  How does she justify her husband's behavior?  How should she be judged for poisoning her husband?
10. How does Father Amadt bring Kambili to life?  Why is her relationship with him so important to her sense of herself?
11. Jaja questions why Jesus had to be sacrificed:  "Why did He have to murder his own son so we would be saved?  Why didn't He just go ahead and save us?" (p. 289).  And yet, Jaja sacrifices himself to save his mother from prison.  Why does he do this?  Should this be understood as a Christian sacrifice or a simple act of compassion and bravery?
12. After Aunty Ifeoma moves her family to the United States, Amaka writes, "There has never been a power outage and hot water runs from a tap, but we don't laugh aymore. . . . because we no longer have the time to laugh, because we don't even see one another" (p. 301).  What does this passage suggest about the essential difference between American culture and African culture?
13. What does the novel as a whole say about the nature of religion?  About the relationship between belief and behavior?
14. What does Purple Hibiscus reveal about life in Nigeria?  How are Nigerians similar to Americans?  In what significant ways are they different?  How do Americans regard Nigerians in the novel?
15. Why does Chimananda Ngozi Adichie end the novel with an image of rain clouds?  What are the implications of Kambili feeling that the clouds hung so low she "could reach out and squeeze the moisture from them"?  What is the meaning of the novel's very simple final sentence:  "The new rains will come down soon"?

Living in the Tension ~ by Shelly Tochluk

Living in the Tension: The Quest for a Spiritualized Racial Justice ~ by Shelly Tochluk, 2016

For many, spiritual and racial justice principles go hand in hand.  Yet, although seemingly compatible, tensions often arise when people try to live out their associated values and strategies.  Further, there are those who sit solidly on one side of either spirituality or advocacy and fail to see the connection between the two.

Spiritually-oriented people often say:

People focused on politics and social justice activism are angry, wounded, unhealthy individuals who sabotage their own efforts by using antagonistic and divisive language, including terms like oppression, privilege, and supremacy.

On the other hand, racial justice advocates often say:

People focused on their spirituality as part of their personal growth are trying to escape into transcendence or a false "kumbaya" experience and deny their ongoing role in continuing personal and institutional racism, privilege, and the reinforcement of an unjust status quo that operates through interlocking systems of oppression.

Why do these tensions matter?

There is a vast potential of untapped transformative power waiting to be released if activists and spiritual people of various racial backgrounds build and strengthen bridges between their differing principles and expectations.

How can this book help?

Each chapter tackles one tension-filled theme and asks:  What happens if one side of the tension is ignored?  How can a both/and approach allow spirituality and racial justice efforts to support one another?

Chapter 1:  Transcendence and Race Consciousness
Chapter 2:  Self-Acceptance and Self-Improvement
Chapter 3:  Personal Healing and Political Action
Chapter 4:  Common Humanity and Group Differences
Chapter 5:  Belonging and Appropriation
Chapter 6:  Inner Truth and Accountability

Shelly Tochluk wrote an essay titled Grounding, which describes her life’s philosophical and spiritual foundation.  The 17-page PDF can be printed out, if you are interested.