by Omekongo Dibinga ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 15, 2023
An astute, provocative survey of toxic assumptions about race and how to effectively challenge them.
How to identify and resist some of the most common and insidious racial prejudices.
“This book is designed for activists,” writes Dibinga, a professor of intercultural communication, and dedicated to “those who want to know not only what lies they were told about Black people but also why those lies were told and why those lies continue to be told.” The author provides a mix of analyses of the lineage of particular racial stereotypes, interviews with those who have endured discrimination, exercises for readers who want to assess their own biases, and even poetry articulating the author’s passionate take on the impact of bigotry and enduring faith in the power of education and love to overcome the evils of irrationality and hatred. One of the greatest strengths of the book is Dibinga’s frank engagement with the everyday expression—and destructive consequences—of racial assumptions. The author accessibly frames the features of contemporary stereotypes via historical precedents, and we never lose sight of the topic’s intimate, urgent relevance to the psychological and physical well-being of Black Americans. Access to health care and fair treatment by the judicial system, for instance, are critically shaped by racial assumptions, and these assumptions are formed, in part, by the media we consume and its overt or covert insinuations about racial being. The author’s discussion of cinematic depictions of race is particularly incisive. Dibinga also provides illuminating commentary on the need for an evolving understanding of what genuine inclusivity would look and sound like. He reminds us that Blackness is a fluid social construct brought into being in relation to other racial categories. With serious, loving care, the author demonstrates, we can do much better in constructing that identity and in seeking a more just and vital social understanding. Michael Eric Dyson provides the foreword.
An astute, provocative survey of toxic assumptions about race and how to effectively challenge them.Pub Date: July 15, 2023
ISBN: 9781633888784
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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New York Times Bestseller
by Emmanuel Acho & Noa Tishby ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2024
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.
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New York Times Bestseller
Two bestselling authors engage in an enlightening back-and-forth about Jewishness and antisemitism.
Acho, author of Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man, and Tishby, author of Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, discuss many of the searing issues for Jews today, delving into whether Jewishness is a religion, culture, ethnicity, or community—or all of the above. As Tishby points out, unlike in Christianity, one can be comfortably atheist and still be considered a Jew. She defines Judaism as a “big tent” religion with four main elements: religion, peoplehood, nationhood, and the idea of tikkun olam (“repairing the world through our actions”). She addresses candidly the hurtful stereotypes about Jews (that they are rich and powerful) that Acho grew up with in Dallas and how Jews internalize these antisemitic judgments. Moreover, Tishby notes, “it is literally impossible to be Jewish and not have any connection with Israel, and I’m not talking about borders or a dot on the map. Judaism…is an indigenous religion.” Acho wonders if one can legitimately criticize “Jewish people and their ideologies” without being antisemitic, and Tishby offers ways to check whether one’s criticism of Jews or Zionism is antisemitic or factually straightforward. The authors also touch on the deteriorating relationship between Black and Jewish Americans, despite their historically close alliance during the civil rights era. “As long as Jewish people get to benefit from appearing white while Black people have to suffer for being Black, there will always be resentment,” notes Acho. “Because the same thing that grants you all access—your skin color—is what grants us pain and punishment in perpetuity.” Finally, the authors underscore the importance of being mutual allies, and they conclude with helpful indexes on vernacular terms and customs.
An important dialogue at a fraught time, emphasizing mutual candor, curiosity, and respect.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781668057858
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Simon Element
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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by Alok Vaid-Menon ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2020
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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More In The Series
by Shavone Charles ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Leo Baker ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
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