MY NAME IS TED AND I'M A RACIST - VOLUME ONE

Neill offers the first entry in a nonfiction series reflecting on racism and fallacies of American politics.

In an introduction, the author explains that his work is intended as a primer on racism, exploring its psychology, history, and “how our understanding around it has evolved.” Subsequent volumes, he says, will address the hypocrisy he claims that he’s witnessed in his “family of choice” of left-wing progressives: “Intolerance, perfectionism, purity tests, and language policing leave me feeling alienated from brothers and sisters I have embraced as allies,” he states. He organizes this book around lessons that he says he had to learn, such as reconsidering what a racist is, learning new sociological terms, and exploring tools for “course correction.” Neill examines these issues in multiple ways, using anecdotes from his own life, summaries of sociological theories, and accounts from his long history in the recovery community. “It’s hard to see the arsonists of racism is because their hideout is in our heads,” he asserts, before offering a list of logical fallacies that accompany biased thinking. In this book, he strives for an easygoing, approachable tone, even when dealing with difficult subject matter; he’s quick with Titanic jokes while employing the image of an iceberg to explain white supremacy, for example. There’s no shortage of thought-provoking material here as he carefully examines accepted notions, and his own thoughts, from multiple angles. However, as he alternates between accessible summaries of sociological theory, exploration of the parallels between addiction recovery and recognition of internal biases, and critiques of the left, readers may be unclear about what his argument is, or who it’s for. At times, it feels as if the book is trying to earn the trust of some conservatives (“I do believe Donald Trump spreads misogyny and hate….But the anger he tapped into among the American electorate was real and, I’d suggest, some of it justified”), while elsewhere, it’s clearly intended for readers on the left. Nonetheless, the book lays a foundation for fascinating discussion.

A broad examination that sometimes lacks focus but introduces intriguing debates.