Saturday, January 9, 2021

The 'Do Not Read These Books' on Racism, Anti-Racism, and Diversity List

 With everything that happened last year the market has been flood with books on racism and related topics. Many of these books have made it on to best readers lists. The problem is that many of these books are actually racist in themselves and support racist ideas. Many of the most popular authors have little formal experience in cultural fields or have very limited education in fields like ethnic studies, cultural studies, anthropology, psychology, or other subjects that would let them understand the topics they are talking about. These books are based mostly on the authors personal opinions and have very little research in them. I will also be making a list of good books on these subjects so that readers can be more informed about what they are reading and where it comes from. When reading books on these subjects please always also research the authors as well to see what personal bias they have that will influence their works.

Picture From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35099718-so-you-want-to-talk-about-race

As with all nonfiction books I started out researching the author before I read the book. She is well known for her writing, being opinionated, and has a degree in political science. That last one raised a few flags. She was missing a background in cultural studies, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt that she may have used her electives for an expanded view on other topics. Then I found out that she had actually gotten in trouble on social media for making a raciest comment about with people in cowboy hats. Of the authors I have researched that write on this and similar subjects, this was the first time that one had been pointed out for being so openly racist. An example of her not having the training on the subject is that she doesn’t understand the difference between race and culture. Even though people can be the same ‘race’ their culture can be vastly different. In her intro she talks about putting things aside in order to write her book, but she put nothing aside and her book is very biased. The problem with many writers on race is that they focus so much on just one group or just their personal opinions that they can’t see larger issues or how to make positive change for everyone. An example of this is that she only mentions Native Americans briefly even though they have had just as bad of an experience if not worse than African Americans. Same goes for many Latinos that were forced to become Americans when the US took over its southern sections like Texas. Latinos have also had to deal with forced serializations. These issues stem from so much larger issues such as economics and power play. Everyone has special needs. Most of the popular authors right now think that you can still lump one group of people together based on their race. This is not possible since even if their race is the same their needs will be different. We must focus on the individual or the society as a whole to make improvements. By just lumping people together in itself is a form of racism or bias. Someone will always be negatively impacted and no real change will be made. I’m still trying to find a writer on this topic that is knowledgeable and can actually make suggestions for actual change. She also talks about not invalidating one’s experience over another’s, but the whole book actually does that. She strips away the experiences of others and makes hers more important. She talks about the individual then takes that power away from them. This double talk is just a way to confuse readers into thinking that she is aware of what they have experienced since she only actually cares about her opinion. Just another disappointing book on the subject. This book is another great example of projecting. Only read if you need another example of a writer that only focuses on their own biases. 1 star out of 5 or a F.

Picture From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40265832-how-to-be-an-antiracist

I was able to listen to an audio book version read by the author. So even before I started this book I researched the author. I think this is important to understand how their background can influence what they write. I was disturbed to find out that all three degrees of his were focused on African American topics. Any time someone focuses so narrowly with their education you should be leery of anything they say. Yes, they are a specialist in only that subject, but they can’t see the forest fire due to one small tree ablaze. Even with all of his disclaimers, this book is very raciest. If a white author wrote the same things except about blacks they would be outed from academia and popular view. In anthropology and psychology it is very important for researchers not to project their experiences, feelings, or conceptions on others they study. This is a very base principle in cultural studies. Most of the popular writers right now do not have a background in formal cultural studies and are unaware of how they are projecting themselves on others. All of these books have the same point, if you ‘look’ a certain way you are expected to be raciest (even though he tries to claim that this is not the case). He does not really expand into what other groups have experienced and that makes the view of this book very narrow and biased in itself.

One of the sections that made me the angriest was where he talked about people not identifying as white to avoid the issue. So what are people of mixed identities supposed to do? This is a topic that most people avoid even though we are becoming a more blended society. People of more than one background are being forced to be invisible and silent. Where are their voices? According to Kendi if they do not identify with their white background then those people are in denial. No Kendi, they are being denied to establish who they are and you are projecting your expectations on them. All writers on race/racism need to stop projecting people’s identities on them. This is the problem with our society and books like this just make it worse. Only read this book if you want to know how to be racist and look at the world in biased ways. 1 star out of 5 or a F.

Picture From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43708708-white-fragility

This book and others like it only do damage to our global culture and represents the worst aspects of the IE movement. Robin Diangelo only sees things in a binary way and does not take into account that each person is made up of different identities. She forces people to match her stereotypes which is more of a reflection of her own issues than a way to help our society. I have a formal background in both anthropology and history and specific cultural studies along with identifying as mixed race. Coming from this background I can see just how wrong she is and that she is using her PHD to spread the worst parts of IE. Only read this book if you want to see how things are looked at wrongly and remember that people do not fit in the boxes authors like to place them in to. 1 star out of 5 or a F.

Picture From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/35746605-but-i-m-not-racist

This book was highly recommend reading at work to go along with our IE training. It also helped that the author had a personal connection to our school for a time. This book is more of a reflection of the authors own personal feelings then it is anything else. It actually took me a really long time to get through this book because she just viewed everyone who appeared to be white as racist. Most of the authors personal education was in education related fields and she only expanded in social justice issues for her ED. D. which was still focused in education. According to her linked in profile she has worked in the field for years, but I don't know how she has such a disconnect from the subject with that much experience. It actually makes me worried for the field that people with such toxic view points are being considered the leaders in such important fields. The book itself is field with her personal toxic perspective. 1 star out of 5 or a F.








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