Overview: How We Got Here
As recently as 2016, the net worth of a typical white family in America was nearly 10 times that of the average Black family. African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate more than 5 times the imprisonment rate of whites. Black people in America have higher death rates for all causes of death than whites, including in pregnancy-related deaths, where Black women are two to three times more likely to die than white women. The disparities are many and span all aspects of everyday life.
When asked whether these gaps result mostly from racism or something else, three quarters of Americans and more than 80% of white Americans say “something else.” It is obvious that many of us don’t know how history explains this inequality, so we’ve filled in the blanks with our own assumptions.
How We Got Here is a three-part discussion and learning guide that invites you to better understand the history of how racism has shaped today’s unequal America. It can be used for personal learning, but also as a framework for a discussion group or book club.
Each of the three parts has the following components:
- Introduction: written by me, a white woman, summarizing my own learnings in this area, and the key facts that I think other white people (and Americans generally) need to know but may not; it provides the context to better understand the core materials.
- Core Materials: written or created by Black authors and historians, these materials include articles, podcasts, movies and readings that give voice to critical issues and events.
- Reflection Questions: questions to help you digest the materials privately or in a group setting if you are using this guide as part of a book club or discussion group.
For those seeking to use this in discussion groups, you can find resources on white caucus groups here, or purchase Ijeoma Oluo’s “So You Want to Talk About Race” here or from one of these Black-owned bookstores.
If you have feedback, suggestions, or fact checks, feel free to send them to HWGHfeedback@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to incorporate them.
A disclaimer: some posts in this series directly quote offensive racist language and they all describe upsetting historical realities that may be triggering to readers.
Get started:
