Six books that helped me grow in 2020
There’s a danger is posting “Black Lives Matter” in your window, as my wife and I have done since June. Absent a true reckoning with one’s own faults and one’s own culpability in perpetuating the American racial caste system, claiming common cause with this movement risks masking the truth: It wasn’t everyone else’s fault that Colin Kaepernick is banished from the NFL, that George Floyd is dead today, and that the United States — a century and a half after Appomattox — hasn’t done a damn thing to eliminate the economic legacy of slavery.
So let me state as clearly as I can: I take responsibility for remaining silent, and even tacitly accepting and subconsciously advancing systemic racism in the United States. If you’re looking for someone to blame for American systemic racism, here’s a good place to start:
All I can say is that I’m sorry and I am committed to educating myself and supporting (not as a leader but as a follower) causes to right these wrongs.
If you gained some clarity in 2020, and would like to educate yourself in 2021, I can recommend a few books that helped me this past year.
I pass these recommendations with humility, and with a recognition that I have a long way to go. I’m not claiming that I read six books and no more education is needed. I’ll be continuing this process of educating myself on issues of race and inequality, and that process won’t stop until I’m dead.
Here are some takeaways I carried from the six books that most impacted me on issues of race and inequality this past year:
“Algorithms of Oppression” by Safiya Umoja Noble: Google’s algorithm produces content that reflects the views of its users. If the majority of its users are white, their views of minority groups will rise to the top. To Google’s credit, they have made attempts to fix this problem — from what I can tell, at least — but the lesson of Umoja Noble’s book is clear. Big Tech cannot simply reflect their views of their customers, but must take responsibility to moderate content on its platform.
“An African American and Latinx History of the United States” by Paul Ortiz: This book really opened my eyes to how strongly we need to rethink the lessons we teach our kids about America’s history. We can no longer conceal our country’s early embrace and even advocacy of slavery. No, America has not always been a beacon of freedom. If we continue to tell our kids this lie, they will carry this view of American innocence into adulthood, and rationalize — and inevitably ignore — the contrary evidence we all see in our everyday lives.
“So You Want to Talk About Race” by Ijeoma Oluo: To answer Oluo’s question, I don’t. Not after reading her book. I want to simply act and vote in a way that advances equality, and when my Black friends would like to talk about race, I’ll happily engage. (You may find some contradiction between what I just wrote and that I have written this post at all. I’ll say a word about my intentions at the end, but at this point, I’ll just note that I will not be emailing this to any of my Black friends with a request for comment.) I hope I am able, after reading this book, to demonstrate much greater emotional intelligence to those who know what it’s like to be Black in America.
“The Hidden Rules of Race”: This is a book with multiple academic articles about race, and I won’t summarize all of them, but one written by Duke University’s William Darity and a team of colleagues about stratification economics fundamentally altered my view on everything from American politics to black tie fundraisers. Darity, et. al. writes of in-groups and out-groups, with the clear context of whites representing the former and the Black community the latter. While it is admirable if a member of the out-group gains a position of leadership within (or over) the in-group, I gained from this particular article the need to elevate the whole of the out-group to equal economic status of the in-group.
Kamala Harris elevating to the second-highest office in the U.S. government represents progress, but much, much greater progress will be made when we provide reparations to the decedents of slaves.
“When They Call You a Terrorist” by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele: Patrisse Khan-Cullors’ voice is so unlike the ones I am exposed to on a daily basis that, at times, I reflexively and needlessly felt on the defensive reading this book. But that’s the point. Reading and listening to voices like that of Cullors should not activate a defensive response; rather, I should learn as much as possible from activists like Cullors.
“Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson: I cannot simply give you one takeaway from this book to tease out benefits to the reader. It is simply one of the most formative books I’ve read.
I’ll end with a note about my intention for this post. I wrote this not to be personally celebrated as “woke,” but only to help friends and colleagues put intent into action. I hope I did that, and if even one person reads one of these books because of this post, then I’ll be glad I wrote it.
-TD
