skills to help humanity

I am reading How To Be Less Stupid About Race by Crystal M. Fleming. I heard Dr. Fleming (@alwaystheself) interviewed and thought that this sounded like a great book on getting to the heart of racism in America. How To Be Less Stupid About Race definitely delivers on its title by inspiring critical thinking and in-depth reflection on past, present, and future effects of systemic racism and white supremacy.

Read a portion of the introduction HERE.

The book begins with a guide to Critical Race Theory, then applies that theory to today. It's a hard look at systemic racism in our institutions... especially: education, politics, media, and pop culture (I'm talking to you, ye).

By chapter seven, Becoming Racially Literate, Dr. Fleming writes:

If you've made it this far in the book, then you've faced a lot of uncomfortable truths, and I want to thank you for taking this journey with me. I know from personal experience that studying oppression and confronting racial stupidity can be terribly demoralizing.

I appreciated the recognition that this is hard, but we can do hard things. The “What exactly should I do now?” question in chapter seven acknowledges that there is no one answer: 

The answer is going to vary for each individual, depending on your personality and background, interests, talents, and inclinations. So, it’s your job to figure out how you can best leverage your knowledge and skills to help humanity.

Read this book if you are interested in preventing racism and fighting oppression.

Listen to Dr. Crystal M. Fleming discuss her book...