Books to educate about racism

I read this years ago when I was a student and have never forgotten it. It's a bit heavy though:
Adorno et al The Authoritarian Personality.


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Not a book here, but in the same vein as Adorno, as a student I found the work of Jane Eliot to be horrifyingly eye opening in terms of identifying white privilege. She has done various lectures which can be found on YouTube but her brown/blue eyes experiments are well worth a read too.

Do you mean fiction or non-fiction?

Small Island by Andrea Levy is a novel based on facts.

Thanks all for your suggestions. Callistemon - both really. Thank you I will add that to my list

There are some reading list suggestions around. I haven’t read either of these - I’m waiting to borrow one from my daughter.

www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/03/anti-racist-book-sales-surge-us-uk-george-floyd-killing-robin-diangelo-white-fragility?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/jun/03/do-the-work-an-anti-racist-reading-list-layla-f-saad?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The Help by Katherine Stocket, a novel about 1960s America that was made into a film, true to the culture. Also 12 years a Slave, Solomon Northup, true story again made into a film.

Sorry, these are about USA, missed the UK bit

The book and the film The Help are both very good, eye opening and entertaining.

Can anyone recommend same for age group 10 to 13?

Thanks SueDonim - my DD also recommended How To Be an Antiracist to mewhich is on those lists

Thank you helgawills and annifrance

"Why im no longer talking to white people about race" by reni eddo lodge is good

There is currently a petition to get the following 2 books onto the Reading List for GCSE
The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla &
Why I'm no longer talking to White People about Race
by Reni Eddo-Lodge.
I have not read them myself

Don't get me wrong I do appreciate (for close and personal reasons) that racism is real. BUT we are failing to pay attention to what actually happened. A man, suspected of paying for cigarettes with counterfeit money was killed. By a USA police officer, by suffocation, while his colleagues stood by. Learn about the recruitment and training of these officers. The adverts for recruits feature the many exciting weapons you use, and speak of combat and battle. Contrast this with our own approach, no routine police arms, an emphasis on keeping things calm and reasonable. It's just not the same. PS To anyone thinking of going on the protests this weekend - please don't you will add to the risk of spread of coro.

I prefer to read fiction and one of my favourite books is The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Any of her novels are incredible, but The Bluest Eye is about the effects of racism on the psyche of a child. It is a harrowing read.

Beloved is also very good, but a bit more abstract in places.

Hay Festival included an informative talk by Adam Rutherford on his book ‘How to Argue with a Racist’.
Hay was free online and for £10 a subscription to Hayplayer gives 12 months access to hundreds of Hay Festival events, past years as well as 2020.

Why do we need books to tell us how not to be racist? Treat everybody with respect regardless of colour, race, gender, mode of dress.

If you google books to read re- racism it will show you a choice of different recommendations. In the last 3/4 days The Times.... The Book people and many others have put together a list for us to read to help educate us. You can choose which ones you wish to start with and how far back in history you wish to go.

Not books but for others interested there is some great stuff on the Smithsonian website about race.

nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race

I have just finished reading "Queenie" by Candice Carty-Williams (recommended in my Book Club). Slightly different angle but certainly very thought-provoking. Would recommend it, especially looking at the role her grandmother has to play1

Racism, sexism, ageism, weightism our world is full of isms but we all seem to focus on just one. The man died, that is deplorable and should not have happened. The police officers have been charged. Marching in the streets, waving banners, And creating a public nuisance will not help. My synical self wonders would there have been a public outcry is the man had been white.

Please see attached re anti-racism

This article has a list of books that a judge ordered some teens in America to read and write a report after they defaced a church building with racist graffiti.
Graffiti punished by reading - 'It worked!' says prosecutor www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-47936071

National Centre for Writing

We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the ongoing fight against systemic racism. Below is a list of brilliant books by Black writers that should be on everyone’s reading pile.

Why I’m No longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown

Natives by Akala

Dark Days by James Baldwin

Diversify by June Sarpong

How To Be Antiracist by Ibran X. Kendi

Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri

White Supremacy and Me by Layla F. Saad

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery

Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lord

White Girls by Hilton Als

Brit-ish by Afua Hirsch

Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga

The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

And of course, our Desmond Elliott Prize-shortlisted writers: Abi Daré, Okechukwu Nzelu and Derek Owusu.

We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the ongoing fight against systemic racism. Below is a list of brilliant books by Black writers that should be on everyone’s reading pile.

Why I’m No longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown

Natives by Akala

Dark Days by James Baldwin

Diversify by June Sarpong

How To Be Antiracist by Ibran X. Kendi

Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri

White Supremacy and Me by Layla F. Saad

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery

Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lord

White Girls by Hilton Als

Brit-ish by Afua Hirsch

Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga

The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

And of course, our Desmond Elliott Prize-shortlisted writers: Abi Daré, Okechukwu Nzelu and Derek Owusu.

We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the ongoing fight against systemic racism. Below is a list of brilliant books by Black writers that should be on everyone’s reading pile.

Why I’m No longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown

Natives by Akala

Dark Days by James Baldwin

Diversify by June Sarpong

How To Be Antiracist by Ibran X. Kendi

Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri

White Supremacy and Me by Layla F. Saad

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery

Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lord

White Girls by Hilton Als

Brit-ish by Afua Hirsch

Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga

The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

And of course, our Desmond Elliott Prize-shortlisted writers: Abi Daré, Okechukwu Nzelu and Derek Owusu.

Kartush, I think the point is that this would likely not have happened if he was white! If you look at the way the police handled the main white protests in Michigan and then view the way they handle the black protests, the method is entirely different. The Michigan were anti-inflammatory even though public health was at risk and the black protests are more of an attack by police. I think that says it all.
As my son said the other day, it isn't good enough to say you aren't racist, you have to call it out when you see it and that is what a lot of the protesters are doing.