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simplymeg 's review for:
How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy, and the Racial Divide
by Crystal Marie Fleming
This book takes work. It is only a couple hundred pages, but it took me several weeks to work through it. It is very academic, with studies and statistics cited, yet very personal/personable in tone. (Fleming writes like she is calling out a friend on their cluelessness.) She broke my heart with a lot of information about how Barack Obama, whom I adore as a funny and charming intellectual, condoned the killing of civilians in the Middle East, stymied the free press, defended Wall Street, and declined to pursue prosecution of the people responsible for the economic meltdown of 2008. Basically he was a sellout to the interests of rich white people. But I'd rather be informed than deluded.
One thing that I am left with after reading this and White Fragility (Robin DiAngelo) is that we need to refine the terminology we use when we talk about the problems we're trying to address. White people are so quick to assure us that they are "not racist" because they are "nice" to everyone. Having mom and dad teach you to be kind to people is not going to change the world. The struggle is against systems and policies that enforce and perpetuate the disadvantaging of people of color.
One thing that I am left with after reading this and White Fragility (Robin DiAngelo) is that we need to refine the terminology we use when we talk about the problems we're trying to address. White people are so quick to assure us that they are "not racist" because they are "nice" to everyone. Having mom and dad teach you to be kind to people is not going to change the world. The struggle is against systems and policies that enforce and perpetuate the disadvantaging of people of color.