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Works by Kerry Connelly

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This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
If harmony between the races and racial justice is important to you, then Good White Racist is a book you must read. Whether you agree with Kerry Connelly's arguments completely, partially, or not at all, you will be exposed to a revolutionary way of seeing the interplay between white identity and race relations.
 
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BooksForYears | 5 other reviews | Jun 12, 2020 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Summary: Explores how whites may be complicit with a system of racism while being well-intentioned and how white efforts to sustain a sense of "goodness" help perpetuate racial divides.

Kerry Connelly opens this book with admitting that she is a racist. A good white racist. She's not a white supremacist. She thinks racism is evil. She is a Christian who loves Jesus. Yet the very desire to think ourselves good, she would argue, prevents us from seeing the ways we are complicit with the history and systems of racism in the United States. Often, she acknowledges, that, paradoxically, it is our attempts to defend our goodness, that keep us from leaning into the hard work of understanding our complicity, and the even harder work of discerning what it means to "pursue justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God." Her appeal in this book is that we would be the good people we want to be and lean into that hard work rather than keep defending our goodness.

She begins by walking us through our national self-perception of goodness, at least among whites. We don't even notice that it is "white." She looks at the construction of "whiteness" that we are often not conscious of, and how, over time, many ethnic minorities assimilated into whiteness, or otherwise were set apart as inferior. She unpacks the tactics of gaslighting: denial and detraction, distraction, disclaiming, and disappearing. She discusses the power of language, and how whites may not use the "N-word," regardless of the use of it by others. She looks at the assumptions built into our education system, from the "discovery" of America onward. She looks at common justifications (often a form of distraction) such as "I don't see race--I'm colorblind." She explores our tendency to call the police when we see blacks in "white" spaces when all they are doing is living their lives while black (I had a colleague who found herself staring down the barrel of a policeman's gun because she was watering a neighbor's lawn while the neighbor was out of town, and had the police called on her). She explores how this plays out in white churches, including the large white evangelical church she left after the 2016 election. She concludes with the work we must do, beginning with the five stages of grief, and the personal, interpersonal, and collective work that must be done to oppose racism.

This is a challenging book to read. The content is challenging as is the writing style. Connelly may be "good" but she is not "nice." She can be blunt, and what one reviewer calls "snarky." She is liberal with her use of profanity, but contends that if we are offended more by the profanity than the profane injustices about which she is writing, we've just offered exhibit one of what is the problem. Here is one sample:

I also know this isn't easy. God knows it's not easy for me every time I discover another racist thought floating around my head or realize another way I'm complicit in the system. I know that I've probably already made you a little uncomfortable, if not outright pissed off. That's okay. Let's just sit with that a hot second. Because honestly, our discomfort is not the problem. It's our absolute refusal to roll around in that discomfort that's the problem. It's the fact that we'd rather run from the room screaming "I'm good! I'm good! I swear to God I'm good!" than actually sit and practice a little bit of honest self-reflection (p. 6).

If you want to remain comfortable, don't read this book. "Doing the work" is just not comfortable. Period. It just doesn't feel good to realize that you are not as good as you thought, or are complicit with injustices that have deprived many of our citizens of equal protection under our laws or an equally enjoyed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But if we do not begin here, we will not begin at all.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via LibraryThing. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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BobonBooks | 5 other reviews | Jun 11, 2020 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
UPDATE: My review (unchanged, below) was written in April 2020, before the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent much-needed increase in attention to racism in the U.S. In this new context, I rate this book more highly and have added a star, because the largest weakness that I saw in it was that it was not likely to reach people who were not already very sincerely trying to overcome their implicit racism and that those people might feel they have little to learn here. In addition, I had just read "How to Be an Anti-Racist" and felt that that book covered the same ground but much more vividly and completely (plus it is a compelling personal memoir).

In the current climate, however, I find myself returning to it. I do recommend this book for white people who are seeking to better understand the pervasiveness of systemic racism as well as the vocabulary and aims of those who attempt to work against it. It is still the case that "How to Be an Anti-Racist" is a better book, but it is undeniable that hearing these things from a white person does feel different. Also, Connelly focuses only on the transgressions of white people; Kendi extends his discussion to racism on the part of Black people, but that's not what is urgent for us white people to hear in this moment.

Perhaps most important: I reviewed an uncorrected proof and now I see that the current published edition has a slightly changed title, which is a great improvement (the addition of a question mark after "Good White Racist" rather than an asterisk after "Good"). It is less likely that misunderstandings will arise if you are seen purchasing this book or checking it out of the library and I encourage you to do so.

My review from April 2020:

This book provides an overview of systemic racism in the U.S. The author points out that white people who think of themselves as non-racists are basically fooling themselves. Incorporating people of color into white society in a way that makes white people comfortable should not and cannot be the goal.

The tone is mostly academic, with references to Derrida and constructs and narratives. A more specific and also more personal approach might have been more compelling and effective. I hoped to come away from the book with some vivid examples of microaggressions, for example, and specific ways to avoid or address them. I found it eye-opening to read that in many cases white teachers tend to be harder on their students of color out of a well-meaning belief that they should be helped to conform to white society. But for the most part, the discussion is quite general and abstract. I was disappointed that the author suggests we use Google to find examples of microaggressions or products that are manufactured by the for-profit prison industry that relies on the unpaid labor of overwhelmingly non-white prisoners. That was exactly the sort of information I would hope to find in a book on this topic. [UPDATE: No need to use Google; it's out there in plain daylight every day - police killings, disproportionate Covid illness and deaths.]

It seemed to me that the author was sometimes in danger of falling into the same mistakes she warns against, making sweeping generalizations about (other) white people and frequently emphasizing that she has many good friends who are people of color as if to prove her credentials, while rarely giving them a voice in these pages. Another concern is the title and the prominence of the R-word on the cover, which made it impossible for me to read this book in public or leave it around my house where a visitor might see it. It is an incredibly well-meaning book but I feel that it is unlikely to reach a wide audience.
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½
 
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Amniot | 5 other reviews | Apr 26, 2020 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
I appreciated this "for white people, by white people" look at some of the systemic racist issues facing this country. The funny chapter headings and real life examples make abundantly clear that each of us is complicit in a larger problem without causing offense and shutting down. There are actionable ideas and recommendations for further education as well.
 
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RachelRamirez | 5 other reviews | Apr 7, 2020 |

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Works
7
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