Weekly Shares - June 28, 2024
Some things to listen to…
The Intersectionality Matters! - A Moment with Tim Wise
The latest episode featured anti-racist author, educator, and lecturer Tim Wise. In the short interview with Wise, he talked about why he believes there is not more of a critical mass of white antiracists working as allies to help undo systemic racism and white supremacy. Wise highlighted the words of James Baldwin which stated that the risk for white people is being turned away from the table of white society.
Wise, noting the reality of this fear for white people, sees a solution in sharing the work of white allies throughout history who have worked in solidarity with marginalzed groups to fight for change and to use their work as a model. A few of the indirviduals he highlighted were Dottie Zellner, Joanne Trumpauer Mulholland, Anne Braden, and Reverend John Fee.
Wise ends with the following reality in regards to the importance of this work. “You can continue to fight for what you believe in or collaborate with the things you don’t believe in.”
Codeswitch: The truth and lies behind one of the most banned books in America
This episode features an interview with author Mike Curato, whose graphic novel Flamer is one of the most banned books in the country. Curato’s award-winning book was published in the fall of 2020 and it received widespread praise for its honest poryrayal of a teenager at an all boys camp amid self-discovery about who he is. Curato notes the following. “We owe our youth honesty.” The book, based on the author’s own experiences does just this, telling the story with humor and compassion.
This episode also shares some important information on book bans, citing the fact that the American Library Association says book bans are up 65 percent from 2022 and noting that 11 people are responsible for filing 60 percent of the book challenges.
Codeswitch: 100 years of immigration policies working to keep out immigrants
As the episode website notes, this is a look back at the country’s immigration history, starting with a notorious law that would forever entangle immigration and racism — the Immigration Act of 1924. The law was born out of a panic about an influx of what were considered non-white immigrants at the time. The quotas it established were endorsed by the KKK and later praised by Hitler. The episode also features an interview with Jonathan Blitzer, the author of the recent best-seller Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here (See Some Things to Read Below).
Some things to read…
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here - by Jonathan Blitzer
As someone who often wonders how did we get here, I was excited to hear about Blitzer’s book about immigration and the decisions by our country’s leaders over previous decades which caused so much of the current crisis impacting those who are making the trek from so many Central American countries to escape conditions which they had nothing to do with creating. Blitzer highlights the stories of a few individuals with some important context of what they faced and why they were forced to leave their home countries. As noted by Jon Stewart of the Daily Show, “What an incredibly thorough documentation of the causes of the immigration crisis, the discussions that have been going on through multiple administrations.”
How We Win The Civil War - by Steve Phillips
The Subtitle of this book is Securing A Multicultural Democracy and Ending White Supremacy For Good and Phillips gets to his solutions by beginning with the acknowledgement that we are still in a civil war and begins the book with a first chapter titled “The Choice Between Democracy and Whiteness.” Phillips notes the fact that the attempted coup of January 6, 2021 “was not the first time a large percentage of America people chose whiteness over democracy in the wake of an election whose outcome they did not like.” He shares the Confederate Battle Plan, highlghting that despite the fact the Civil War ended, the same blueprint continues to be followed for those fighting to halt the formation of a true multiracial democracy. A few of the aspects of this blueprint include ruthlessly rewriting the laws, distorting public opinion, and silently sanctioning violence.
In part two of the book, “How We Win,” Phillips highlights a blueprint for the Liberation Battle Plan. This plan focuses on investing in Level 5 Leaders (from Jim Collins’ Good to Great), “leaders who display a powerful mixture of personal humility and indomitable will.” The remainder this plan calls for building strong civic engagement organizations, developing detailed, data-driven plans, and playing the long game. Phillips then gores onto highlight how this plan was enacted in Georgia, Arizona, Virginia, San Diego, and Texas to develop multiracial organizations to flip elections and begin to plant the seeds needed to grow a truly representative democracy.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is the from Martin Luther King, Jr. shared at the top of this entry.
What I am currently reading
They Came For The Schools - by Mike Hixenbaugh
White Poverty - by William Barber