New book by Tim Wise - White Like Me

[jeffrey_X]

From Amazon:

Product Description:
In White Like Me, Tim Wise offers a highly personal examination of the ways in which racial privilege shapes the lives of most white Americans, overtly racist or not, to the detriment of people of color, themselves, and society. The book shows the breadth and depth of the phenomenon within institutions such as education, employment, housing, criminal justice, and healthcare. By critically assessing the magnitude of racial privilege and its enormous costs, Wise provides a rich memoir that will inspire activists, educators, or anyone interested in understanding the way that race continues to shape the experiences of people in the U.S. Using stories instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a narrative that is at once readable and scholarly, analytical and accessible.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932360689/qid=1113837108/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-2729849-1452836

[wellst0nev0ter]

1. Thumbs Up.

For those who are not familiar, here is a recent article by Tim Wise:

Playing Our Race Card: Reflections on Reverse Discrimination

By Tim Wise

Perhaps it would do us some good to put things in perspective.

Although many a white conservative is seeking to make more of it than is justified, the recent "reverse discrimination" case arising from New Orleans--in which the city's first black D.A., Eddie Jordan, apparently fired 53 whites in his office and replaced them with African Americans--does not, in fact, signify some larger social trend.

It does not indicate a pattern, whereby persons of color are wielding their power to oppress the white majority. It is not evidence of that much-vaunted social pendulum having swung in the other direction, nor proof of the societal equivalence between anti-white and anti-black discrimination. Not by a long shot.

Though Jordan's sledgehammer approach to achieving diversity in the D.A.'s office was clumsy, wrongheaded, and guaranteed to bring about the successful lawsuit just completed (in which 43 of the employees were awarded $1.9 million in back pay and damages), it is remarkable not so much for its commonality but rather for the infrequency with which such things happen.

Whereas discrimination against folks of color rarely makes the news at all, unless it involves a case as blatant as, say, Texaco or Denny's from a few years back, the relative rarity of anti-white bias propels cases like this to the status of front-page news. It is the equivalent of the white tiger at the zoo, or two-headed baby at the sideshow carnival: fascinating precisely because we rarely have ever seen such a thing before.

http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-04/19wise.cfm

[jeffrey_X]

2. Another great article from Tim....

I just finished his book and I must say it was/is quite profound. He is completely honest and is not afraid to air his family's dirty laundry. This coming a family who were openly anti-racist, but yet still fought the demons of racism personally.

[wildeyed]

3. That sounds like a really interesting book.

I ordered it. Super-saver shipping, so it will be a week or two before it shows up, but I will try to remember to post again after I read it. I suspect there is much I can relate to.

[wildeyed]

6. So I finished reading the book.

Excellent read. It was also an easier read than I expected. I assumed it would be super scholarly and dense reading, so it sat on my bedside table for several weeks before I got the gumption up to finally crack it open. But after I started, it went very easily. Tim Wise writes in a conversational tone, and relates many of his personal experiences. So it was almost like reading an extended DU post.

I feel like I really did learn something. Most interesting to me was the section about the cost of racism to whites. I mostly wasn't buying until his last point. He talks about how, when polled, members of minorities can site very specific examples of what they love about their culture. But when assimilated whites are asked the same question, they can't answer anything other than not being discriminated against. So to be white, we have trade our culture in exchange.

Anyway, good read, highly recommended.

[fortyfeetunder]

4. Just the thing I need for my workplace library

I have already put one book on effective management on my desk...a bright yellow cover, destined to get the manager's attention. This will go along nicely since I am in the minority there.

[Name removed]

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[Brewman_Jax]

7. Great book so far