Book Study: “How To Be An Anti-Racist,” by Ibram X Kendi

 

Most people will tell you that racism is all about hatred and ignorance. In How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi explains that racism is ultimately structural. Racism directs attention away from harmful, inequitable policies and turns that attention on the people harmed by those policies. Kendi employs history, science, and ethics to describe different forms of racism; at the same time, he follows the events and experiences of his own life, adapting a memoir approach that personalizes his arguments.
 

We invite you to join in group discussion this spring as we explore this text. Book cost is $14.79 hardcover, $13.99 eBook, scholarships available. Group will meet Sundays starting Feb. 2 at 10:10a co-led by Umar Williams and Bill Konrardy.

 

Umar M Williams has been affiliated with LHUMC as a participant and member since 2004. Starting with theater and music ministries, Umar maintained his relationship with LHUMC due our drive for social justice and welcoming attitude. Because he embodied this part of LHUMC, Umar was handpicked to help lead our church into becoming a Reconciling Church and starting the process of helping us to become an Anti-Racist church and congregation.

 

Bill Konrardy is an anti-racist who is a long-standing member of LHUMC and is an original member of the Reconciling Ministries Task Force. His current focus in Reconciling Ministries is within the Anti-Racism work in a journey of ending the persistent racial disparities found in white dominant society through white privilege (including his own).

 

To register for the “How To Be An Anti-Racist” Sunday morning book study, see the form below.

 

Participants should order their own book, or borrow from the public library.

 
 

Book Study: White Fragility: Why it’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo

 

In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

We invite you to join in group discussion this spring as we explore this text. Book cost is $12.49 paperback, scholarships available. Group will meet Wednesday evenings starting Feb. 5 at 7:00p. 

To register for the “White Fragility” Wednesday evening book study, see the form below.

Participants should order their own book, or borrow from the public library.