Nine Books to Reckon With

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Despite the fact that we have been living overseas for 3.5 years now, I follow the news back home in the United States pretty closely and regularly.  I've been thinking a lot about race and class and our American society.  

For me, the word that comes to mind is "reckoning."  My nation is being reckoned with.  I am being reckoned with.  One of the ways the American Heritage Dictionary defines 'reckoning' is "a settlement of accounts."  The United States of America has been building on a debt that goes all the way back to 1619.  Can we settle the account?  Can we face the truth of our origins and address it so that we can move forward -- together -- as a country? 

A few days ago I finished reading Isabel Wilkerson's book "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents."  A book that will help you delve into those questions. 

An Essential Read

It is a powerful book that explores the United States as a caste society.  When some of us look at the news and wonder 'What is happening?'  'What is going on?'  This book can help.  Wilkerson provides language and context to help us understand what is happening and what is going on.  As she puts it -- "the origins of our discontents."  

I'm a member of what Wilkerson describes as the upper caste.  There were many times when I was reading the book that I had to pause for a moment.  Close the book.  Sit for a couple minutes in a revelation.  There is clearly a lot to reckon with.  

While reading the book I thought a lot about my position within American society.  What do I assume?  What do I take for granted?  How do I move through the world safe and secure in my 'whiteness'?  What are my unconscious bias.  My racist tendencies.  My prejudices.  Where am I complicit?  Where am I silent?  Where have I been completely oblivious?

I attended high school in Montgomery, Alabama where the two big rival schools were Jefferson Davis High School and Robert E. Lee High School.  The president of the Confederacy and its greatest general honored in the names of these two academic institutions.  I never gave this a moment's thought.  What did those names mean to my black classmates?  I have no idea because at the time it never occurred to me to ask.

If you're looking for a way to better understand the United States.  To gain a new perspective into the foundation of our nation and society.  I would highly recommend Wilkerson's book.  I will tell you though that if you are part of the upper caste -- a white American -- please approach the book with an open mind and open heart.  Do not be defensive.  If you let it, Caste reveals many hard truths about what living in "the land of the free" has actually been like for our black brothers and sisters.  Fact: I have been privileged.  Fact: Millions of my fellow Americans are not and they have been terrorized and marginalized in their own nation. 

Reading is how I learn.  It's how I gather information and consider new insights.  In addition to Wilkerson's book, I've read other books the past few years exploring the subject of race and class.  Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy.  The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton.  Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  March: Book One by John Lewis.  And I'm going to keep going.   

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Gilbert.  I follow her on Instagram and she's one of my favorite authors to hear speak.  She did a book club earlier this year called "Onward."  She amplified and highlighted the work of eight black women.  Recommending their books and then having an Instagram Live conversation with them.  She recently posted all of the conversations on her YouTube page.  Over the past couple weeks, I've listened to all of them.  I would HIGHLY recommend listening to all - some - or just one of them.

So in addition to doing my Read Harder Challenge and The Unread Shelf Challenge, I've decided to make it my own personal challenge to read all eight of these books during 2021.  I've included the names below and links to the conversations, which are posted on YouTube.  I'm just sharing them in the order I watched them.

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway

Black is the Body by Emily Bernard

The Beauty in Breaking by Dr. Michele Harper

Eloquent Rage by Dr. Brittney Cooper

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall

The Awakened Woman by Dr. Tererai Trent *there are a few audio issues at the very beginning

My Personal 2021 Reading Challenge

Perhaps you'll join me in reading one of these books or listening to one of the conversations.  Perhaps you'll pick up Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste.  Please leave me a comment if you do and let me know what you think.  

Let's keep reading!  Even when the subject matter might reckon with us. 

Comments

  1. Karen R.December 27, 2020 at 7:55 AM

    I got Caste on Audible and still haven't made it all the way through. It is difficult to take in. But important to acknowledge the history of racism in the US and especially the justified fear that particularly black men live with even today.
    I don't know how we grow beyond that, but we must.
    Thank you for the other suggestions!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NicoleDecember 28, 2020 at 4:08 AM

      Stick with it Karen! I know it's a book that challenges the reader with some hard truths but it's so important.

      Delete

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