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A review by pattydsf
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Tonya Bolden, Carol Anderson
4.0
”The trigger for white rage, inevitably, is black achievement. It is not the mere presence of black people that is the problem; rather, it is blackness with ambition, with drive, with purpose, with aspiration, and with demands for full and equal citizenship. It is blackness that refuses to accept subjugation, to give up. A formidable array of policy assaults and legal contortions has consistently punished black resilience, black resolve.”
I didn’t realize that this is the young adult version of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide when I started reading. I am actually glad that I read this version, because I am not sure I could have read the adult edition. I know in my brain that what Anderson says is true, that many white people are enraged by black ambition, but to read that history, page by page, from Reconstruction until now is sickening. Why would anyone be against another person’s success?
I will admit that I have a long way to go before I am an antiracist, but actively attempting to thwart another person’s ambition seems unchristian and immoral to me. It feels like we are back at the pie analogy. If you achieve what you want and need then I get less. Wrong. There is more than enough for everyone.
I highly recommend this book. It is written succinctly with plenty of corroboration of the facts presented. I suspect that White Rage is also excellent, but I am sure it is a tougher read.
I didn’t realize that this is the young adult version of White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide when I started reading. I am actually glad that I read this version, because I am not sure I could have read the adult edition. I know in my brain that what Anderson says is true, that many white people are enraged by black ambition, but to read that history, page by page, from Reconstruction until now is sickening. Why would anyone be against another person’s success?
I will admit that I have a long way to go before I am an antiracist, but actively attempting to thwart another person’s ambition seems unchristian and immoral to me. It feels like we are back at the pie analogy. If you achieve what you want and need then I get less. Wrong. There is more than enough for everyone.
I highly recommend this book. It is written succinctly with plenty of corroboration of the facts presented. I suspect that White Rage is also excellent, but I am sure it is a tougher read.