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| The Books We Read to Help Us Understand Racism | The Books We Read to Help Us Understand Racism |
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| The year has nearly come to an end, which means it’s a good time for reflection and to catch up on some reading. | The year has nearly come to an end, which means it’s a good time for reflection and to catch up on some reading. |
| The bevy of black male writers pictured above are celebrated in a new cover story by T Magazine. What’s interesting about the feature is how it uses America’s current obsession with black male authors to raise questions about the visibility of their female peers. To mitigate this tension, the men in the piece were asked to recommend their favorite black American female author. | |
| In recent weeks, you have sent me some worthy recommendations as well. | |
| Robert Ball’s “Slaves in the Family,” about the author’s slave-owner ancestors, appeared in multiple letters. “He was so forthright in his concrete attempts to make amends for his family’s slave-trading history,” wrote Phoebe Grigg of San Francisco. “A lot of my unformed feelings were identified and smoked out, and I am much the better for it.” | Robert Ball’s “Slaves in the Family,” about the author’s slave-owner ancestors, appeared in multiple letters. “He was so forthright in his concrete attempts to make amends for his family’s slave-trading history,” wrote Phoebe Grigg of San Francisco. “A lot of my unformed feelings were identified and smoked out, and I am much the better for it.” |
| Frances Araujo recommended the poem “Silver Pennies,” by Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen, as it exposed her to race for the first time. “It’s short and brutal. And I, a little white girl, have never forgotten the chill of sadness,” she wrote. | Frances Araujo recommended the poem “Silver Pennies,” by Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen, as it exposed her to race for the first time. “It’s short and brutal. And I, a little white girl, have never forgotten the chill of sadness,” she wrote. |
| Priya Arora, a colleague, said “Bengali Harlem” by Vivek Bald has been important to her as a South Asian American. “Learning about immigration patterns of minorities has been helpful for me in understanding both my roots and how interconnected our struggles against systemic oppression are,” she wrote. | Priya Arora, a colleague, said “Bengali Harlem” by Vivek Bald has been important to her as a South Asian American. “Learning about immigration patterns of minorities has been helpful for me in understanding both my roots and how interconnected our struggles against systemic oppression are,” she wrote. |
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| And finally, “Makes Me Wanna Holler,” by Nathan McCall, struck one reader, who asked to remain nameless, “like a baseball bat.” The book is a scathing memoir, reviewed by The New York Times in 1994, about the pervasiveness of racism, even in unassuming places. | And finally, “Makes Me Wanna Holler,” by Nathan McCall, struck one reader, who asked to remain nameless, “like a baseball bat.” The book is a scathing memoir, reviewed by The New York Times in 1994, about the pervasiveness of racism, even in unassuming places. |
| I’d like to add to this list Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen,” a poetic examination of whiteness, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” an epic tale of the Great Migration by former Times correspondent Isabel Wilkerson, and “The Race Beat,” by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, about how journalists across the United States covered the civil rights movement. | I’d like to add to this list Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen,” a poetic examination of whiteness, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” an epic tale of the Great Migration by former Times correspondent Isabel Wilkerson, and “The Race Beat,” by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, about how journalists across the United States covered the civil rights movement. |
| As for news this week, Silicon Valley took a lot of heat — again. I talked to Mark S. Luckie, a former Facebook employee who, shortly before he left the company in November, wrote and circulated a memo about why he believes Facebook fails its black employees and black users. Mr. Luckie, 35, told me that he wrote the memo because he didn’t want to be a black employee who experienced the negative environment at Facebook without speaking up about it. | As for news this week, Silicon Valley took a lot of heat — again. I talked to Mark S. Luckie, a former Facebook employee who, shortly before he left the company in November, wrote and circulated a memo about why he believes Facebook fails its black employees and black users. Mr. Luckie, 35, told me that he wrote the memo because he didn’t want to be a black employee who experienced the negative environment at Facebook without speaking up about it. |
| And in a new report from The Times, black employees at Tesla opened up about threats, humiliation and a culture of exclusion at the automaker. I’m curious to see what either company does to address this criticism. Here’s hoping it’ll be for the best. | And in a new report from The Times, black employees at Tesla opened up about threats, humiliation and a culture of exclusion at the automaker. I’m curious to see what either company does to address this criticism. Here’s hoping it’ll be for the best. |
| Have a great weekend, | Have a great weekend, |
| LaurettaEditor, Race/Related | |
| For more coverage of race, see our archive and sign up here to have our Race/Related newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox. | For more coverage of race, see our archive and sign up here to have our Race/Related newsletter delivered weekly to your inbox. |