18 anti-racist books that aren’t ‘White Fragility’
There's more to the genre than 'White Fragility'
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Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Tish James takes on the NRA, Doris Buffett left a legacy of philanthropy, and we have some book suggestions. Have a relaxing weekend.
– Reading is fundamental. With the weekend at our doorstep, are you hoping to spend some time away from your screens—maybe even with a good book?
I have some suggestions to pass on, though I admit that none are the usual light beach fare many of us gravitate to this time of year. Then again—this is not exactly a typical year, and I suspect that this summer, as many of us are stocking our beach bags with anti-racist reading as with whodonits and frothy romance novels (though I love those too!).
The recs come from sociologist Tsedale Melaku, who I interviewed last month at a From Day One virtual event dedicated to workplace equity. Melaku is the author of You Don’t Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism, a book that explores the experiences of Black female attorneys and the many deeply-entrenched barriers that hold them back in the legal world.
One of the essential concepts laid out in Melaku’s book is the “invisible labor clause”—the requirement that Black women do additional, unseen and uncompensated work to “fit in” to traditionally white male arenas like corporate law firms—and the associated “inclusion tax,” in the form of time, money, and energy spent on those tasks. An example: spending hours (and dollars!) at the hair salon in order to have a style that a white institution deems “professional.”
Melaku is an academic, and the book is rich with theory and scholarly research. But she also spent hours interviewing Black female lawyers about their own experiences at work—and for me, that’s the beating heart of the text. The women, who are painfully candid with Melaku, share tales of being tagged a “diversity hire,” getting repeatedly passed over for good assignments and sponsorship, being mistaken for a secretary, feeling uncomfortable and excluded at work-related social events, biting their tongues at racist comments—the list goes on and on. And while the women interviewed are all attorneys, it’s easy to imagine that Black women in other segments of corporate America would relate.
Toward the end of our discussion, Melaku encouraged non-Black women who want to better understand—and begin dismantling—the systems that foster these experiences to educate themselves. Reading is one essential way to do that, she said (though she urged people to look beyond the wildly popular White Fragility!). Melaku’s book is obviously a great place to start, but she also helpfully provided a full reading list. Hopefully it will come in handy!
Of course, reading up is only one part of the puzzle: “Build your own knowledge base and then listen,” Melaku said. “It doesn’t hurt to listen.”
Kristen Bellstrom
kristen.bellstrom@fortune.com
@kayelbee
Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.