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Book Discussion of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You

 


The Urban Life Experience Book Discussion Series resumed on Saturday Dec. 5th. There were 13 of us on the session. This book: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, is a YA version of an Ibram X. Kendi book called Stamped From the Beginning. This time, Jason Reynolds used the material from  Ibram X. Kendi's book to present a book that's more readable for teens.

One of our members, Laura, shared that she had never read YA (Young Adult) before and she was unfamiliar with some of the words and phrases that mostly young people use. She called this a generation gap. 

I found out so many facts in this book and asked the group if there were things they didn't know which were revealed in this book as well. Barbara shared with us that she didn't realize that one of the main reasons the colonies revolted against England was so that they could keep slavery. This is a good place to re-emphasize that this YA edition is a scaled-down version of the original. Whereas Stamped From the Beginning may have elaborated more on this, Reynolds only stated it as a fact. 


Wendy told us that she was struck by how some of the personalities along the way were more complex than she had realized. For example, W.E.B. Dubois had really evolved in his thinking near the end of his life. He went from being an assimilationist to being an antiracist. On p.143 Reynolds wrote: 

"Du Bois had spent so much time trying to learn, speak, dress, and impress racism away. But every year as the failures for freedom piled up, Du Bois's urgings for Black people to protest and fight became stronger."

For the last four weeks our book club has also been participating in a Cultural Academy presented by Project Longevity - New Haven and The Urban League of Southern Connecticut. The text we're using is Lerone Bennett's Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America, 1619 - 1962. I thought that reading Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You would repeat or reiterate what we'd also been discussing in the Cultural Academy, but the emphasis is totally different. 


Shelara suggested that Before the Mayflower was written for Black people. Indeed it had been featured as a serial in Ebony Magazine in the 1960's. The book we discussed today (on top of including history that spans all the way up today) was written for white people. It's a book to urge white people to become antiracist. (Side note: Jason Reynolds capitalizes the "W" in white, ) and it's written to a younger generation. 

Kay expressed that she liked the way Reynolds utilized extra effort in teaching young readers definitions of words like on p. 102 when he described how the South seceded from the Union before the Civil War. 

"The secession, which just means to withdraw from being a member of, not to be confused with succession, meaning a line of people sharing a role one after the other..."



Nancy told us that her thinking has changed since reading this book (as well as reading the Lerone Bennett book. She's thinking now that because racism is birthed in money and power, we need to find a way to make racism less profitable, and love for humanity more profitable. Shelara and I countered this point by trying to explain how racism is deeper than that. People will actually vote for policies that take money out of their own pockets (think health insurance for all) rather than vote for policies that uplift Black (and Brown, and Muslim, and immigrant) people. 

Kay summed up my opinion when she said, "reading about the past is like reading about today."


Other resources mentioned in this meeting were: 

 The Possessive Investment in Whiteness by George Lipitz. 

Stamped for Kids: Racism Antiracism and You by Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul for children ages 7-10

YouTube Video by Meghan Curry, NHFPL Teen Librarian:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve0LS8RQ2Uo&list=PL1TChNPIFxY-3nKOt63zWK6RngKJ-C9QA&index=62

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (teen)

The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds (teen)

Ghost by Jason Reynolds (middle school)

Joshua Bennett: Owed (poetry)

Ross Gay: Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

Kimberly Jones: I'm Not Dying With You Tonight (teen)

HBO Documentary: Between the World and Me 

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