Hey P.O.U. Family! It’s that time again to start up a new book. P.O.U. Book Club will read and discuss, “White Like Me, Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son” by Tim Wise. This is Tim Wise’s first book that was published in 2004.
Book Summary from Amazon.com-
Racial privilege shapes the lives of white Americans in every facet of life, from employment and education to housing and criminal justice. Using stories from his own life, Tim Wise shows that racism not only burdens people of color, but also benefits those who are “white like him” — whether or not they’re actively racist. Using stories instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a compelling narrative that assesses the magnitude of racial privilege and is at once readable and scholarly, analytical yet accessible.
Wise leaves no stone unturned. Sparing neither family nor self, Wise recalls a racist rant his antiracist mother once delivered, racial epithets uttered by his Alzheimer’s-afflicted grandmother and the “conditioning” that leads him to wonder, for a split-second, if people of color are truly qualified for their jobs. He considers how the deck has always been stacked in his and other white people’s favor: his grandmother’s house, which served as collateral for a loan he needed for college, for instance, was in a neighborhood that had formerly barred blacks.
Here are the links to some websites for purchasing the book:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/white-like-me-tim-wise/1101005164?ean=9781593764258
http://www.hpbmarketplace.com/booksearch?keyword=White+like+me#
I will start the discussion about the book on June 7th.