Have mixed feelings about this book.
First, I think she got the white privilege mostly right. As a white person, I am sure I do not realize how often I am given the benefit of the doubt, treated better than people of color, etc. I don't have to constantly analyze situations/people to determine what is happening or to assure my own safety. That part of the book was heart-rending and made me see how I can never fully understand the experiences of people of color.
So for all of the above, I definitely commend and recommend this book.
I do think, however, there is a danger in the implication that when blacks are confronted by police, it is always - or even usually - with unnecessary violence. Even with my realization that whites are treated better, it's still hard to believe that the police would raid someone's house at three in the morning, break down the door, trash the place, and insist that a professional woman (albeit black) in a nice neighborhood, accompany them to the police station in her nightgown - and then brag about it during cross examination.
I have read about such behavior by police in drug raids, but (and maybe I am truly misinformed), I have never read an account similar to this in the media.
It almost seemed as if the author felt that white folks wouldn't truly get the subtleties of racism, but had to be hit over the head with it. And it wasn't sufficient to cite the stories of black youth killed by police because the people out there who don't get racism might believe the police were protecting their own safety so she had to show that this is not the case by the example of Ruth's arrest - and treatment of her son.
It also seems hard to believe today with the civil rights protections in place, that a supervisor would actually go so far as to put a written note in the file that African Americans were not to touch the baby. Again, it seems the author thought we wouldn't "get it" if the supervisor just told her verbally to stand down - as would be much more likely (along with an explanation that the father seemed to think she mishandled the baby in some way - in order to cover herself.) I am not doubting that racism exists in the workplace - I have seen it - but it is much more subtle than overt "no African Americans are allowed written statements."
While my criticisms may seem nitpicking, I think they actually give those who don't want to understand white privilege an excuse to discount it.
First, I think she got the white privilege mostly right. As a white person, I am sure I do not realize how often I am given the benefit of the doubt, treated better than people of color, etc. I don't have to constantly analyze situations/people to determine what is happening or to assure my own safety. That part of the book was heart-rending and made me see how I can never fully understand the experiences of people of color.
So for all of the above, I definitely commend and recommend this book.
I do think, however, there is a danger in the implication that when blacks are confronted by police, it is always - or even usually - with unnecessary violence. Even with my realization that whites are treated better, it's still hard to believe that the police would raid someone's house at three in the morning, break down the door, trash the place, and insist that a professional woman (albeit black) in a nice neighborhood, accompany them to the police station in her nightgown - and then brag about it during cross examination.
I have read about such behavior by police in drug raids, but (and maybe I am truly misinformed), I have never read an account similar to this in the media.
It almost seemed as if the author felt that white folks wouldn't truly get the subtleties of racism, but had to be hit over the head with it. And it wasn't sufficient to cite the stories of black youth killed by police because the people out there who don't get racism might believe the police were protecting their own safety so she had to show that this is not the case by the example of Ruth's arrest - and treatment of her son.
It also seems hard to believe today with the civil rights protections in place, that a supervisor would actually go so far as to put a written note in the file that African Americans were not to touch the baby. Again, it seems the author thought we wouldn't "get it" if the supervisor just told her verbally to stand down - as would be much more likely (along with an explanation that the father seemed to think she mishandled the baby in some way - in order to cover herself.) I am not doubting that racism exists in the workplace - I have seen it - but it is much more subtle than overt "no African Americans are allowed written statements."
While my criticisms may seem nitpicking, I think they actually give those who don't want to understand white privilege an excuse to discount it.
