Why a White Allies book group?

A friend recently asked me to write something about my reasons for offering the White Allies book group, to send around to a newsletter she manages. Here’s what I told her:

I’m offering a book group for white allies, starting in September, to read together and discuss books that explore issues of systemic racism. As a white person, I’m offering to facilitate this group for other white people interested in educating themselves about racism and reflecting on their own behaviors and assumptions as the beneficiaries of a racist society. That said, everyone is welcome!

I’ve been thinking and talking and reading about race issues since college, when I first started waking up to how I — a well-meaning white person raised in a liberal household — have perpetuated racism. At that time, I did my first work as an activist. Recently, like most people I know, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to respond to this moment of national awareness of racism, in both its tremendous suffering and its potential, finally, maybe, for real transformation. I want not only to work on illuminating and shedding my own biases — all those times when I still “think the culture’s thoughts”, as a fellow meditator put it recently — but also to facilitate conversations with other white people that allow them to engage with their own biases. 

In addition to over a decade teaching college, I spent several years leading meditation classes and group discussions about Buddhist teachings. This work is similar: a combination of unpacking a text and creating a space where people feel comfortable sharing their experiences and perspectives. It’s not a therapy group, but it’s tremendously therapeutic, in my opinion, to have hard, vulnerable discussions about the stuff that matters. Every white person who is willing to engage not only becomes an agent of change, they become an example and a teacher for others. I hope the group will inspire substantive, nuanced reflection and wise and fearless action. I firmly believe that these kinds of conversations are essential. I know I still have lots of biases myself, and I’m not positioning myself as the group’s expert, but as its facilitator: the one who ensures that the discussions are as fruitful as possible for everyone.

A few comments on logistics….The group will meet six times: in September, October, and November of 2020, and in January, February, and March of 2021. We’ll begin with a discussion of How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi in September. I’ll offer suggestions for the remaining books, and the group will choose, alternating between fiction and nonfiction. I’ll cap the group at ~15 people, and we’ll meet for 1.5 hours, via Zoom, at an evening time to be decided. The cost is $200 for the six sessions. To foster rapport and trust, members must sign up for the whole series. A portion of the fees will be donated to the LA chapter of Black Lives Matter.