Posted on May 21, 2023
How St. Louis inspired ‘Witnessing Whiteness’ author and her new book on anti-racism
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If it weren’t for the YWCA Metro St. Louis, Los Angeles-based writer Shelly Tochluk would have never written a third edition of “Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk About Race and How to Do It.”
Tochluk credits the local YWCA as “the reason this book is still being used” – and why she took up revising it. At the same time she was making those revisions, she was writing her new book that will be released next month, “Being White Today: A Roadmap to a Positive Antiracist Life.”
Originally published about 15 years ago, “Witnessing Whiteness” became a program the YWCA Metro St. Louis started in 2011. Since 2014, more than 4,000 white St. Louisans have participated..
Mary Ferguson has been deeply involved in nearly every facet of the YWCA’s Witnessing Whiteness work — first as a volunteer, then as a consultant. She said Witnessing Whiteness aims to deepen white people’s understanding of their own role in how racism operates. The program is distinct from more conventional forms of diversity, equity and inclusion work in its explicit focus on white people meeting with one another rather than cross-race approaches.
Tochluk credits the local YWCA as “the reason this book is still being used” – and why she took up revising it. At the same time she was making those revisions, she was writing her new book that will be released next month, “Being White Today: A Roadmap to a Positive Antiracist Life.”
Originally published about 15 years ago, “Witnessing Whiteness” became a program the YWCA Metro St. Louis started in 2011. Since 2014, more than 4,000 white St. Louisans have participated..
Mary Ferguson has been deeply involved in nearly every facet of the YWCA’s Witnessing Whiteness work — first as a volunteer, then as a consultant. She said Witnessing Whiteness aims to deepen white people’s understanding of their own role in how racism operates. The program is distinct from more conventional forms of diversity, equity and inclusion work in its explicit focus on white people meeting with one another rather than cross-race approaches.
How St. Louis inspired ‘Witnessing Whiteness’ author and her new book on anti-racism
Posted from news.stlpublicradio.org
Racism
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1.) “Being White Today: A Roadmap to a Positive Antiracist Life.”
“Often, people who are interested in seeing change in the community look outward, and think about conditions that are uneven and unfair … and they'll want to go straight to the communities most affected by those disparities and do ‘good work,’” Ferguson said. “What we've been able to convey with the Witnessing Whiteness program is how, over time – and in the creation of both the categories of race and the policies that upheld racism – white people have played a role.”
“We like to talk about being more aware, more reflective, and then being thoughtful in your action,” said Ferguson. “Not going in as someone who has a solution, but [white people] working in solidarity with communities of color, learning alongside.”
“More extremist versions of racism are pushing and pulling people, especially those who haven't given a lot of consideration to race toward one side,” Tochluk said. “This book is really designed to go step by step through the racial identity process for white people, and uplift and orient toward: ‘What are the different messages that people get, and how do people navigate them both so that we, as white people, can stay resilient on the road toward antiracism, and can help other people take on a more antiracist stance as well?’”
SOURCE : https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2023-05-18/how-st-louis-inspired-witnessing-whiteness-author-and-her-new-book-on-anti-racism
2.) The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America
A leading scientist proves once and for all that race does not exist and provides solutions to end racism. While the public debate over the existence of race, racism, and affirmative action continues to rage, preeminent evolutionary biologist Joseph Graves will forever change how we think about race. According to his provocative argument, science cannot account for the racial categories used to classify people. He goes a step further to describe racism as an unintended consequence of evolution and offers creative, innovative ways to bring true equality to America.
"The Race Myth" debunks the ancient fallacies still held as fact and perpetuated in everything from damaging medical profiling to misconceptions about sports. Through accessible and compelling language, Graves reveals the impossibility that any group of humans now in existence has a separate genetic line of descent. "The Race Myth" also explains why defining a race according to skin tones or eye shape is woefully inaccurate and why applying these false categories to assumptions about IQ, behavior, or predisposition to disease has devastating effects.
Demonstrating that racial distinctions are social inventions, not biological truths, "The Race Myth" brings much-needed, sound science to one of Americaas most emotionally charged debates.
SOURCE : https://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-01-07.htm
“Often, people who are interested in seeing change in the community look outward, and think about conditions that are uneven and unfair … and they'll want to go straight to the communities most affected by those disparities and do ‘good work,’” Ferguson said. “What we've been able to convey with the Witnessing Whiteness program is how, over time – and in the creation of both the categories of race and the policies that upheld racism – white people have played a role.”
“We like to talk about being more aware, more reflective, and then being thoughtful in your action,” said Ferguson. “Not going in as someone who has a solution, but [white people] working in solidarity with communities of color, learning alongside.”
“More extremist versions of racism are pushing and pulling people, especially those who haven't given a lot of consideration to race toward one side,” Tochluk said. “This book is really designed to go step by step through the racial identity process for white people, and uplift and orient toward: ‘What are the different messages that people get, and how do people navigate them both so that we, as white people, can stay resilient on the road toward antiracism, and can help other people take on a more antiracist stance as well?’”
SOURCE : https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2023-05-18/how-st-louis-inspired-witnessing-whiteness-author-and-her-new-book-on-anti-racism
2.) The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America
A leading scientist proves once and for all that race does not exist and provides solutions to end racism. While the public debate over the existence of race, racism, and affirmative action continues to rage, preeminent evolutionary biologist Joseph Graves will forever change how we think about race. According to his provocative argument, science cannot account for the racial categories used to classify people. He goes a step further to describe racism as an unintended consequence of evolution and offers creative, innovative ways to bring true equality to America.
"The Race Myth" debunks the ancient fallacies still held as fact and perpetuated in everything from damaging medical profiling to misconceptions about sports. Through accessible and compelling language, Graves reveals the impossibility that any group of humans now in existence has a separate genetic line of descent. "The Race Myth" also explains why defining a race according to skin tones or eye shape is woefully inaccurate and why applying these false categories to assumptions about IQ, behavior, or predisposition to disease has devastating effects.
Demonstrating that racial distinctions are social inventions, not biological truths, "The Race Myth" brings much-needed, sound science to one of Americaas most emotionally charged debates.
SOURCE : https://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-01-07.htm
How St. Louis inspired ‘Witnessing Whiteness’ author and her new book on anti-racism
Shelly Tochluk’s book “Witnessing Whiteness” is a tool white St. Louisans have used for more than a decade to explore white racial identity and racism’s impacts. Tochluk discusses the purpose of her newest book, “Being White Today.”
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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