Download Contemporary Issues - Catholic Volunteer Network

Contemporary Issues
"Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" and Other
Conversations about Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD. This thoughtful and
provocative book promotes understanding of social dynamics, asserts that kids
from Black and other cultural groups need to form and affirm their racial identity
free from negative stereotypes, and shows how white people can confront issues
of privilege and injustice. She stresses the need to talk about racism and helps
her readers to be more confident and capable of discussing matters of race.
Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social
Justice (2008) gives a history of the labor movement, especially including the role
of people of color. Authors Bill Fletcher Jr. and Fernando Gapasin also shed light
on the current economic situation and restructuring, the future of organized labor
and what potential it has for workers today.
Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice by Paul Kivel.
As a white author, Kivel writes to support other white people in the work against
racism. He shares stories, exercises, suggestions, and techniques to make this
work possible and practical for individuals and our communities, workplaces and
nation.
None to Accompany Me. In her novel, Nadine Gordimer (Nobel Prize winner for
literature) explores personal and political transformation as apartheid is ending in
South Africa through the experiences and interactions of a black family and a
white family.
Witnessing Whiteness: First Steps toward an Antiracist Practice and Culture by
Shelly Tochluk delves deep into the impact of whiteness
on white people and their interactions so that from a place of race
consciousness, they can more effectively build relationships and address racism.
Tochluk takes readers inside long-term cross-race friendships and collaborations,
and gives practical information on how white people can be allies in the work for
racial justice. The introduction, discussion questions, and more can be found at
www.witnessingwhiteness.com
It's the Little Things: Everyday Interactions That Anger, Annoy, and Divide the
Races (2002) Author Lena Williams gives her perspective as a black woman on
interactions in all settings of American life – public, social, home, school, work
and media. She fosters empathy and helps make it possible to break down
interracial tension, one misunderstanding at a time.
Poverty and Racism: Overlapping Threats to the Common Good (2007) is a
brand new booklet published by Catholic Charities USA. This little gem clearly
and succinctly shows how poverty and racism are intertwined, and that poverty
cannot be eliminated without working against racial injustice and white privilege.
It also gives public policy suggestions based on the broad experience of Catholic
Charities, and shares what organizational and individual commitments to racial .
It is available to download at
www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=874&srcid=500
101 Tools for Tolerance resource from www.tolerance.org. Hatred and
intolerance can be overcome only when citizen activists stand up and make a
difference. 101 Tools for Tolerance provides simple ideas for promoting equity
and celebrating diversity. The booklet offers steps specifically designed for
individuals, schools, businesses and communities.
The Cost of Privilege by Chip Smith is an enlightening read for activists, trainers,
and everyone who cares about justice. It has been praised for its
“comprehensive look at racism and white supremacy and their effects on
individuals and organizations.” This book keeps the reader’s interest as it
provides an analysis of the past and ways to work against systemic racism in the
21st century.
The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy
by Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres shows how injustices experienced by people
of color are systemic problems that will harm everyone. Using personal
experiences, data, analysis and wit, they delve into challenging topics such as
racial profiling and racial identity. They share a compelling agenda "to use the
experiences of people of color as the basis for fundamental social change that
will benefit not only blacks and Hispanics but other disadvantaged social groups."
The Wolf Shall Dwell With the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a
Multicultural Community by Rev. Eric Law, Chalice Press (August 1993). In his
book, Rev. Law gives practical suggestions and some helpful theoretical
frameworks to assist those who are struggling with multi-culturalism issues or
those working with those of different cultural mindsets.
Cultural Diversity Sourcebook, edited by award-winners Dr. Bob Abramms and
Dr. George F. Simons. This 505-page landmark anthology presents diversity
issues with articles from the traditional business press, as well as poetry, pop
music, cartoons and theater. Topics include class, spirit, applications, African
Americans, gender, Affirmative Action, key dilemmas, best practices, alternate
models, and more.
Lifting The White Veil: An Exploration Of White American Culture In A Multiracial
Context by Jeff Hitchcock is a book on the development and current
characteristics of the white subculture in the United States. Hitchcock is white,
married to a black woman, and worked many years in the field of diversity
training and racial reconciliation. He gives white Americans the information they
need to start to move beyond ingrained beliefs toward a clearer and more
accurate understanding of our society and relations with other races.
Dismantling Racism: The Continuing Challenge to White America by Joseph
Barndt, 1991 - Racism has reemerged, dramatically and forcefully. All of us —
people of color and white people alike — are damaged by its debilitating effects.
In this book, the author addresses the “majority,” the white race in the United
States. Racism permeates the individual attitudes and behavior of white people,
but even more seriously, it permeates public systems, institutions, and culture.
Free to Be Bound by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, NavPress, 2008.
Through his experience living in a new monastic community in the South,
Jonathan learns about the color lines that fragment the Church. His reflection
calls Christians to become a people of a new culture – one that moves beyond
the confines of race.
American Indians of the Southwest by Bertha Pauline Dutton, University of New
Mexico Press; Revised edition (March 1983). This book contains a well laid out
introduction of history and contemporary tribal affairs. Along with the history and
specifics on tribes, the book also has nice coverage of arts and crafts in the
American Indian culture.