Hey Everyone,
I want to start off by thanking Netgalley, Lawrence C. Ross (the author), and St. Martin's Press (the publisher) for the advanced reading copy of "Blackballed The Black + White Politics of Race on America's Campuses." This book will be available for purchase on February 2, 2016.
I would rate this book 4 stars out of 5. This was a very powerful, enriching book. I want to start off by saying yes, I am racist, I am ignorant and I am very uncomfortable writing, talking, and discussing such an important topic of racism. I can't deny what I am not aware of. Yes, like many of you I try not to be racist, I have good intentions, but because I can not go through every event, thought, action, conversation, belief, comment, or criticism I have made throughout my life and say that absolutely none of it, 0% was racist. I can't say that there is no one that I have ever offended by anything I did, said, or thought. So yes I am racist. I believe that racism still exists, in many forms. It is still a significant problem, that has never gone away. It is an issue that needs to be brought to the front, to be confronted. We as society need to talk about it, and stop hiding from it and pushing it under the rug. That is the first step but like I have learned in this book, there is so much more than this that needs to be done.
This book was deeply honest, it genuinely confronted racism, and brought it to the front of the table. The author spoke from his heart, his words were charged with all sorts of emotion. I felt his words, understood what he was saying. He was direct, upfront, he was blunt and he presented the subject well. Racism is a huge issue that is present in every platform of society. I want to say that the author did an excellent job of narrowing down the topic of racism to pick out to discuss racism within the college campuses. Because the subject was not to broad, this book was clearly able to discuss how prevalent racism is in college campuses. This book was well organized, that it pointed out the different ways that racism is displayed in our colleges. It discussed the power that the Greek system has in continuing to allow racism to prevail. It talked about the admission process, the dorms, how the college systematic procedures, its inner core promoted racism. It talked about the social life on campus how it promoted racism. How something simple and easily fixed such as buildings that are named after racist people, how that instilled racism into the atmosphere. It pointed out how racist acts can and do affect that person deeply and more than one can imagine.
Another thing I really liked with this book, was how the author backed up what he had to say. He backed it up with facts, statistics, experiences, events. I hate how there are people who will make erroneous written or verbal statements, present them as if it was a fact and have nothing to back it up with. No resource to fall back on. By backing up what he said the author was more powerful and confident in getting his ideas across. He did a fair job of presenting facts. He gave credit where it was due. He presented the negative events as well as the positive. He also didn't just leave you hanging in presenting a problem without having a way to fix it. He provided a solution, a where to go from here plan. The only thing I can criticize here is that I wish he spent more time in the book in providing solutions, an exact plan of action. I did think he spent a little too much of the book focusing on the Greek system. That if he shortened it and held back a little, the book would have been all that more powerful.
This book meant a lot to me. I can't tell you how much I learned from this. I mean I know racism exists and is prevalent a lot in our society, but it just shows me how ignorant to this subject I really was and am, how much I didn't know and still don't know. I will leave you guys with this, one of the most powerful moments of this book, is we can't sit by the sidelines anymore. We need to stand up together and face it, confront it, and act on it. At this point actions can sometimes speak louder than words. How apologizing and saying your sorry backed up with ignorant excuses is not good enough. You know when someone does something that irritates you all the time and continues to do so after you told them to stop? How there comes a point in time when their apologies mean nothing to you. I know that this previous example does not display the magnitude and prevalence of racism in our society. But we have to get over our uncomfortableness and face it, and to change it. Instead of apologizing we need to act to solve this issue at its core.
If you are interested in pre-ordering this book click Here. This book is available for purchase on February 2, 2016. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.
Until the next page,
Jill
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