š¦The Sunday Spotlight! YES! REVIEW ššæ Another expressive voice has confidently entered the race conversation. Austin Channing Brown has announced her arrival with this memoir-y look at race and the constantly rising dialogue around whiteness. Austin Channing Brown will boldly take her place among the writers of race with this volume of race dialogue through the lens of her life. Austin pulls no punches in discussing how race, racism, whiteness and white supremacy play a role in this society and how it has affected her personally.
Her very name was a result of her parents trying to protect her against what they knew she would face as a Black woman in America. āWe knew that anyone who saw it(her name)before meeting you would assume you are a white man. One day you will have to apply for jobs. We just wanted to make sure you could make it to the interview.ā
She is downright dazzling in her dissection of racism. She takes the reader through public spaces, workspaces, and learning places all while showing unflinchingly how race has impacted her personally and Black people collectively, bravely naming the dysfunction āThe ideology that whiteness is supreme, better, best, permeates the air we breatheāin our schools, in our offices, and in our countryās common life. White supremacy is a tradition that must be named and a religion that must be renounced. When this work has not been done, those who live in whiteness become oppressive, whether intentional or not.ā
This is an exceptional piece of work and the personal touch Austin Channing Brown employs makes this a highly readable discourse on navigating race in America. There are so many teachable moments and a lot to learn for anyone that continues to be baffled and confounded by race and whiteness in America. In a chapter called Whiteness at Work, she gives an almost by the hour description of a Black Woman trying to survive in a culture of professional whiteness, it is riveting in its instructiveness.
The stories she recounts through her work as an inclusion expert for non-profit Christian organizations all read as if the reader is a student sitting in a critical race theory class. āEntertaining a discussion about race with someone who believes in white innocence often feels like entering the twilight zone. This is largely because those who believe in white innocence donāt have enough of a knowledge base to participate meaningfully in the discussion. They havenāt educated themselves through books or courses. They are unfamiliar with the lexicon on race, not realizing their words have particular meanings. Their understanding of both Americaās racial history and current racial landscape is lacking. But this does not prevent them from being convinced of their rightness and need to reassert dominance.ā
Austin Channing Brown is shoring up that knowledge base and giving readers the lexicon on race. She has magnificently joined the best writers on race with this volume. This one shouldn't be missed! Available wherever books are sold.
