Racial Justice Book Club
In partnership with the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, YWCA Northeast Kansas hosts a community book club that will feature books written by Black, Indigenous, and people of color. All are invited to participate in monthly meetings to discuss the books and relevant social issues within our community. Discussions will be guided by Regina Platt, YWCA Racial Justice & Advocacy Coordinator, and Miranda Ericsson, Readers Librarian at the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.
In 2022, our book club meets online on the fourth Tuesday of every month from 7:00 to 8:30 PM via the online web conferencing platform Zoom. Although it is preferable to have read the book prior to the sessions, please feel free to join even if you haven’t read the book. Stay updated about Racial Justice Book Club information, including receiving the meeting details and monthly Zoom link by clicking on the button below.
Upcoming Book Discussions:
September 27th: “Dear White Woman, Please Come Home,” by Kimberlee Yolanda Williams
Kimberlee Yolanda Williams is a DEI instructor, public speaker, educator, certified Life Coach, and founder of the movement Engaging Across Difference.
And she will be joining us to discuss her book, a collection of letters and essays to fictional white women and an invitation to remember that we are family. The stories in each essay are based on real-life experiences, encouraging white readers to face their discomfort and move beyond ally and become co-conspirator in the work of anti-racism. Black readers and readers of color may find validation, comfort, and healing.
Mark your calendars for Tuesday, September 27th, at 7:00 p.m., and join us on Zoom for a challenging and enlightening conversation with Kimberlee Yolanda Williams!
Grab your book or ebook copy from the Topeka & Shawnee County Library.You can email Miranda to reserve a book club hard copy, or click here to check out the ebook from Hoopla.
If you don’t have time to read the book, here are some quick links to catch you up on the topic:
- Engaging Across Difference
- Dear White Women, Please Come Home – with Kimberlee Williams and Debby Irving (Dear White Women Podcast Episode 165)
- “How White Women Let Women of Color Down” (KERA interview)
| MONTH | TITLE | AUTHOR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | Dear White Woman, Please Come Home | Kimberlee Yolanda Williams | With the Author |
| October | I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter | Erika Sanchez | National Hispanic Heritage Month |
| November | Braiding Sweetgrass | Robin Wall Kimmerer | National Native American Heritage Month |
| December | The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice; The Little Book of Racial Healing (optional short reads) | Fania Davis; Thomas Norman DeWolf and Jodie Geddes | In-Person Circle Discussion and Reflection on Racial Healing |
View Past Book Club Reads
“Stamped from the Beginning” by Ibram X. Kendi (January)
“How the Word is Passed” by Clint Smith (February)
“First and Only” by Jennifer Farmer (March)
Stand Against Racism Challenge (April)
“The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett (May)
“The Distance Between Us” by Reyna Grande (June)
“The Pride of Park Avenue” by Toriano Porter (July)
“Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah (August)
“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria?” by Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum (January)
“Mediocre, The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America” by Ijeoma Oluo (February)
“Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent” by Isabel Wilkerson (April)
“The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives” edited by Viet Thanh Nguyen (May)
“As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock” by Dina Gilio-Whitaker (June)
“The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” by Heather McGhee (July)
“Rising Out of Hatred” by Eli Saslow (August)
“The Whiteness of Wealth:” by Dorothy Brown (September)
“Say It Louder: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving our Democracy” by Tiffany Cross (October)
“Once I Was You: A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America” by Maria Hinojosa (November/December)
“White Fragility” by Robin DeAngelo
“How to Be Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
“Chokehold: Policing Black Men” by Paul Butler
“When They Call You a Terrorist: a Black Lives Matter Memoir” by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
“An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
“Healing Politics” by Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
“The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander
“Stamped from the Beginning” by Ibram X. Kendi
“A Perilous Path: Talking Race, Inequality, and the Law” by Sherrilyn Ifill, Loretta Lynch, Bryan Stevenson, and Anthony C. Thompson
“Citizen” by Claudia Rankine
“We Were Eight Years in Power” by Ta-Nehisi Coates