In Letters to My White Male Friends, Dax-Devlon Ross speaks directly
to the millions of middle-aged white men who are suddenly awakening to
race and racism.
White men are finally realizing that simply not being racist isn't
enough to end racism. These men want deeper insight not only into how
racism has harmed Black people, but, for the first time, into how it has
harmed them. They are beginning to see that racism warps us all.
Letters to My White Male Friends promises to help men who have said
they are committed to change and to develop the capacity to see, feel
and sustain that commitment so they can help secure racial justice for
us all.
Ross helps readers understand what it meant to be America's first
generation raised after the civil rights era. He explains how we were
all educated with colorblind narratives and symbols that typically,
albeit implicitly, privileged whiteness and denigrated Blackness. He
provides the context and color of his own experiences in white schools
so that white men can revisit moments in their lives where racism was in
the room even when they didn't see it enter. Ross shows how learning to
see the harm that racism did to him, and forgiving himself, gave him the
empathy to see the harm it does to white people as well.
Ultimately, Ross offers white men direction so that they can take just
action in their workplace, community, family, and, most importantly, in
themselves, especially in the future when race is no longer in the
spotlight.
