Book Discussion: Robin D’Angelo’s Book "Nice Racism"

Beginning September 23, Margaret Benefiel and Jonathan Gross will lead a year-long book study of Robin D’Angelo’s book Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm. We will meet one hour per month at 8pm to share conversation and insights, focusing on a different section of the book each month.

Our goals are to equip ourselves, especially white Quakers, to look at how racism shows up even when we have positive intentions, and to support each other as we work to unlearn harmful patterns and learn liberatory practices. We hope to make the work more than just intellectual discussions. We will offer prompts for participants to notice sensations in their bodies as they read, or to notice what arises for them if and when they hear something uncomfortable, scary, upsetting, exciting, etc. There will be opportunities to share these experiences in addition to our thoughts and ideas about the book’s content.

Friends can come even if they are not able to read the chapters of the book (we will focus on roughly one chapter per month, sometimes two when necessary to keep on pace). Friends also do not need to attend every session, though the more consistency we have, the better, as trust built over time is very helpful when working with topics that call us to transformation.

The group will meet Sept 23, Oct 21, Nov 25, Dec 16, Jan 20, Feb 17, Mar 24, Apr 14, May 26, and Jun 16. As noted, you don’t have to commit to every single meeting in order to join. You can read a review of Nice Racism from BFM’s Lauren Brownlee in Friends Journal at https://www.friendsjournal.org/book/nice-racism-how-progressive-white-people-perpetuate-racial-harm/

Use our Contact Us form to get details of the training, and the Zoom link, or see your email bulletin.