Our team at Cultures Connecting strives to continue learning and growing on our racial justice journey. Here are the books, both nonfiction and fiction, we are currently reading:
Dr. J.P. Anderson
The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities through Mindfulness by Rhonda V. Magee
Rhonda Magee explores how healing from systemic racism and injustice requires inner work through embodied mindfulness. By paying attention to our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations nonjudgmentally, we can increase emotional resilience, recognize biases, and respond less reactively to triggers. Magee argues that mindfulness helps us process microaggressions, calm fears, and develop self-compassion, ultimately breaking down barriers to connection and fostering compassion for others.
Ilsa Govan
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
This 1956 novel by James Baldwin about an American man named David who lives in Paris in the 1950s and struggles with his sexual identity. The story is narrated by David on the night before Giovanni, an Italian man David is having an affair with, is to be executed. The novel explores themes of identity, love, societal expectations, and the destructive power of societal norms.
Richard Kim
The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth about Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations by Robert Livingston
Robert Livingston offers a guide for individuals and business leaders committed to anti-racism in the wake of the 2020 social unrest. Livingston addresses racism by answering three critical questions: what it is, why everyone should be concerned, and how it can be eradicated. He emphasizes that systemic racism, rooted in slavery and perpetuated through various societal structures, continues to manifest in racial disparities. By turning difficult conversations about race into opportunities for real change, Livingston distills his decades of experience into a practical roadmap for making organizations more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
Judy Lee
We Need a Reckoning: Poetries, Essays, and Memoir by Women and Non-Binary People of Color edited by Gloria Joy Kazuko Muhammad
This book is a anthology of poetry, essays, and memoirs by women and non-binary people. Organized into five thematic sections—wind, soil, water, sky, and breath—the collection showcases the work of 31 contributors, offering a blend of creative expression that serves as both a rallying cry for the land and community, and a celebration of the resilience and brilliance of women. Funded in part by the Tacoma Arts Commission.
Dr. Caprice Hollins
The Sum of Us: How Racism Hurts Everyone by Heather McGhee
Heather McGhee explores how racism, deeply embedded in American politics and policymaking, harms not only People of Color but White people as well, contributing to economic crises, rising inequality, and the privatization of public goods. Through a personal journey across the U.S., McGhee uncovers how the zero-sum mindset—the belief that progress for some comes at the expense of others—has eroded public infrastructure, wages, and opportunities. McGhee's work offers a compelling analysis of America's current state and a hopeful vision for a future where collective action transcends racial divides, proving that life can be more than a zero-sum game.