Loved the questions and considerations this book poses
Thank you Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and BookishFirst for the physical ARC, and Libro.fm for the ALC!
Among other things, Mateo emphasized that he wrote this book for Black and brown folks – that it was a book he needed to write. We also discussed what it means for non-Black folks (particularly white people) to deem a book like BLACK BUCK a “necessary read.”
While this book was NOT written for non-Black folks as a teachable lesson, I do think that when we are reading books for entertainment, for allyship, for support of the arts – for any or all of the reasons we read, period – we can consider how a book might influence our lives outside of reading. Aka, applied critical thinking.
For non-Black workplace leaders, some things for consideration. (Yeah, I know it’s Friday – sorry!!)
• How does “culture fit” limit who and how we hire? (Culture fit came up in our convo last night.)
• How do our hiring processes mitigate bias and racism?
• How diverse is our recruiting team?
• How do we promote inclusivity without requiring POC to engage in unpaid, additional work in educating the company?
• If we work with academic institutions for entry-level recruiting, do we collaborate with HBCUs and women’s colleges?
• What do untold “rules of engagement” tell us about generational, class, and racial privilege? And how do we become more explicit in our expectations?
What this book does so well is that it uses strong, incisive commentary and action laced with dark comedy to drive things home. You’re not always going to like Darren. You’re not always going to agree with him. But it’s definitely going to elicit a reaction.
⚠️ Content warnings: the n-word, the r-word, torture (waterboarding), arson, death of a parent, hazing, gaslighting, sexism, questionable treatment of folks with speech impairments, white supremacy, homelessness
Among other things, Mateo emphasized that he wrote this book for Black and brown folks – that it was a book he needed to write. We also discussed what it means for non-Black folks (particularly white people) to deem a book like BLACK BUCK a “necessary read.”
While this book was NOT written for non-Black folks as a teachable lesson, I do think that when we are reading books for entertainment, for allyship, for support of the arts – for any or all of the reasons we read, period – we can consider how a book might influence our lives outside of reading. Aka, applied critical thinking.
For non-Black workplace leaders, some things for consideration. (Yeah, I know it’s Friday – sorry!!)
• How does “culture fit” limit who and how we hire? (Culture fit came up in our convo last night.)
• How do our hiring processes mitigate bias and racism?
• How diverse is our recruiting team?
• How do we promote inclusivity without requiring POC to engage in unpaid, additional work in educating the company?
• If we work with academic institutions for entry-level recruiting, do we collaborate with HBCUs and women’s colleges?
• What do untold “rules of engagement” tell us about generational, class, and racial privilege? And how do we become more explicit in our expectations?
What this book does so well is that it uses strong, incisive commentary and action laced with dark comedy to drive things home. You’re not always going to like Darren. You’re not always going to agree with him. But it’s definitely going to elicit a reaction.
⚠️ Content warnings: the n-word, the r-word, torture (waterboarding), arson, death of a parent, hazing, gaslighting, sexism, questionable treatment of folks with speech impairments, white supremacy, homelessness