Boston University professor Saida Grundy spoke to Boston Public Radio on Wednesday about how reading anti-racism books is not a means to an end.
"It is not that anyone should not be reading — I certainly don't discourage anyone from reading books from people who represent marginalized and exploited groups," she said. "But there's a sort of caution about antiracism and the idea that you can read your way into it."
People should focus not just on reading about antiracism, but practice dismantling whiteness from systemic power, Grundy noted.
"It's not a matter of 'I now absolve myself because I now read this book,'" she said. "And also read books by people who were formerly incarcerated, read books by trans Black women, not just those written by scholars."
Saida Grundy is an assistant professor of sociology and African American studies at Boston University, and the author of the forthcoming "Manhood Within the Margins: Promise, Peril and Paradox at the Historically Black College for Men."
