PICD is committed to facing and challenging racism in the contra dance community. We believe that if we’re to be a truly welcoming, inclusive and diverse community, we must first strive to be an anti-racist community. Each month, PICD will read a book focused on anti-racism and examines how racism is perpetuated through the living traditions in which we engage.
We’re invested in carrying forward our living traditions while actively examining how they’ve perpetuated racism and, together, working toward dismantling the racism that continues today.
Join us
To participate in PICD’s Reading Group, simply buy or borrow the book of the month, read it while using the reading guide and participate in the Zoom discussion. (Prior registration is required.)
As a majority white community, facilitating candid, constructive reflection on the position and privilege of white people is this reading group’s primary responsibility and goal. We believe that reflection is a form of action. This is especially true for white people, as we have spent our lives internalizing the structural racism that surrounds us. Dismantling these racist structures and replacing them with healthy, anti-racist counter-narratives requires hard daily work.
This month
This month's book will be So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. We’ll meet on Zoom Wednesday, August 26 from 7-9pm.
The Book
So You Want to Talk About Race
by Ijeoma Oluo
“In this New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a hard-hitting but user-friendly examination of race in America
Widespread reporting on aspects of white supremacy--from police brutality to the mass incarceration of Black Americans--has put a media spotlight on racism in our society. Still, it is a difficult subject to talk about. How do you tell your roommate her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law take umbrage when you asked to touch her hair--and how do you make it right? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend?
In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.”