"Racism is often described as a problem of prejudice," writes Paul Kivel in the introduction to this book. He is an internationally recognized violence prevention educator and author who has conducted workshops for teens and adults. He continues: "Prejudice is certainly one result of racism, and it fuels further acts of violence toward people of color. However the assumption of this book is that racism is the institutionalization of social injustice based on skin color, other physical characteristics, and cultural and religious difference. White racism is the uneven and unfair distribution of power, privilege, land, and material goods favoring white people. Another way to state this is that white racism is a system in which people of color as a group are exploited and oppressed by white people as a group."
Kivel provides a toolkit for understanding institutional racism, including specific ways white people can work for racial justice. It is targeted to students, community activists, teachers, youth workers, and anyone interested in issues of diversity, multiculturalism, and social justice.
We were especially impressed with the chapters on the dynamics of racism, the effects of history, fighting institutional racism, and democratic anti-racist multiculturalism. Whether writing about the criminal justice system, public policy, integration and tokenism, or the police, Kovel proves himself to be sagacious philosopher and a remarkable educator who shows us manifold ways to uproot racism.
