
Dear White Woman, Please Come Home
Debby Irving
(Foreword by)Description
Dear White Woman, Please Come Home is Kimberlee Yolanda Williams' invitation to white women longing for authentic friendship with Black and brown women, the kind of friendship with no place for secrets, the kind of relationship where truth-telling is welcome, even when it hurts.
The idea for the book was born after attending a workshop that left her shaken and angry. In it, Kimberlee listened as white woman after white woman expressed shock, saying, I didn't know, meaning they didn't understand how this or that comment, custom, behavior, or norm so negatively impacted women of color. How could they not know? she wondered skeptically. Were they lying? Eventually she had an epiphany: How could white women know what we (Black and brown women) go through if we don't tell them? We've been trained not to tell them. In an attempt to break that cycle, Kimberlee began writing letters about her experiences.
In the resulting book - 40 letters to a fictional "missing" white sister - she explores with vulnerability, sorrow, rage, and humor how white women, often despite best intentions, signal to her and other women of color to proceed with caution when in their presence. Based on real events, each letter serves as testimony to the daily insults and avoidances that otherize, invisiblize, and undermine Black and brown women. The letters' story arc, combined with end-of-chapter questions for deep reflection, offer white women insight to the damage done as well as to what it takes to "come home," to be trusted. The question throughout the book lingers until the very last letter: Will Kimberlee find her long lost "sister"? Will she want to "come home"? Be ready to "come home"?
The book, Kimberlee's prescription for the historical ailment that continues to divide white women and women of color, also serves as an affirmation for Black and brown women. Historically, women of color's role has been to serve, comfort, protect, coddle, nourish, and elevate white women. Kimberlee's raw storytelling boldly disrupts that pattern, hopefully offering an opening for other women of color to air their own painful truths.
Ideal for study groups, Dear White Women, Please Come Home offers a tool for white women and women of color courageous enough to take on a relationship we were designed not to pursue.
Foreword by Debby Irving, racial justice educator and writer, author of New York Times best seller, Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race.
Product Details
Publisher | Elephant Room Press |
Publish Date | February 02, 2022 |
Pages | 282 |
Language | English |
Type | |
EAN/UPC | 9780991331321 |
Dimensions | 8.0 X 5.3 X 0.6 inches | 0.7 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
"Kimberlee Williams takes an innovative approach to antiracist struggle, powerfully connecting head and heart as she instructs with clarity and compassion. Not willing to give up hope for our collective liberation, Williams offers a guiding light as she calls white women home." Robin DiAngelo, Author of White Fragility
"Told through precise, relatable vignettes from daily life, Williams depicts the insult of microaggressions while presuming that white women want to be and do better. Williams beckons the way to a more united future. A compelling read for white and Black women alike." Julie Lythcott-Haims, New York Times bestselling author
"A generous invitation...a much-needed book for all white women to read and reflect on how we can more authentically be in loving relationships with our sisters of color and reclaim our own joy when we come home." Ilsa Marie Govan and Tilman Smith, Co-Authors of What's Up with White Women
"...explains implicit bias and microaggressions in simple letters....making these concepts crystal clear and undeniable. This is a work of pure artistry and a catalyst for real connection." Valerie Alexander, speaker, Author of How Women Can Succeed in the Workplace (Despite Having "Female Brains")
"...describes the daunting experience to be Black and wanting to be accepted when acceptance means you have to be white. I am in awe of her stepping out and telling us....that we fail to look up to see that we are Sistas." Varetta Mayes, The Flourish Collective
"This style of writing personal letters helped me better understand an individual's pain and longing. As much as this book helps me understand Blackness, it also helps me come face-to-face with my whiteness. This is a book I'll be handing out often!" Emily Nelson, The Flourish Collective
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