Against the Grain: Talking to White People about Racism in a Time of Polarization

In 2021, two weeks after the January 6th attempted takeover of the U.S. Capitol Building by supporters of former President Donald Trump, Drick Boyd released his latest book, Disrupting Whiteness: Talking With White People about Racism. In the book, Drick proposes a particular dialogical approach to talking with white people in their personal, familial, and professional networks about issues of race and racism. However, Drick did not anticipate the gross and continued distortions of the facts of the 2020 presidential election and the attack on the Capitol. In this presentation, Drick will build on his discussion of dialogue about race and pose possible ways we can and must continue to engage white people on the important issues of race and racism, despite the growing polarities.

Leader(s)

Drick Boyd is Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, PA where he was a full-time faculty member for twenty-two years. He is the author/co-author of four books, including his latest, Disrupting Whiteness: Talking with White People about Racism (2021). He is an activist involved with POWER Interfaith, New Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (NewCORE), and the Restorative City Initiative. He has three adult daughters and lives with his wife of forty-three years in Broomall, PA.

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