Book Review: How to be Less Stupid About Race

Image: the cover of "How to be Less Stupid About Race" which is a light teal background with various words and phrases scattered in different direction, mostly obscured by the title and blending in with the background. "Not all white people," "What are you?'" "You are so articulate!'" and "I don't see color'" stick out in brighter shades of white. The title of the book is scattered down the page in crooked capitalized black letters with a yellow brushed texture behind them. Crystal M. Fleming is at the bottom going across in capital black letters and is underlined in yellow.

My first assumption about Crystal M. Fleming's "How to be Less Stupid About Race" was that it was a book likely targeting beginners in the realm of those seeking racial justice- a 101 of sorts. I suppose it was the title that made me think that. Upon reading it, I quickly realized that that assumption was false. If you're not familiar with words like "hegemony" and "heteropatriarchy," you will need to be willing to open google or your dictionary on occasion while reading this book. This is not a good or bad thing, just something to be aware of going in. No, you are not "stupid" at reading on top of being "stupid" about race. There is some academic jargon in here that is uncommon in our everyday language usage.

I initially had a hard time getting into the book because I found Fleming's approach to introducing the topics therein a little inaccessible. Part of this was due to the aforementioned reasons and because using the word "stupid" so much can devolve into ableism. But, it also came off as if Fleming was saying that anyone who has not "studied race" was basically not suited to talk about it publicly. As a person who has known and followed countless very wise people with no academic degrees, I could not grasp why someone would say this. I decided to just keep reading and I am glad that I did.

This book is very well organized. It's something often lacking in books like this that are almost a collection of essays but I always notice it. The placement and ordering is good, there is always a thread tying everything together, and the ending of the book wrapped it all up nicely. Fleming packed a HUGE amount of history, research, and information into this book. As I made my way through it, I began to understand better what she meant about highlighting and interviewing people who have "studied race." People who have studied these things can, but don't necessarilly have to, do so in college. If one studies these things, one is much better prepared to deal with all of the racist arguments that endlessly come at you in discussions of race. If you have studied race, you will likely still learn things from this book because of how much info she has packed into a small space as well as how she offers analyses of this info. Even the things I already knew about I appreciated her take on and organization of in the same space with related information. The book is dynamic, fast paced, and engaging.

A tool Fleming uses throughout the book is to analyze and be accountable for her past. Sometimes I felt it was a little much and I could feel her guilt seeping through. But, most of the time, it was a very welcome addition of humility from a writer. None of us is born "woke." We grow up within systems that teach us to hate ourselves and others and we all internalize these things. Fleming discussing her progress and learning process in becoming "less stupid about race" herself is something that makes her more approachable to the reader. It makes a very heavy book more personable. I believe, that without her stories, fewer people would enjoy the book and would assume they aren't radical enough. Learning the writer's process was a very smart technique in helping the reader learn.

 Fleming is very quotable throughout this book and also offers a few sections that I easily see making their way into anti-racist study groups or information sources online. The seven fallacies of white supremacy section helps break down a lot of ignorant assumptions about racism that are ingrained in many (or all) of us in a white supremacist society. Her chapters about Obama and Trump dismantle the capitalist binary that many liberals cling to (believing democrats are the good guys in the struggle just because republicans are bad guys.) In the end she gives us the ten steps we can take to build a less racist society. What is interesting about many of these things she has put together is that the audience she is speaking to is very wide. The language can get academic at times, but the suggestions and subject matter are directed at a lot of people of all races. I could see a wide range of people learning a lot from this book. Reading Fleming's learning process leads me to believe that her constant introspection may bring us more from her and that this book is one of many. Perhaps we will look back at this and see how she has come even further in the future. The wisest people never stop learning especially with how fast everything is always changing.