Awakening to Change: A Social Justice Discussion Group

Thursday, June 16

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Awakening to Change is designed to help unify our community by developing a shared understanding of the history, policy, and experiences shaping contemporary discussions of race. We tackle a new topic each month, sometimes reading books, discussing films, or learning from articles. All are welcome to join! June’s conversations will focus on the book Dear White Women, Please Come Home by Kimberlee Yolanda Williams.

The book is an invitation to white women longing for authentic friendships with Black and brown women. Author, Kimberlee Yolanda Williams, shocked by and even skeptical of, the number of white women at workshops who over and over again said ‘I’ve never heard that, I didn’t mean that, or I didn’t know’, 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 her resulting book, 40 letters to a fictional ‘missing’ white sister, Williams asks white women to ‘hand me your bias and I’ll show you our connection’.

June 2: Letters 1-20 (pages 1-130)

June 16: Letters 21-40 (pages 131-250)

Registration is required to receive a link to this ONLINE event.

The Blackstone Library has a limited number of copies available for participants. If you are interested in obtaining a library copy, please call us at (203) 488-1441 ext. 318 or email programs@blackstonelibrary.org. Copies are first come, first served.