book review: race talk and the conspiracy of silence

Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race by Derald Wing Sue

Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race by Derald Wing Sue

What are the main ideas?

If I implemented one idea from this book right now, which one would it be?

  1. when attempting to engage is race talk, make explicit when different implicit ground rules (from different cultures) show up.
  2. remember that successful race talk is best facilitated by controlling the process of the discussion, not the content. do whatever possible to make the process easier with full awareness that difficulty, conflict, and tension are inherent to moving forward.

How would I describe the book to a friend?

this is definitely an academic book, but in one of the best ways possible. many academic texts are difficult to get through and slow to read because the language makes it hard to find the actual main points. this academic text is slow to read (though not difficult) because the insights are packed in there! every few lines i wanted to highlight so be ready to dive deep. i have facilitated many dialogues that included race talk and this book bumped up my capacity to do so well like three levels.


reminder: book review structure