One of the participants at GameSchoolCon asked for books that she could read to begin her journey as a fledgling, and tender person just beginning her walk toward racial justice.

I hesitated.

Not because there are no books that could jump start her process, arguably there are some.

The main reason I hesitated was because I think that books read in solitude and in a vacuum are of limited utility when you want to start doing this work reliably and well.

That’s one reason we haven’t used a whole lot of books here.

As you know, the method and ethos of Lace on Race is rooted in the relational. That’s by design.

We are intentional and adamant about our position that it is only with in relationship, walking together, rubbing shoulders, holding our own hands, even as we hold each others hands on this journey that true inner transformation can occur and that that must happen before we start even beginning to think about outward Praxis.

We believe this for a few reasons.

One, doing something badly or half measure when it comes to racial Justice is every bit as bad, sometimes quite worse, than not doing anything at all.

Reading a book without the context of community, and without the grounding needed to be able to reliably moderate one’s own inner restrictions, resistances, and ambivalences is not always optimal.

This is not to disparage the academic or the intellectual.

But oftimes it really doesmatter who we are when we confront a given text.

Whether or not we want to, we insert ourselves into the words that we read, and the behaviors that we see here in this space that we try to mitigate also occur when engaging with words, and to be able to have the emotional regulation when one gets activated is crucial whether or not you are engaging face to face or in a virtual space like this one, or engaging with a book.

Blowing up, shutting down, running away these are all behaviors that we seek to acknowledge and confront and hopefully minimize as much as possible so that we are primed to receive fully the information and the ethos and motivation behind that information.

I know a lot of people who have read very very many books, and who will tell you just how many they’ve read and how reading them have changed their lives, but it does not show up in their interactions or in their behavior.

Raw information it’s not the answer.

But having said all that we are going to set up a separate towel on the Lace on Race website that will have books!

What I’m reading, what Claire is reading, what Marlise is reading oh, and your suggestions as well!

But I want to be very clear that trying to fast-track your process by simply reading a lot of books will not serve you well nor will it serve the people you seek to stand with well.

And, to be incredibly candid, I have yet to read the book that I feel fully encompasses what we’re trying to do here.

One day I may need to write it, but even then it will take more than one book that one can read in a weekend and think that they have everything covered.

Racial Justice work is ongoing Praxis; it is not one workbook and you’re through.

This is important to remember when we think about churn, something that I have been thinking up a lot since this weekend.

How fast white people think they’ve ‘got it’, so they don’t have to do anything else, how often they feel there’s nothing more for them to learn, and will push back hard at the suggestion that there is indeed more. Which speaks to the seriousness that they take their journey and their walk.

No it’s not rocket science. It’s so much more. There is no terminal degree.

What books don’t teach is reflective listening. What books don’t teach is emotional management and regulation. What books don’t teach is humility and learning to truly listen to someone across from you.

Here in this space we try to make this as much as a salon as possible, doing our best to try as much as we can to make this virtual space a re-creation of my home.

Making lasagna together, raising a glass with me, laughing when we spill red sauce, eating dessert by the orange tree– being willing to be vulnerable not just with what you learn but with who you are is crucial to this work, and while books will give a good foundation It Is by no means the only prescription.

Here we have decided that one of the prescriptions is the relational. One of the prescriptions is deep community, which is why we are so insistent upon your showing up and sticking around, which most of you don’t do, and it’s that resilience and reliability that must be learned and cannot be found in the bound pages of a tome.

So yes! Let’s read books and articles!

But let’s do it together.

There are no orange trees at Amazon. com.

Keep walking.