Paul Kivel - Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice

Praise for Uprooting Racism

With current context, deepened history and new chapters, Paul Kivels revised and updated Uprooting Racism offers visionary and practical tools for white people to reflect, share, learn, show up and act. Given all we have at stake in building a racially just society, this is both a timeless and urgent work. Like my copy of a previous edition, this one will be dog-eared from use, and my wallet thinner as I will gift copies of this book over and over.

Pam McMichael, Highlander Center, Executive Director, 20052016

Paul Kivel... presents a powerful yet accessible vision, informed by research and reflection on racism in the US.... This book provides the best concrete guidance for the new or perplexed would-be white ally that I have ever seen in print. For the individual explorer, the self-study exercises are amazing. As a resource for the educator or trainers library, Uprooting Racism is indispensable and unique. I have personally used many of the exercises in the book in my own teaching. Pauls support and guidance for educators and trainers in his books and on his website is outstanding.

Victor Lee Lewis, Progressive Life Coach, founder/director of the Radical Resilience Institute, Co-Editor with Hugh Vasquez of Lessons from The Color of Fear.

Uprooting Racism gives the student, activist and practitioner something for their social justice tool box. The expanded edition is challenging, informative and practical. Youll finish the book and want to get right to work.

Dr. Eddie Moore Jr., Founder/Director, The White Privilege Conference

Uprooting Racism continues to be a powerful and wonderful book, a major contribution to our understanding of racism as white people.... Not only does Kivel address tough issues related to whiteness and racism,...he also identifies specific ways that whites can be allies for changeall done with honesty, forthrightness, respect, and from the heart. For any white person who is sincere about working for social justice, heres the source.

Judith H. Katz, Ed. D., author, White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-Racism Training and The Inclusion Breakthrough: Unleashing the Real Power of Diversity

Paul Kivel writes with clarity and depth in a style that is adequately complex for understandings of racism in our time. He uses his writing power to illuminate all the systems, inner and outer, which lead to inequitable distribution of power, respect, money, safety, security, and opportunity in the world....

Peggy McIntosh, founder and co-director, National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum, author, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Uprooting Racism is a fact-filled resource for teachers and parents to use in educating ourselves and our young people about the history and the hidden costs of racism in our communities. Kivel presents simple, meaningful actions we can all take to build a more just and healthy society.

Jackie Shonerd, parent and Coordinator for Conflict Resolution Programs, Oakland, (CA) Unified School District

As a woman of color actively engaged in social justice movements for over 25 years, I have often longed for a book like Uprooting Racism to help white people understand the institutional, systematic, and persistent character of racism in our world. Paul Kivel has written a handbook to critically examine racism in our lives, and in our work for peace and justice.

Luz Guerra, activist, consultant/writer

...the how-to manual for whites to work with people of color to create an inclusive, just world in the 21st century. Uprooting Racism succinctly describes how intricately racism is tied to all institutions and our daily lives.... It should be in the toolbox of anyone who is working for an anti-racist society.

Maggie Potapchuk, Senior Program Associate, Network of Alliances, Bridging Race and Ethnicity (NABRE), a program of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies

Those of us who commit to the life-long journey of being anti-racist whites need lots of help. The revised edition of Uprooting Racism offers a clear vision of the journeys destination, an invaluable and accessible map and a set of tools for the steps we must take to get there.... I recommend it highly and plan to use it in my own work.

Louise Derman-Sparks, co-director, of the Early Childhood Equity Alliance. Author, Teaching/Learning Anti-Racism: A Developmental Approach

Uprooting Racism is a uniquely sensitive, wise, practical guide for white people struggling with their feelings about race.

Howard Zinn, author, A Peoples History of the United States (Praise from previous edition)

Copyright 2017 by Paul Kivel. All rights reserved.
1st edition 1996 by Paul Kivel.

Cover: Digital compositeDiane McIntosh;
images: birds iStock (493221057); texture iStock (474736866).
Christopher Jones;
StudioAraminta / Adobe Stock

Printed in Canada. First printing September 2017.

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Uprooting Racism
should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.
To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America)
1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
(250) 247-9737

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Kivel, Paul, author
Uprooting racism : how white people can work for
racial justice / Paul Kivel.Revised and updated 4th edition.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-86571-865-4 (softcover).ISBN 978-1-55092-657-6
(PDF).ISBN 978-1-77142-252-9 (EPUB)

1. RacismUnited States. 2. Race awarenessUnited States.
3. WhitesRace identityUnited States. 4. United StatesRace
relations. I. Title.

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision.

To my familyMicki, my love

Ariel, SAM, Ryan, Amanda, Leticia, Kesa,

Niko, Mateo and Anahi, my inspiration

And to all those fighting for justice

I acknowledge and offer thanks to the creative spirit that is the source of life and connects us to each other and to all life. I offer thanks to the earth that nurtures and sustains us, the Chochenyo and Karkin Ohlone peoples whose land I am a settler on, and all those whose work makes my life possible.

North America has a long and distinguished history of white people who have fought against racism and racial violence. This history began in the days of Antonio de Montesinos and Bartolom de Las Casas, Spanish priests who documented and protested against the atrocities Columbus and other early colonizers committed against Native Americans in the West Indies. It continues today with white people fighting against hate crimes, police brutality, housing and job discrimination, and recent attacks against immigrants and poor people of color. These efforts have been inspired by the constant, unrelenting fight by people of color and Native Americans for survival, for justice, and for an end to the political, economic, and cultural exploitation they continue to experience in the United States.