Melvin J. Gravely - Dear White Friend: The Realities of Race, the Power of Relationships and Our Path to Equity

Mel Gravely provides a powerful perspective of being, striving, and thriving as a Black man in America. He critically evaluates the impact of conscious and unconscious bias on a Black man, a Black family and a Black community; and provides tools for increasing awareness, understanding, and a call to action.

Farad Ali, CEO & Advocate for Diversity and Inclusion

I originally thought Dear White Friend was not for me as an African American. After finishing the book, sometimes with a very visceral reaction, I now see how I can have more honest and thoughtful dialogue with my friends and colleagues.

Pamela Coleman-Brailsford, Retired Corporate Executive

Compellingly optimistic! Dear White Friend fosters awareness, empathy, and a willingness to understand the true meaning of equity. It highlights the barriers that continue to exist, while also offering a foundation for solutions towards becoming a more equitable society!

Deidre K. Stokes Davis, Public K-12 Education Administrator

There is a saying, If you dont know you dont know, then you think you know. This could be the epiphany of virtually every reader of Dear White Friend. Poignant, compelling, unnerving, direct, unsettling, and exceptionally thought provoking. Thank you for opening my mind, my eyes, and yes, my heart.

Bobby Fisher, Entrepreneur & Investor

Dear White Friend took me inside the painful observations and reality of racism experienced by my long-time community partner and friend. It hurt. It made me look in the mirror more deeply. It motivates me to further leverage my enormous privilege and platform as an ally and advocate.

Michael Fisher, President/CEO Cincinnati
Childrens Hospital Medical Center

For me, the significance of Dear White Friend was largely in experiencing the Black journey in the US, through the authors eyes. I was transported to a place that doesnt exist in the White experience. I felt a range of emotions ultimately prompting me to truly care about accomplishing equity.

Joan Fox, Business Owner & Management Consultant

Dear White Friend is part diary, part self-help, part societal rebuke, and part vision for a better future. I seldom read a book that is both thought provoking and practical. It challenged me to challenge my friends and colleaguesand provided me with a roadmap to do it.

Crystal German, Community Economic
Development Practitioner

Dear White Friend offers a poignant and powerful perspective and is an insightful and thought-provoking read for those seeking to understand the realities of race in our nation and the path forward.

Renee Mahaffey Harris, CEO, President,
The Center for Closing the Health Gap

Dear White Friend provides a candid and uncomplicated view of the Black experience in America by exploring the intersection of race and inequity. I connected profoundly with the lettersseeing myself in each one. I hope this book motivates people to accept the hard truths and act with greater intention.

Kristal Howard, Corporate Executive & Culture Changer

I believe we cannot grow in meaningful ways if we are not challenged. Dear White Friend challenged me to step into someone elses shoes and understand a different perspective. In the quiet of reading, I could listen and be present to the stirrings of my own discomfort. I am better for it.

Ellen M. Katz, President/CEO, Greater Cincinnati Foundation

I realized Im comfortable with Dr. Mel Gravely because hes brilliant; not because of his race. Because I should know better, Im persuaded to acknowledge my role in systemic racism. I loved the term Actions of Intentionalityacting on deliberate intentions. I can do this.

Janette A. Keiser, PE, JD, Small Business Owner

Mel Gravely uses his perspective as a Black man and a successful corporate leader to illustrate the lived experiences of minorities and a framework to authentically move organizations from racial diversity to racial equity in a tone that feels like an enlightening conversation among peers.

Crystal Kendrick, President, The Voice of Your Customer

Dear White Friend is a highly biographical and statistically supported work. Mel draws upon writing techniques derivative of the Disciple Paul, Samuel Richardsons Clarissa, and Harriet Jacobss Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl to challenge us to move toward a more intimate relationship that acknowledges the curious burden race places upon our American society and friendships.

Eric Kearney, Attorney & Business Owner

Dear White Friend gives me hope! The evidence compiled in these pages, methodically and objectively, is heartbreaking, infuriating, and embarrassing. But the authors honesty and experience, and his call for self-education and action, affirm the importance of friendship in righting historic, horrific wrongs. We canindeed, we mustdo this!

Alecia Townsend Kintner, President/CEO, Artswave

Dear White Friend hits on the complexities of race and distilling uncomfortable topics through the art of storytelling so that anyone can understand. The stories are a cry for truth and veracity around racial problem-solvingfor those who bear the burden of code-switching; and, for those who may be complicit in structures that reinforce racial inequity.

Eddie L. Koen, President/CEO,
Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio

Confronting racism is complex and hard. This book demonstrates why weregardless of raceneed to do it anyway and make the conversations mean something by actually taking action. I cant wait to use it as a tool to help create workplace equity.

Arlene Koth, Activist, Business Owner & Civic Leader

Dear White Friend challenged me to look at race through a much broader lens of experiences and historical facts... I really thought I understood a lot of the issues and challenges, but realized how little I knew... what a difference 40 acres of land at the right time could have made, and an engaged person who chooses to leverage their sphere of influence can still make.

Dean Kuroff, Fortune 500 Consulting Firm
Managing Director, White Friend

In my roles as a physician, higher ed administrator, and social entrepreneur, I have often struggled to articulate my lived experience as a Black man. Dear White Friend expertly captures the angst in my journey in a way that others can understand and is an essential read for anyone interested in unity and empowerment.

Chris Lewis, MD, Physician, Higher Education
Administrator & Social Entrepreneur

Mel Gravely rips off the bandage to take an honest look at the festering wound that ongoing racism continues to cause. It opened my eyes to the injustice that abounds. At the same time, the letters invite more exploration, more listening, more understanding, and more dialogue.

Richard Lofgren, MD, President/CEO, UC Health

Dear White Friend is illuminating, heartfelt, humorous, and honest. It provides an on ramp for discussions on the road to equity, inclusion, and race relationsregardless of your ethnicity.

Brian Matthews, Higher Education Professional/Advisor

As a WFOM (White Friend of Mel) for nearly two decades, I was captivated by Mels remarkably frank, crystal-clear, and compelling personal journey; by the solid case he makes to illuminate the contours of racial equity; and by a range of practical and controversial ideas to close the racial gap.

Kathy Merchant, Retired CEO, Community Foundation

The systemic realities of living in a racialized society were all too familiar. Even so, the letters in