Ackerman’s Community Book Club selection for February is The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors by Frances Cress Welsing.
The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors by Frances Cress Welsing, was selected to offer a thought-provoking and provocative consideration of where racism and White supremacy come through the lens of a Black American Woman, educated and trained in the field of psychiatry. It offers a psycho-analytic perspective by deconstructing symbols, images, and unconscious processes within the White psyche that create White Supremacy ideologies and subsequently racism.
Many institutions across the nation, including Ackerman, have declared their commitment to social justice, racial equality, and addressing disparities. This commitment to focus on race is commendable and important in providing racial equality in mental health. Yet, has any therapist, psychiatrist, or psychologist thought to ask, why is there racism or White supremacy in the first place? Or, where did it come from? Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, a Black American psychiatrist asked these questions and her answer is The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors.
Book club selection and description written by Ana Hernandez, PhD, LMFT.
About Ackerman’s Community Book Club:
Ackerman’s Community Book Club is a monthly series of reading recommendations curated by our family therapy instructors. We invite you to read one book each month that explores diversity, equity, and inclusion and join us on a pathway to curiosity. The books on our list have been selected with the aim of increasing knowledge, empathy, willingness, and skill to confront xenophobia as therapists, educators, and lifelong learners, in the personal and professional spaces we occupy.