April Book of the Month | Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality by Tanya Katerí Hernández

Racial Innocence Book

Ackerman’s Community Book Club selection for April is Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality by Tanya Katerí Hernández.

Racial Innocence is a book about anti-Black bias in the Latino community that will challenge our beliefs about racism and bias. As the family therapy community continues to discuss social justice and dismantling White supremacy, we notice that conversations tend to be between White Americans and Black Americans. There is merit in discussing race in this context, given the history of African enslavement in the United States. However, the history of Christopher Columbus’ arrival and subsequent exploitation of the land formerly known as Quisqueya, Hispaniola, now Haiti and Dominican Republic, and the Taíno people, is largely untold. This untold history of indigenous enslavement erases a large Black/African Diaspora from the larger conversations on race and White supremacy.

“Racial Innocence will challenge what you thought about racism and bias and demonstrate that it’s possible for a historically marginalized group to experience discrimination and also be discriminatory. Racism is deeply complex, and law professor and comparative race relations expert Tanya Katerí Hernández exposes “the Latino racial innocence cloak” that often veils Latino complicity in racism. As Latinos are the second-largest ethnic group in the US, this revelation is critical to dismantling systemic racism. Basing her work on interviews, discrimination case files, and civil rights law, Hernández reveals Latino anti-Black bias in the workplace, the housing market, schools, places of recreation, the criminal justice system, and Latino families.” —Beacon Press

Book club selection by Ana Hernandez, PhD, LMFT.

About Ackerman’s Faculty Social Justice Book Club:

Ackerman’s 2023-2024 Faculty Social Justice Book Club offers a new book, article, video or podcast every other month for reflection and learning. We invite the entire Ackerman Community to join us as we explore diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging along with the impact of larger societal forces on individuals, couples, families and communities. We aim to inspire curiosity and increase knowledge, understanding and compassion toward acceptance of difference.

We hope you will enjoy these selections individually or with colleagues and friends. We especially hope they will lead to honest conversations and connection.


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