Me And White Supremacy

Image credit: Front cover of Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. Barnesandnoble.com

Me And White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad was published in January 2020, and quickly became a huge bestseller. Finding its way onto the New York Times and the Sunday Times bestseller lists, its become a major factor in the way that white people consider the issues of race and privilege.

Book Description

Me And White Supremacy was first born as an article written by Saad in 2017, titled I Need To Talk To Spiritual White Women About White Supremacy. This article talked about how many white people, who believed they weren’t racist, were unconsciously still taking part in, and benefiting from, racist values.

After this, Saad started an Instagram hashtag challenge, under the tag #MeAndWhiteSupremacy, in 2018. This ran for 28 days, and was a huge success on the platform. As such, Saad created a related workbook which was released for free, and was downloaded over 100,000 times in just six months.

Thanks to the success of the workbook, the book of the same name was developed and published in 2020. initially the work was subtitled A 28 Day Journey To Kickstart Your Life-Long Anti-Racism Work. In current editions, the work is subtitled Combat Racism, Change The World, And Become A Good Ancestor.

In the book, Saad has again used the 28 day format to create a guide for readers, to follow along and work on their own biases. These are divided into weeks, as follows:

• Week One: The Basics. This gives readers the true basics they need to understand in order to become good allies. That includes covering ideas such as tone policing and white fragility.
• Week Two: Anti-Blackness, Racial Stereotypes and Cultural Appropriation. In this section, the mentioned topics are covered in depth.
• Week Three: Allyship. This covers the ways in which white people can become true allies through their individual actions and attitudes.
• Week Four: Power, Relationships, And Commitments. This looks at expanding anti-racist values on a wider scale, and considers whether structural change can be done to do so.

In these sections, the reader is given practical advice to help them uncover unconscious racist beliefs they may hold. It also goes into historical and cultural context, so you can see where these biases have come from and how they affect the world at large.

As a whole, the book aims to show otherwise well meaning white readers that they do still benefit from racist values, even if they themselves do not agree with them. With the extra historical context that has been included in the book, readers are shown how these attitudes have come about, who they benefit, and how they can be systematically brought down and changed.

This makes the book valuable to everyone, even if they had originally taken part in the hashtag challenge, or had downloaded the original free workbook. There’s a lot more context and content within the 2020 book, so every reader will get something out of it. It's even possible to ask for "write essay for me" help from essay writing service like Academized if you are making progress in academic writing.

As well as the book, there has also been a journal released to go alongside it. Titled Me And White Supremacy: A Guided Journal, readers can use it to track their progress and work on the concepts brought up in the book. There are also plans in place to bring a young persons’ version of the book out, too.

Where To Buy

If you’re interested in reading Me And White Supremacy, then you can find it in most large book store chains. You can also find it on Amazon, in hardback, eBook, and audiobook formats.

You can also buy the book directly from Saad’s website, along with her journal of the same name. You can also learn more about her and the work that she does here.

Me And White Supremacy quickly became a bestseller when it was published in 2020, with good reason. It aims to be honest with white people about racism, and get them to face up to the hard truth of how they benefit from white supremacy.

It’s not a comfortable read, according to all the reviews that are out there, but it is a necessary one. As such, it’s a book that all white allies are recommended to read and use to challenge their own views.

https://www.amazon.com/Me-White-Supremacy-Combat-Ancestor/dp/1728209803

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/me-and-white-supremacy-layla-f-saad/1134769313

https://bookshop.org/p/books/me-and-white-supremacy-combat-racism-change-the-world-and-become-a-good-ancestor-layla-saad/12701424?ean=9781728209807

About The Author

Layla F. Saad is an anti-racism educator, podcast host, and international speaker, as well as now a bestselling author with Me And White Supremacy.

Saad is an Easy African, Arab, British, Black and Muslim woman, giving her a unique insight into racism in the world today, and how it affects people even when white people aren’t aware they’re acting in a racist manner.

Through her work, Saad aims to bring about healing and liberate those who are living under racist values that work against them. That work she does has been broadcast all over the world, through institutions such as BBC News, PBS, Elle, PAPER, and many more.

Born in the West and now living in the Middle East, Saad now lives with her husband Sam, and their children Maya and Mohamed.

Reviews

When Me And White Supremacy was released, it received positive reviews from many critics. For example, Enobong Tommelleo of Booklist gave it a highly positive review, saying that the book was “an insightful and necessary contribution to the work of combating racism.”

Many other critics found it to be valuable too, and often commented on the book’s role in fighting against racist values. Emily Bowles of Library Journal called the book “required reading for people ready to acknowledge their behaviors”, while Carl Logan of Midwest Book Review called it “mandatory reading for anyone having to deal with with the social injustice arising from racism and bigotry.”

Melissa Phruksadchart from the Boston Review notes that the book sits among contemporary “white liberalism” books on the market right now. She praised the book, but did note that “like any self help guide practised privately or in communion with others, from the Bible to The Power Of Now, your mileage may vary.”

When you check out reviews from other readers like you on Amazon, the vast majority have given the title 5 stars. Many point out that it was hard to initially do the work as laid out here, with some mentioning they felt angry as they felt that they should be able to do more, or that it could never be finished.

However, these reviews still say that they’re glad that they did the work, and Saad’s writing really made them evaluate their own position and how they could use it to tackle racism going forward. Unlike her initial audience of spiritual white women, people from all genders and of all ages have found it a useful experience reading her work. Some of them decided to go deeper and research the topic at university. Most students were not able to fiinish the work and finished at profession writing services with "write my reseach paper" request for help.

There are some customer reviews that do point out some of the weaknesses in the text. For example, one reviewer notes that Saad focuses on racism within the UK where she was born, rather than the racism that is happening now in Qatar, where she lives. Another notes that while the book is focused on white people, racism is a problem within all cultural identities.

Other than these criticisms though, you’ll see that Me And White Supremacy has had an overwhelmingly positive reception, making it one of the most critical books on racism right now.