Reading Resource Guide: A Vehicle for Courageous Conversations

The intent of this DEI Reading Guide is to spark conversations and dialogue and help not only club members, but others as well, to address and create opportunities to improve our understanding of each other.

Our Reading List contains selected books and other resources addressing diverse perspectives through the lens of others and we acknowledge those perspectives. The initial motivation for our Reading Guide came from the DEI Committee as part of our Action Plan. It is our belief that one of the way changes comes about is by being presented with new information or obtaining a better understanding of people. As a club we decide it was important that we find time for discussion and dialogue.

Club members can suggest additions to the reading list at any time by submitting them to Ed Jefferson. We ask that you have read the item before suggesting it.

The District also maintains a DEI Resource Guide. It can be found at https://www.rotarydistrict5030dei.org/dei-resource-guide. 

SUGGESTED READING LIST

Asian Experience

1. Minor Feeling: An Asian American Reckoning: By Cathy Park Hong 2020
2. The Myth of the Model Minority: By Rosalind Chou and Joe Feagin 2008
3. The making of Asian America: A History. By Erika Lee 2016
4. But I Don’t See You As Asian: By Bruce Reyes-Chow 2013

African American Experience

1. So, You Want to Talk About Race: By Ijeoma Oluo 2019
2. Tears We Cannot Stop: By Dr. Michael Eric Dyson 1917
3. White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son: By Tim Wise 2004
4. Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm. By Robin Diangelo 2021
5. White Fragility: By Robin Diangelo 2018
6. The Hate You Give: By Angie Thomas 2017

Hispanic/Latinx Experience

1. Hispanics In the United States: By David Engstrom 2017
2. Latinos and The Nation’s Future: By Henry Cisneros 2009
3. Latino American: By Matt Barreto 2014
4. Is Being Hispanic a Matter of Race, Ethnicity or Both? By Mark Hugo Lopez 2015

Native American/Indigenous People Experience

1. An Indigenous People’ History of the United States: By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 2015
2. Custer’s Fall: The Native American Side of the Story. By Elliott West 1992
3. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to Present. By David Truer 2019
4. Everything You Know About Indians Is Wrong. By Paul Chaat Smith (Comanche/Choctaw) 2009
5. Crooked Hallelujah. By Kelli Jo Ford 2020

LGBTQlA Experience

1. The Book of Pride: By Mason Funk 2019
2. Straight Jacket: By Sir Elton John 2016
3. This Book is Gray: Juno Dawson 2021
4. The Story of the LGBTQ Equality: Chloe Porter 2021
5. We are Everywhere: Protest, Power and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation: By Matthew Riemer 2019

                                                         Equity and Racism

1. The New Jim Crow - Mass Incarceration in the age of Colorblindness: By Michelle Alexander 2020
2. A New Origin Story - The 1619 Project: By Nikole Hannah-Jones 2021
3. Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness. By Laura Coates 2022
4. The Sum of Us: What Racism Cost Everyone, and How We Can Prosper Together. By Heather McGhee 2021
5. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. By Isabel Wilkerson 2020