“This book dares to tell necessary truths. The kind of truths that can save lives, and if heard with an open mind and heart — may even help save the soul of this lost nation.”
New York Times Bestselling Author, Frederick Joseph
A no-holds-barred guidebook aimed at white women who want to stop being nice and start fighting racism.
It's no secret that white women are conditioned to be "nice," but did you know that the desire to be perfect and to avoid conflict at all costs are characteristics of white supremacy culture?
As the founders of Race2Dinner, an organization which facilitates conversations between white women about racism and white supremacy, Regina Jackson and Saira Rao have noticed white women's tendency to maintain a veneer of niceness, and strive for perfection, even at the expense of anti-racism work.
In this book, Jackson and Rao pose these urgent questions: how has being "nice" helped Black women, Indigenous women and other women of color? How has being "nice" helped you in your quest to end sexism? Has being "nice" earned you economic parity with white men? Beginning with freeing white women from this oppressive need to be nice, they deconstruct and analyze nine aspects of traditional white woman behavior--from tone-policing to weaponizing tears--that uphold white supremacy society, and hurt all of us who are trying to live a freer, more equitable life.
Jackson and Rao help white women recognize how white supremacy shows up in their own lives. How all white women are Karens. Recognizing your own racism doesn’t feel nice, but racism isn’t nice. And until we have these tough conversations, there can be no real change.
With a radically honest, real-talk style, White Women is a call to action to white women looking to take the next steps in dismantling white supremacy.