A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have

A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being a White Person or Understanding the White Persons in Your Life is designed to help White people fully recognize and accept their racial identity, assume the proper responsibility for ending racism, and develop an understanding of how racism impacts their own racial group.

This powerful text encourages positive racial adjustment and deeper levels of self-understanding. The book explores the meaning of race in society, the “color-blindness” movement, the problem of ignorance about Whiteness, the various phases of internalized racism, and other critical topics. Evocative and meaningful activities throughout the text foster reflection and increased levels of self-awareness and acceptance.

The third edition features updated references and charts, as well as a new foreword by Dr. Allen Ivey.

A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have is part of the Cognella Series on Advances in Culture, Race, and Ethnicity. The series, co-sponsored by Division 45 of the American Psychological Association, addresses critical and emerging issues within culture, race, and ethnic studies, as well as specific topics among key multicultural groups.

A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have is the recipient of a 2022 McGuffey Longevity Award from the Textbook & Academic Authors Association. Read the press release to learn more.

For a look at the specific features and benefits of A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have, visit cognella.com/a-race-is-a-nice-thing-to-have-features-and-benefits.

A Statement from the Author in Recognition and Celebration of Black History Month 2023

"Many White people are unaware that Black History Month is an annual educational opportunity that should have as much meaning to them as it does for Black people. Other White people think of it as an occasion for Black people to learn about and/or celebrate their history in the United States. Still others view it as a visible sign of 'reverse (racial) discrimination,' intended to make White people feel bad about themselves. What none of these groups realizes is that Black History Month is as much about White people as it is about Black people, albeit in different ways. Behind virtually every story of Black heroes or historical racist events that Black people commemorate during the short month of February are also stories of White perpetuators of racism as well as occasional White allies. Moreover, each situation of racial discrimination which has or does disadvantage Black people, advantages White people in some way. Black History Month is an opportunity for White people to learn enough not-Whitewashed history to enable them to ask themselves how they have personally benefitted from racial discrimination historically or presently and what they can do to make the country more just for Black people and thereby themselves—if they so choose.

Racism is guided by a racial history invented by WHMPs (pronounced wimps); that is, White, heterosexual men of privilege, prescribed Christianity, and the power to enforce their belief system. These men wrote the U.S. Constitution, which is not only the guiding ideology for present-day laws and policies, but is also the rationale for how White people conceptualize themselves relative to Black people. How you see yourself influences how you treat other people as well as what you perceive as fair or unjust.

When you hear the phrase: 'We the People of the United States…', who do you visualize? Who do you include among the People? If Black people were not included in your imagery, then you share the vision of 'the Founding Fathers'; that is, the WHMPs who ordained that Black men, and by implication Black people, were only partially human. This was an immorality for which no apology to Black people has ever been forthcoming. Not in the 13th Amendment (Abolishment of Slavery). Not in the 14th Amendment (Citizenship). Not in the 15th Amendment (Voting Rights for Black men). Consequently, even today, many White people view Black people as less human than they are and interact with them as such. Black History Month is about Black people claiming the human history that has been hidden from them. But we are living in an era in which White political leaders are attempting to 'protect' White people from their own history by suppressing Black history. Yet, by discovering what Black history means about Whiteness, White people have an opportunity to decide what kind of human they want to be. My book, A Race Is A Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being A White Person or Understanding the White Persons in Your Life, is intended to encourage White people to uncover the long-lasting effects of their suppressed racial history on who they are today."