540WMain Adds Prolific Book to Popular Book Discussion Series | Unpacking™ Race Manners by Bruce Jacobs

We are pleased to announce that we have added the book Race Manners to our Unpacking™ Book Discussion Series

Race Manners: Navigating the Minefield Between Black & White Americans by national public speaker and author Bruce A. Jacobs is the latest text to be added to the Unpacking™ Book Discussion series for 2019. Race Manners will replace the text Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debbie Irving.

Founder & Executive Director Calvin Eaton says:

“Race Manners is by far my favorite anti-racism book of 2018 that discusses how we unpack and discuss race. It is an essential read for anyone wishing to learn how to talk about race as a social construct”

This change is part of 540, Inc’s 2019 goal to center more curricula and content around black, brown, and people of color. 

About Unpacking™

Unpacking™ is a series of informal and thought provoking discussions based around socially conscious books that are must reads for anyone doing or interested in social and race activism work. These chats are held at and 540WMain as well as various community spaces around the city of Rochester. The discussions are geared towards white people and others interested in learning about internal bias, microagressions, the experience of black people in the U.S, and those interested in working to dismantle Rochester and America’s culture of white supremacy. Unpacking discussions usually have a fee of $10 per person but no one is turned away for lack of funds.

Register below for first Unpacking™ Race Manners book discussion below: 

Monday March 11th // 7-8:30 PM

About Race Manners

Bruce A. Jacobs has written a book that shows us how we can begin not with lofty abstractions or policy arguments, but with practicality and directness. Over the past six years, Jacobs, an indefatigable promoter, has traveled the country, learning and listening as people react to his book and add their own comments. The result is a completely revised work, bringing this increasingly important subject up to date, and to a much larger audience. (Originally published in 1999, Race Manners was revised in 2006. )

About Bruce A. Jacobs

As an author and nationwide speaker, Bruce A. Jacobs tells it like it is. With his dynamic presence, his plain-spoken clarity on difficult issues, and his empathy with audiences, Bruce is able to encourage people of good will to challenge all forms of bigotry and to work for the kinds of social and economic fairness that benefit us all.  In his lectures, he models how we need to care enough to hold one another accountable — for white privilege, institutional racism, bigotry among people of color, homophobia, sexism, mistreating people by nationality or religion — while also supporting one another in pursuing the shared things we want in a society. Bruce shows that once we begin to peel away the influence of our nation’s manufactured bigotries, we all have what it takes to start to truly know one another.

Bruce has appeared on NPR, C-SPAN, Sirius, Pacifica, and other networks. He is a featured participant in “Race and Reconciliation in America,” a continuing series of national dialogues convened by former U.S. Senator William Cohen and racial justice advocate Janet Langhart Cohen. He speaks at colleges, organizations, places of worship, and events across the country.

Sources: Typepad // Amazon