Tuesday, February 28, 2023 — 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST
Join the Anti-Racism Reads online event facilitated by Jermal A. Jones, Associate Director, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Access from the University of Waterloo Library.
Jermal will lead the group discussion on the book I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown.
We are working towards removing barriers to participation, providing easy access to the selected text. We have limited copies available free of cost for those who sign up for the event and indicate they'd like a copy on the registration form.
When: Tuesday, Feburary 28 | noon to 1 p.m.
Where: Microsoft Teams
Find the book: Library's catalogue (Omni), W Store, Cambridge Public Library, Kitchener Public Library, Waterloo Public Library
About Jermal Jones
Hi all, my name is Jermal A. Jones. I am on secondment from the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Anti-racism (EDI-R), to join the Library as the Associate Director, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Access, and will lead Anti-Racism Reads.
I am a co-founder of Next Gen Men, an organization aimed at creating spaces to engage men and boys, changing how we see, think and act about masculinity. There, I spent many years working, presenting, and facilitating topics such gender equity, masculinities, mental health and well-being and the importance of engaging men and boys in research, policy, and practice regarding gender-based violence.
I hold an honours degree in Public Health from Brock University and Master of Education from Wilfrid Laurier University, and am currently pursuing my PhD at Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Lisbeth Berbary.
I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
New York Times bestseller (Reese's Book Club pick). From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that exposes how white America’s love affair with “diversity” so often falls short of its ideals.
“Austin Channing Brown introduces herself as a master memoirist. This book will break open hearts and minds.”—Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed.
Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, “I had to learn what it means to love blackness,” a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America’s racial divide as a writer, speaker, and expert helping organizations practice genuine inclusion.
In a time when nearly every institution (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claims to value diversity in its mission statement, Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice. Her stories bear witness to the complexity of America’s social fabric — from Black Cleveland neighborhoods to private schools in the middle-class suburbs, from prison walls to the boardrooms at majority-white organizations.
For readers who have engaged with America’s legacy on race through the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Eric Dyson, I’m Still Here is an illuminating look at how white, middle-class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting the reader to confront apathy, recognize God’s ongoing work in the world, and discover how blackness — if we let it — can save us all.
