"Are you calling me a racist?" Why we need to stop talking about race and start making real antiracist change

Srivastava, a professor of sociology, presents a comprehensive volume that effectively explains why the endless cycle of diversity workshops across North American workplaces and campuses doesn't work. Using examples such as the media scrutiny of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, she highlights that most white people engage with diversity initiatives on a surface, abstract level. Racial justice is not something that workshops can bring about. Through each chapter, she exposes why organizations fail to make ongoing changes, the major answer being that it requires what they believe is too much work. The author also devotes many chapters to studies that have shown why mandatory diversity training not only fails to do what organizations hope it will but, in many cases, makes tensions worse. She does an excellent job of breaking down, for example, the fallacies of white feminism vs. what real antiracism looks like. Other topics include the ways diversity training centers the feelings of white workers, the impact of cancel culture, and reckoning with colonization and its continued effects. The book very clearly distills and, in an accessible style, explores all the things that are problematic with DEI training. Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries.

Diversity training often does more harm than good, according to this provocative study. The past decade has seen the proliferation of antiracism workshops in corporations, government agencies, and universities. But Srivastava, a sociology professor at OCAD University in Toronto, argues that they've achieved very little in the fight against racist practices and policies. Instead, such programs usually become a sort of therapy for the participants, focused on "the Feel-Good politics of race." Oddly, some of the worst offenders are progressive organizations, which, one might think, would be readily open to antiracist changes. The reason is that they're so imbued with a sense of emotional and intellectual self-righteousness that they cannot believe they're on the wrong side of a moral argument. In much of the book, the author explores the collision between antiracism and feminism, with its focus on consciousness raising and mutual caring. This mentality, writes Srivastava, "forestalls meaningful work to change systemic practices." She provides plenty of interview material to support her case and points out that feminist theory often assumes that women are a homogenous group, which leads to negative consequences for women of color. Srivastava sets out a reform agenda, acknowledging that change will involve many small steps. "Focus on collective and concrete practice rather than inward sentiment," she advises. In many places, the text reads more like an academic treatise than a program for action, with a mountain of footnotes and references. It's not always clear where Srivastava is going with her argument, and many of the detours are distracting rather than informative. Some readers might also find some of her conclusions difficult, and some will be offended. Still, the author introduces an interesting topic worthy of further discussion. Srivastava exposes the flaws of "feel-good" antiracist workshops, instead calling for practical actions and real reforms. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.