Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race

This book covers all races and ethnicities, in great detail, although you may not realize that from the title. You can take her explanations to find patterns in place in Europe, South America, or Asia for example, just as much as in a U.S. high school cafeteria.And, paradoxically, it turns out that everyone of all races are more like each other than not, even specifically about ethnic identity, even when it's different. That's why this book should receive continued and expanded reading. As people may embrace identity politics and their own ethnic identity, they mistakenly think they are being unique, which Tatum explains, they are not. Tatum explains the varied scales of ethnic identity that humans go through in stages by human and social nature.Tatum shows that in all races, some of us embrace ethnic identity a lot, or more so, while others don't at all, or less so. And the cycles are similar, for all races, around the world, depending on social situations, like depending upon which ethnicity is in a large majority in a given situation. For example, Ms. Tatum, while black herself, identifies blacks who care not at all about embracing a black identity. That is like my family, which was all ethnic German, but didn't care at all about our ethnic identity, like cooking German food, or having clothing from the old country. I still feel that way, while my wife, who is African American, continues to stress her ethnic identity, embracing African history, African-American cooking, and art and items from the old country. We were both born in the U.S., in similar working-class backgrounds.Ms. Tatum is refreshingly frank, for, example, as she describes herself in her college youth as being so enthusiastically into her own race, that she can't even remember one person's name, outside of her race, from her first four years of college. But she points out, that many others of her own race don't feel that way at all, and don't stress an ethnic identity as being important to them. Some people use ethnic pride for self-confidence, while others do not, or in varying degrees, and it all depends on social situations as well.This is based on some serious research, not just anecdotes, and it covers every different situation that the multitude of us in all these ethnic backgrounds in the United States are in, as we all have an ethnicity. This book explains results, covering all ethnic groups, all social situations, and the lifetime patterns people take around the world in their identities.This book helps explain why by human nature how we often think of ourselves, and others, in the ways that we do, as we go through life in various stages. Might I suggest that Ms. Tatum, or others, look further into how or if ethnic identity stages are affected by class status, from the lower working class up to the wealthy. That's a lot of variables, but Ms. Tatum shows that a lot of variables can be indeed be covered.

I'll be honest, I've only read a little over a third of the book so far. I wanted to quickly write my initial thoughts about it, though.It's an outstanding text that causes one to really examine racism through a critical lens. At first, I was taken aback by Tatum's definition of racism as being a systemic issue whereby all White people would be classified as racist in either an active or passive way. Reading further, though, it makes sense, especially to me, a White Southerner who lives among many active racists. Tatum beautifully articulates issues with racism using quite accessible language. This book is making me reflect on my own passive racism and how I don't really do much to improve the situation.She also briefly covers other isms in the book including classism. I am from a poor family and dragged myself out in ways. I have to say that were I not a White, heterosexual male, I might not have been able to do this. I am sure I benefitted from passive racism and capitalized on affordances made possible by a dominant White society. In a way, though, I'll always be seen as poor by some affluent members of the White class. This mirrors racism in our society to a degree.I don't want to belabor things here. I'll simply say that this is a book everyone should read. It can cause you to interrogate your own position in society and begin to see how the issue truly is a systemic issue governed by a successful White society.

I read this primarily for work development as I am involved in DE&I initiatives and also for my own personal growth. This book surprised me in how thorough it was. By that I mean that it included a lot of data, including on recent events as of 2017, and really helped me to understand racial identity development and how that has played out in my friends' and my own life, as well as how that works for white people. Because of the strong basis in data, deep insights on development, and inclusive approach to examine how this works for different groups, it seemed like it would appear less "divisive" and be easier for readers to approach. It certainly helped me to begin to revise some of my own judgmental thinking and guilt in relation to these topics. I think it'll prove helpful in thinking about my children's development, who are mixed race. The straightforward writing style enabled me to intake and digest a lot of information, though I'll probably need to go back and reread this one again. And again. It was also very helpful to understand how things were defined by the author, what the limitations were, and the approach taken. Finally, there were a lot of sources cited and other resources mentioned that I have begun checking out and that will be helpful for further exploration. I really appreciated this book.

A deep analysis about racism in american society. I love it.

Excellent eye-opening read, very much enjoyed the 20yrs update also.

Brilliantly written, informative and certainly eye opening.