Getting Real About Race: Hoodies, Mascots, Model Minorities, and Other Conversations

by Stephanie M. McClure (Editor), Cherise A. Harris (Editor)

Stephanie McClure and Cherise A. Harris’s Second Thoughts on Race in the United Hoodies, Model Minorities, and Real Americans is an edited collection of short essays that address the most common misconceptions about race held by students (and by many in the United States, in general)—it is a "one-stop shopping" reader on the racial topics most often pondered by students and derived from their interests and concerns. There is no existing reader that summarizes the research across a range of topics in a consistent, easily accessible format and considers the evidence against particular racial myths in the language that students themselves use.

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2014

Reviews

[Stephen Parnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Be Open

I’m white and this challenged a lot of what I know about minorities. It respectfully and thoroughly addressed some troubling social issues that I didn’t even realize were there. I didn’t feel accused or like I was being told that being white is bad. It was more like hearing a really well-thought out but very different point of view, which is kind of the point of collegiate texts. It might be hard for people to be open to this subject, but try because it’s better to hear what is being said than to pretend nothing is being said.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting Real About Race is one of the books that you must have for your collection. As the book is broken up into four distinct themes, each chapter provides several essays that help all who read them question there true understanding of how we view race and racial inequality. For me the essays "They Should Get Over It", "Why Do They Get to Use the N-Word But I Can't?", and "I'm Not Racist. Some of my Best Friends Are....."truly do resonate for me because I have heard these words spoken by others.

In addition there are several key points that were made that definitely should be shared with others such as.....

"Silence only begets further misunderstanding and inhibits progress" (McClure & Harris, 2015, p. 5).

"Stereotypes, omissions and distortions all contribute to the development of prejudice" (McClure & Harris, 2015, p. 17).

"I assume that we all have prejudices, not because we want them, but simply because we are so continually exposed to misinformation about others (McClure & Harris, 2015, p. 17).

Next to the essays, the second thing about this book are the resources it provides us. At the end of each essay you will find suggested additional resources, Questions for future discussion, reaching beyond the color line, and references.

This is definitely one book that all educators who teach read.

[David Lucander · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good enough textbook, instructors should be able to find some useful essays in here. My courses are broader than race relations, so I need a reader with more variety (gender, sexual orientation, class) but for the price this is worth considering for adoption.

[Megan]

I read this book for my Communities and Race Relations class. It was a well sited, very informative collection of essays that we worked through and discussed through a semester. I highly recommend it!

[K. Parker Richmond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and thought-provoking. This was a well-curated collection of essays, which I read as an assigned textbook for a course on American ethnic studies.

[Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a required text for a class in college. It was a very interesting, enlightening and educating book and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in learning more about it.