New Books on Race in the United States

  Invisible No More: Police Violence against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie (Beacon Press) This book by Black feminist legal scholar, writer, and activist Andrea Ritchie looks at the ways black and indigenous women are affected by racial profiling, police brutality, and immigration enforcement. The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison…

“The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome” by Alondra Nelson

DNA has many uses. These include criminal investigations (ever watched CSI? It’s full of the stuff.); paternity suits; tracking genetic mutations of species; and predicting the fate of unborn foetuses. One use I’d barely considered was that of finding your roots when your family has been severed from its history. And who might that serve?…

“Feeling the Unthinkable: Essays on Social Justice” by Donald Gutierrez

If Donald Gutierrez were alive today, what would he think of the USA now? He’d be horrified. And disgusted. Gutierrez, who died in 2013, shortly after this collection was published, was a social conscience. He passionately confronted inequity and government abuses, particularly that of his own country, the United States of America. Here, 48 of…