"Layla Saad is one of the most important and valuable teachers we have right now on the subject of white supremacy and racial injustice." — Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author
"A bracing, highly useful tool for any discussion of combating racism. " — Kirkus Reviews
"Must be considered mandatory reading for anyone having to deal with the social injustice arising from racism and bigotry that has seen a dramatic resurgence in our American culture and society. " — Midwest Book Review
"Me and White Supremacy will help readers stand up for what is right and make a positive change in the world." — SheReads
"An important book about taking ownership of racist behavior and making changes that are not easy, convenient, or comfortable...should be required reading for people ready to acknowledge their behaviors, whether intentional or not." — Library Journal, STARRED review
"This small but intense book which provokes readers to take personal ownership of the effort to dismantle systemic racism...This book is not for the oppressed or the marginalized, but rather for those whose privilege, when left unchecked, has harmful consequences. Saad has created an insightful and necessary contribution to the work of combating racism and becoming good ancestors." — Booklist, STARRED review
"Layla Saad’s Me and White Supremacy is an indispensable resource for white people who want to challenge white supremacy but don’t know where to begin. She moves her readers from their heads into their hearts, and ultimately, into their practice. We won’t end white supremacy through an intellectual understanding alone; we must put that understanding into action." — Robin DiAngelo, author of New York Times bestseller White Fragility
"She is no-joke changing the world and, for what it’s worth, the way I live my life." — Anne Hathaway
"America needed this book yesterday. In fact, America has always needed this book. Layla Saad is one of the most important and valuable teachers we have right now on the subject of white supremacy and racial injustice. With keen intelligence and tireless patience, she is working to remove our collective cultural blind spots and to help—at last—change minds and transform society. I have the deepest respect for her. Buy this book for yourself, your family, your students. Don’t put it off and don’t look away. It’s time." — New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert
"Her work is personal, practical, reflective, applicable, difficult, effective, and imperative. For the millions of us beginning to know where to begin — where to begin to counteract our ugly history, and where to stand during this historical moment of polarization and hate — Layla answers: Begin with me. Begin with you." — Glennon Doyle, author of #1 New York Times bestseller Love Warrior and founder of Together Rising
"As an educator and writer in this space, I well understand the difficulties of productive discourse on topics like white supremacy, white fragility, and complicity. In Me and White Supremacy, Layla not only engages readers effectively – she hands them the tools they need to change themselves so that they can better the lives of millions of people worldwide." — Rachel Cargle, activist, writer, and lecturer
"Allyship means taking action. How? Layla Saad’s Me and White Supremacy teaches readers exactly how to get past the paralysis of white fragility so that they can build bridges, not walls. Read the book, look deep within yourself, sit with your discomfort, and then act. This is how we can truly say we are doing everything we can to combat white supremacy." — Sophia Bush, award-winning actress and activist
"Layla Saad’s pioneering work Me and White Supremacy is a rallying call, for those humble enough to answer, to stop and examine how dominant systems shape how white people see themselves, see others and how they move through the world. Saad takes readers by the hand and holds a mirror up for readers to confront everything conscious and subconscious, that lies within their beliefs. She invites readers to dive deeper and do reflective exercises to cement the work. I applaud Layla for putting to paper this truly transformative work. Me and White Supremacy summons forth a new type of leadership and accountability that this time so desperately calls for and is the pathway to a greater healing that generations of people and communities so desperately need." — Latha, Wellnessm Thomas Maven, Celebrity Doula, Best-selling author of Own Your Glow and founder of Mama Glow.
"A timely and thoughtful guide that transforms truth-telling into accessible and actionable change in hearts, minds, and communities worldwide." — Jamia Wilson, author, and publisher of the Feminist Press
"Me and White Supremacy is an effective tool for individuals to start their journeys into the work of addressing larger systems of racism and oppression. " — Shelf Awareness for Readers, STARRED review
"For many Black women that do public justice education work, Layla Saad's Me and White Supremacy has become a major part of our self-care. Now not only do we have more accessible and contemporary language for "How" to speak about the invention of whiteness and the traumas of global white supremacy, but we have a toolkit to point to that does a great deal of this work for us - all in one place. The book is self-care because it helps to eliminate the responsibility of the oppressed to shoulder the burden of educating the oppressor. I suspect that as a result of Me and White Supremacy, we will never be the same." — EbonyJanice Moore, author, activist, scholar, and founder of Black Girl Mixtape Institute
"Layla Saad is an unapologetic force against white supremacy. In a world where the scales of power tip painfully in favor of injustice, Layla gives us the tools to look within, confront internalized oppression, challenge our biases and learn how to do better for one another." — Jasmin Kaur, author of When You Ask Me Where I'm Going
"Layla Saad is doing sacred work. Because in her effort to protect, center, and advance the well-being of Black folks, she is healing the soul of all humanity. This book is a revolution that will create ripples and waves for an entire generation of truth-seekers." — Rebekah Borucki, best-selling author of Managing the Motherload
"With equal parts love, brilliance, and vulnerability, Layla F. Saad has given us a guidebook for healing and transformation for the self and the world… I want to press this book into everyone's hands, to urge, Read this. This is one of those rare books where the author has given us the profound gift of her entirety poured into pages, attaching additional meaning to the phrase, "The book of a lifetime." It is indeed a book belonging to multiple narratives: yours, mine, hers. The book of a lifetime that will transform lives." — Reema Zaman, award-winning actress, speaker, activist, and author of I Am Yours
★ 01/01/2020
Saad has written an important book about taking ownership of racist behavior and making changes that are not easy, convenient, or comfortable. The book, with a foreword by Robin DiAngelo (White Fragility) was inspired by Saeed's Instagram challenge, #meandwhitesupremacy, and her digital Me and White Supremacy Workbook. Saeed offers steps for beginning work towards antiracism that feel as honest, straightforward, and actionable as they are difficult. She lays out courses of action over the span of 28 days that are designed to help readers slowly and intentionally unpack white privilege, acknowledge their participation in the oppressive system of white supremacy, and begin dismantling the system for themselves and within their communities. The book is organized first by week and then by day, with quotations, definitions, examples, and journal prompts designed to set a strong foundation for enduring, ongoing antiracist work. VERDICT This groundbreaking book should be required reading for people ready to acknowledge their behaviors, whether intentional or not. It will make a strong addition to both public and university libraries where it will equip scholars, activists, and allies with real tools to promote systemic change.—Emily Bowles, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
2019-10-23
An activist program for confronting white privilege and dismantling white supremacy.
Building on a workbook downloaded by nearly 90,000 readers, multicultural writer Saad, born in Britain and now living in Doha, Qatar, delivers "a one of a kind personal antiracism tool" that is meant foremost to teach white readers how to recognize their privilege and "take ownership of their participation in the oppressive system of white supremacy." Many readers will likely recoil, protesting that they're not racist, are colorblind, have nothing but benevolent thoughts, and so forth. The author is ready for them: White supremacy, she writes, is not just a comprehensive system, but it also trains those who benefit most from it to "keep you asleep and unaware" of the power that whites hold relative to those of other races and ethnicities: "BIPOC," as in, "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color." Saad enumerates some of the features of that power: Pulled over for a traffic violation, a white motorist doesn't usually have to fear for their life; any stylist can cut their hair; popular culture considers people who look like them to be representative; and so on. The author's approach is at first confrontational and righteously indignant, but as she guides her readers—including BIPOCs who may for whatever reason benefit from systems of white privilege and supremacy—through a monthlong series of lessons, including self-critical journal prompts, one has the sense that her method is much like that of Marine Corps boot camp: Tear down in order to build up. A reader's guilt may rise and crest, buttressed by sweeping damned-if-you-do-or-don't condemnation for such things as "clinging to pink pussy hats, safety pins, and hashtags over doing the real work." At the end, however, that reader is assured that even though they may be part of the problem, "you are simultaneously also a part of the answer."
A bracing, highly useful tool for any discussion of combating racism.
