Amid this tumultuous summer, the value of introspection feels worth underscoring. Taking the time to stop and reflect is a crucial first step towards the actions, big and small, that we’ll each need to take to move forward in such a precarious and divisive climate.
Crucial to this work is the act of unlearning — recognizing that many of the stories we’ve learned about each other may be deeply rooted in the biases, omissions, and flaws of our forbearers. A good place to start would be with Ariella Azoulay’s Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism, of which Stephen Sheehi writes, “In these days of toppling monuments […] Potential History offers us methods as much as lessons.”
Likewise, Allison Conner reviews the salient text This is Not a Gun, which “collects a coterie of objects made strange by racism and power.” The book points to the numerous ways in which perceptions of what (and who) we perceive to be threatening are inextricable from our prejudices. As Conner continues, “Rather than pointing to the obvious, the archive of misrecognition reveals our nation’s inability to truly name the hate constricting our hearts and minds.”
As each text reveals below, there’s always more to scratch at beneath the surface.
–Dessane Lopez Cassell, Editor, Reviews
