Healing Racism in America: A Prescription for the Disease

by Nathan Rutstein

Novel on the problems associated with racism in the US and a way to make it better.

Genres: Nonfiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There is no them. There’s only us” sing U2 in the song Invisible. This basic idea that we are all part of the same family is the foundation of Nathan Rutstein’s book Healing Racism in America: A Prescription for the Disease. Rutstein explains a metaphor of racism as a disease that affects everyone in the United States. He believes that white people must recognize our infection (the opinion that white people are superior to people of color) and the wounds these ideas cause and that everyone should work together to heal ourselves and each other. Rutstein’s theoretical framework makes sense to me and helps me put a lot of ideas I’ve encountered in different places together. I like his positive view of human nature as a bottomless reservoir of love and compassion and think his core ideas are common sense but are sadly not common practice. While I think it was impressive that a white man explored these issues more than 20 years ago, I think this book would be stronger if he co-wrote it with a person of color, discussed Latinos, Asians and Native Americans instead of mostly blacks and whites, and updated it for the current decade. (Sadly many of the problems he describes are still issues today and the author has passed away, so this isn’t possible.) I also think it would be interesting to apply a similar framework to issues of gender, sexuality, ability, etc. Thank you Joel for recommending this book! I really look forward to discussing it with MBCC folks.

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives examples of how we all have racist issues. He gives great stories in this book and practical solutions for what we need to do in our homes, in our communities and also a guide and outline on how to establish an Institute for the Healing of Racism in communities.

[Micah Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all colonial settlers no matter which generation.