We are often asked to be the change we want to see in the world...but we can't change what we can't see.

As part of our Awakening to Change series, the Blackstone Library, in conjunction with the Branford Community Foundation, is offering a social justice book club. Each month we'll read a book selected to help us develop a shared understanding of the complex issues surrounding racism. Over the course of several in-depth discussions, we aim to begin understanding the world in a new way.

The series begins in June with Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, by Emmanuel Acho.  In his book, Acho takes on all the questions, large and small, insensitive and taboo, many white Americans are afraid to ask. Yet we need the answers now more than ever. With the same open-hearted generosity that has made his video series a phenomenon, Acho explains the vital core of such fraught concepts as white privilege, cultural appropriation, and "reverse racism." In his own words, he provides a space of compassion and understanding in a discussion that can lack both. He asks only for the reader's curiosity―but along the way, he will galvanize all of us to join the antiracist fight.

The discussion will take place on three Thursdays in June at 7 p.m. via Zoom. We'll discuss the book in sections to allow for more in depth and essential conversations. The discussions and sections are: Thursday, June 3, Part I (Pages 11 - 67); Thursday, June 10, Part II (Pages 71 - 126) and Thursday, June 17, Part III (Pages 145 - 200).

Copies of the book are available at the library for you to borrow. Please call (203) 488-1441 ext. 318 or email programs@blackstonelibrary.org.

If you would like to purchase a personal copy for your own social justice library, People Get Ready Books in New Haven will donate 15 percent of every purchase to the Blackstone Library. Simply visit their website at peoplegetreadybooks.com to order, use promo code AWAKENING, and you will support both the library and a women and black owned local business. The cost of the book is $27.99 plus $3.50 shipping. Books can also be picked up at the store at 119 Whalley Ave, New Haven (203) 954-6678.

Registration, required to receive the link to the program, is available at blackstonelibrary.org, on Facebook (@blackstonelibrary) or via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/awakening-to-change-a-social-justice-book-club-june-meetings-tickets-154039503301?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch