White people may deny that racism exists, says Abdul-Jabbar, while Black people know that it does. Racism didn’t stop with the election of the nation’s first Black president. It doesn’t end with melting-pot cultural appropriation. It actually comes in two forms, he says, and education is the first step in dealing with it, not eliminating it, because racism is always going to be around.
On religion, we should never lose sight of the fact that this “country was founded by religious outcasts running for their lives from persecution for their beliefs.” When it comes to equality for women, we must embrace the true meaning of “feminist” and adhere to what we tell pollsters when it comes to gender. We need to look at the media and how to maximize its potential, and we must take better care of our seniors.
“We cannot afford to just wring out hands and depend on the kindness of strangers,” Abdul-Jabbar says. “We have to bring about change on our own.”
Remember when your grade school teacher told you to put on your thinking cap? You’ll need it again as you’re reading “Writings on the Wall.”
Authors Abdul-Jabbar and Obstfeld don’t just examine issues that are on the minds of every American. They turn them over and blow them apart, looking for solutions that can be accomplished and chiding us gently for not already working.
(“Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld. c.2016, Liberty Street Books, $27.95 $33.95 Canada, 256 pages.)
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