Disorientation: Being Black in the World by Ian Williams is a collection of essays that should make every reader think and, more important, be at least a little uncomfortable.

Williams manages what many try (with varying degrees of success), which is to not only make the personal political but to make all of it important. While there is very little confrontational in the presentation that does not mean that he watered down his critiques to appease anyone. And for some of the more "sensitive" it will appear confrontational, but that will just be their defense mechanism kicking in when truth invades their space.

I think that most readers will take different things away from the book. Maybe not in the sense of a big picture view but in what will likely reverberate with them. One of my takeaways has to do with the interpersonal and the societal. I think many people who don't consider themselves overtly racist feel that how they treat people is the best thing they can do to make the world better. When in fact that should simply be normal, we should treat people the same regardless of any aspect of their personhood. Because of the society we live in, read a white supremacist one, what passes for normal behavior can often be racist (as well as sexist, etc), so doing the best one can interpersonally is important. But change has to be made in the structures and policies of society/government/business/etc. Without that, we aren't so much making change by being good human beings to fellow human beings as we are pretending that by doing so everything will get better. It won't. It hasn't. There have to be institutional changes. There have to be infrastructure changes. While many of the points in this book, other than his personal stories, are not new, Williams helps us to see where the hidden (to whites) anti-Black obstacles are. So while it is important on the personal level to make our interactions as antiracist as possible, we can't be satisfied with that. That should be the very beginning. And listening (or reading) to what others have to say about their experiences with an open mind and an open heart is a great place to start.

I don't care how many other books on anti-Black racism you've read, and I don't care how much you already "know" about the ills of our society, reading this book will offer more insight. Until we make the change necessary, we need to keep listening and keep striving. More perspectives can only help, even if you only take a couple of key points away.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )