LWV PWM — DEI Book Club 

April 14 @ 7pm Zoom — 

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald

Our goal for our League’s DEI Book Club:
to initiate discourse on difficult topics to increase member awareness and to increase member skills in having these conversations.

The LWV US prioritized Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in 2018 for the national and all state leagues.*  Among a number of initiatives, our local league has run book club discussions since December 2020.

Going forward, meetings will be held at 7pm by Zoom on the second Wednesday of each month:

May 12 —Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald (273 pgs.)
June 9 —The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (128 pgs.)
July 7 — TBD

Book suggestions for future DEI Book Club meetings are welcomed!  Please email them to president@lwvofpwm.org

This month’s selection:

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald

“Blindspot” refers to the authors’ metaphor for the portion of the mind that houses hidden biases. The authors explore the extent to which our unconscious perceptions of social groups shape our likes, dislikes and social judgements about people’s character, abilities, and potential. The title’s reference to “good people” refers to those who strive to align their behavior with conscious intentions.

Matthew Hutson’s Washington Post review notes, “Self-deception is understandable. Greenwald describes becoming aware of his automatic white preference as a ‘moment of jarring self-insight. . . . I can’t say if I was more personally distressed or scientifically elated to discover something inside my head that I had no previous knowledge of.’”