In late June, I received an email I found hard to answer with a quick reply. It was from white man who’d read and loved my book, How To Be Black, and wanted to be more involved in creating a more equitable world when it came to race. Over the following weeks, especially after the not guilty verdict in the murder trial of George Zimmerman, I received emails, tweets, and Facebook tags from others with a similar interest in how white people who wanted to be part of the solution could constructively engage. Many of these people were angry at what they saw in their own country.
I thought about writing these folks back individually, but being a fan of efficiency and generally anti-redundancy, I thought a more public response would be useful. I also figured others would have valuable responses to the call, so I posted the question to my Facebook and Google+ communities and aggregated the responses. Below is a collection of lightly organized, mildly proofed thoughts on the subject along with the found wisdom of others.