Black Appetite. White Food.: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom by Jamila Lyiscott

Black Appetite. White Food.: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom Reviews

• 
  Molly

  White educators everywhere need a copy.
• 
  Erin Groth

  4.5 Excellent book for educators.
• 
  J. Ferg

  This is NOT a guide book. If you read this book looking for action steps or a list of “how to’s”- you won’t find it. Instead, this piece focuses on practical application. Dr. Lyiscott provides the reader with ways in which to (1) begin the work of self awareness in order to effectively support and engage with social justice work and (2) a framework to use when getting started.
  
  The accessibility of this book, especially for educators is also a plus.
  
  
  4/5 is more for the publisher who prices the book a little high which can limit the amount of people who can have access.
• 
  Cathlina Bergman

  Some interesting ideas, but very choppy writing. The chapters feel as if they were essays she had previously published in academic periodicals. And I'm not a fan of spoken word poetry, so those passages didn't do anything for me. However, I am taking away two solid ideas to use in the classroom, so I'm pleased!
• 
  jennyboo.

  I liked this. I especially enjoyed the provided theoretical frameworks and Lyiscott's tales on forcing white people to reconsider their current mindset. Placing educators at the center of a cypher and hearing them complain about a lack of natural skill to participate while they simultaneously hold a position that requires they enforce an adherence to Eurocentric forms of expression and writing was hilarious.
  
  That said though, what threw me off was the mention of Harry Potter & JK Rowling on more than one occasion. To have mentioned Harry Potter by itself likely would have sat fine with me; However to sing the praises of a transphobic mouthpiece like JK Rowling at the start of a book intended to critique eurocentrism and center social justice is just goofy. I use goofy due to a lack of better terms and just out of pure frustration. I also feel like the second analogy pulled from Harry Potter towards the end of this book was practically useless. The first one held some weight, but I didn't enjoy the series being hailed as some sort of representative work for the human experience, particularly as it pertains to Black people.
  
  This is not to critique Harry Potter. Harry Potter was popular for a reason, and I'm sure it's well written and ridden with nostalgia for many, including Lyiscott. This is to critique holding admiration for a person like Rowling while doing the work that Lyiscott does. This is the first work I've read by this author, so I do not feel qualified to make overarching assumptions about her politics past what was provided in the wok itself. But if I were to do so, I would be making the assumption that she likely doesn't hold any regard for the intersection of Black and Trans identities if she thinks of Rowling so highly. That is however, a huge assumption. All things considered, I enjoyed the read but the 5 stars dwindled into 3 due to the sour taste in my mouth at the mention of a transphobic figure within the first chapter only to be brought up a second time.
• 
  Joshua Clayton

  As I was reading this morning I was thinking to myself:
  
  This resonates with me and I am glad I read it. Considering my natural bent, it affirmed most of my nonconformist "other than the grid" viewpoints right down to being a genuine individual instead of any stereotype unconscious or conscious. Realistically, this short read opened wider already opened eyes and gave a deeper perspective of many why's and how's of it all. Very informative book. Because I read some books, some books read me and this did both. What a pleasure!
• 
  Tashia

  This little book is packed with so much good stuff and each short chapter includes a list of resources for additional reading (works that she cites or that helped inform her work in each chapter.) I love that Lyiscott weaves poetry and verse through the pages, it adds a depth & poignancy to this work of non-fiction prose.
  I also love that she includes optional reflection activities and frameworks for educators who might want to use this book to facilitate staff discussion or examine pedagogy or policy with coworkers. A must-read for educators.
• 
  Keegan

  I enjoyed her candidness on this issue. There were some really useful/practical practices or strategies Lyiscott put forth that schools, teachers, districts could use in anti-racist work.
  
  However, I felt many of the chapters didn't fully address the teaching component of this work and veered away from what teachers could be doing specifically to address/tackle the insidious ways white privilege/racism worm their way into education and how/what teachers teach.
• 
  Jennifer Georges

  If you are a person of color I do not think you NEED. this book. This was suppose to be a book about learning for me. I think its more suited for someone who knows little about social Justice in America and is white and an educator. The book was to anecdotal for my taste, and a bit scattered. It felt like she was just saying things and not many real actionable items.
• 
  Joy Kirr

  Some parts of this book made me re-read, share, and sit with uncomfortableness for a bit. It was good for me, and I know I’d learn a ton more should I follow the author’s instructions as to how to facilitate discussions and look inside ourselves.
• 
  Kyrstin

  So much new and powerful information about race and education. Check this book out. It’s super short but definitely packs a punch. The framework discussed in this book is something I will be thinking about for weeks to come.
• 
  Katie

  A must read for educators. I learned so much about decentering whiteness in my classroom and how to deepen my culturally relevant teaching practices. I annotated and marked the crap out of this one and have returned to it several times.
• 
  Meg M

  A great resource for white and black educators, perfect for a book study or tool to use to change systematic methods of racism in your school. Such important work to be done.
• 
  Dawn

  Woke me up to some of my teaching practices that needed changing.
• 
  Kelly

  I found the section on language to be very valuable for English teachers.
• 
  Salamah

  Good introduction to thinking about education and White privilege.
• 
  Beverly

  I read most of this right after a workshop with Lyiscott. I finished it up today. It's useful as a reminder of the workshop activities and content.
• 
  Amy

  PHENOMENAL! A must-read for educators and anyone interested in a social justice.
• 
  Rachel

  Slim book. I like the poetic parts, in particular, as well as the tools Lyiscott provides. Most of all, I enjoyed watching her TED talk poem, "3 Ways to Speak English."
• 
  Sara Borkowski

  Educators and Admin: Read this book.
• 
  Dusty Brown

  Read with Evie and used for reference for Senior paper
• 
  Josie Rushin

  non-fiction text about anti-racism in education. i’m not going to lie, when i opened the text, i had not read a synopsis - i was recommended the text via tiktok. therefore, i did think the text was going to be about the relationship between racism and food. the text was still educational and i liked how it gave exercises to do to question your anti-racism actions and behaviour. it was also a short text so it was a quick read.
  
• 
  Brooke Day

  Helpful ideas, although in a very brief format. Best suited to being paired with individual or workshop study at the very introductory level of this content.