Feb
17
12:00am
Kimberlee Yolanda Williams with Debby Irving, Dear White Woman, Please Come Home
By Porter Square Books
Porter Square Books is pleased to present Kimberlee Yolanda Williams with Debby Irving for Dear White Woman, Please Come Home! This event will be free and open to all.
Dear White Woman, Please Come Home is Kimberlee Yolanda Williams’ invitation to white women longing for authentic friendship with Black and brown women, the kind of friendship with no place for secrets, the kind of relationship where truth-telling is welcome, even when it hurts. As Kimberlee writes, I know we’ve never gotten this relationship off the ground in a sustainable way, but I still believe in it. Can I trust you to come through for me? For us? For our sisterhood? Do you understand what keeps us apart? ‘Cause I need you to know. If you’re reading this, you’ve taken the first step to renewing our sisterhood. The idea for the book was born after attending a workshop that left her shaken and angry. In it, Kimberlee listened as white woman after white woman expressed shock, saying, I didn’t know, meaning they didn’t understand how this or that comment, custom, behavior, or norm so negatively impacted women of color. How could they not know? she wondered skeptically. Were they lying? Eventually she had an epiphany: How could white women know what we (Black and brown women) go through if we don’t tell them? We’ve been trained not to tell them. In an attempt to break that cycle, Kimberlee began writing letters about her experiences. In the resulting book – 40 letters to a fictional “missing” white sister – she explores with vulnerability, sorrow, rage, and humor how white women, often despite best intentions, signal to her and other women of color to proceed with caution when in their presence. Based on real events, each letter serves as testimony to the daily insults and avoidances that otherize, invisiblize, and undermine Black and brown women. The letters’ story arc, combined with end- of-chapter questions for deep reflection, offer white women insight to the damage done as well as to what it takes to “come home,” to be trusted. The question throughout the book lingers until the very last letter: Will Kimberlee find her long lost “sister”? Will she want to “come home”? Be ready to “come home"?
The book, Kimberlee’s prescription for the historical ailment that continues to divide white women and women of color, also serves as an affirmation for Black and brown women. Historically, women of color’s role has been to serve, comfort, protect, coddle, nourish, and elevate white women. Kimberlee’s raw storytelling boldly disrupts that pattern, hopefully offering an opening for other women of color to air their own painful truths. Ideal for study groups,
Dear White Women, Please Come Home offers a tool for white women and women of color courageous enough to take on a relationship we were designed not to pursue.
Foreword by Debby Irving, racial justice educator and writer, author of New York Times best seller, Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race.
Hailing from the nation’s capital with huge hair, a million-watt smile, and contagious laughter, Kimberlee Yolanda Williams has had a heart for the perceived underdog for as long as she can remember. From her earliest years, Kimberlee’s experiences unfolded in communities filled with diversity of every kind, where gatherings around topics of equity and inclusion were explored with courageous authenticity. She grew up thinking engaging across differences was something everyone wanted to do and knew how to do. So why didn’t they do it? As an educator, DEI administrator, consultant, workshop leader, speaker, and certified life and health coach, she has found herself in a variety of U.S. cities. With each new context she increasingly understood what held people back from crossing social divisions. Kimberlee found herself able to consciously place herself in the center of these divisions, in particular racial dynamics, and support people across the racial spectrum in stepping closer to one another.
Kimberlee is first and foremost a humanist, a deep believer in what is possible when humanity is centered. Her mix of authenticity and raw truth gives permission for those around her to choose progress over perfection and bring their full selves into the room. She is known for finding humor and challenge at just the right moments, and like the best of coaches, leaning in and pushing audiences just enough to believe in the potential she sees. Her approach of connection and compassion is what makes a consultation feel like a conversation with your best friend, a workshop feel like a workout with your favorite trainer, and a presentation feel like a present from your closest confidant. Kimberlee received a B.A. in Foreign Language Education from the University of Maryland (go Terps!) and an M.S. in Education from Dominican University. She currently lives in Seattle with her partner, where they refuel by being in community (with other folks of color), reading and reading some more, and relaxing near any body of water. In addition to all of the above, Kimberlee is a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a cousin, an aunt, a niece, a dancer, an avid learner of languages (five to date), a free spirit, an empath, and now a writer.
Dear White Woman, Please Come Home is Kimberlee's attempt to share with readers what her clients, workshop attendees, and audience members have felt for years. She always brings her full self, her DC flare, her sass, and her humor. She’s the best friend you didn’t know you had.
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