Whiteness Is Not an Ancestor

“Collectively, these essays are not just well written, but also poignant and often raw in their acknowledgment of the ways in which their authors have personally benefited from both White privilege and the myth of innocence surrounding White women…this book takes the important first step in acknowledging how the past continues to benefit White women in the present…A timely and thoughtful discussion about the intersection of gender and White privilege.” 
— Kirkus Reviews

“A daring and willing look into identity and the structure of whiteness in family, communities, and history. When we ask what the stories are underneath what we carry, sometimes we have to change our lives.”
— Lidia Yuknavitch, national bestselling author of Verge and The Chronology of Water 

"Healing from trauma requires the whole trauma story and that requires the voice of the perpetrator which has largely been missing. These essays are a wonderful primer in how to grapple with the truth...[and] demonstrate how to search your heart for the truths within your family and history, and how to hold these painful truths so that you and others might heal and work toward justice."
— Gretchen Schmelzer, PhD Author of Journey Through Trauma

"When taking stock of the centuries of grievous harms done in the name of ‘white’ peoples’ supposed superiority, it can be tempting to conclude that people of European descent should be banished from the circle of humanity...The essays that this group of soulful women have written provide a glimmer of possibility that we can re-humanize ourselves...I saw new pathways I could travel. People of color need us to find our way back home. So do we." 
— Katrina Browne, producer/director, Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North

"Lisa Iversen reminds us often that 'Whiteness was created in groups. It will take groups to transmute it.' In this collection, white women have come together to share the revelations that attend looking our whiteness in the eye without backing off. The emotional work pays beautiful dividends for us and for the potential of antiracist policy change. The work of our history connects us to real people rather than the mirage of whiteness...[and] helps us reclaim the parts of our humanity we sacrifice on the altar of whiteness...the work of transmuting our whiteness, together, results in a grounded joy and freedom. I urge you to accept these gifts from Whiteness Is Not An Ancestor."
— Betsy Hodges, Former Mayor of Minneapolis, MN (2014-2018) and author of New York Times op-ed "As Mayor of Minneapolis, I Saw How White Liberals Block Change" (7/9/20)

"...a much-needed conversation that begins from a place of acknowledgment of white hegemony. This collection of layered and nuanced essays fills me with hope for the real and honest dialogue that becomes possible when we shift our focus from proving the existence of inequities to taking action toward dismantling the racially unjust systems creating them...this revolutionary anthology serves as both a rallying cry and a guide to the reckoning necessary for meaningful change."
— Huda Al-Marashi, author of First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story

“With compassion and grace, [these writers] bear witness to the ways in which they have benefited from the systemic racism that plagues our society. Their reckonings, full of pain, love, and new awareness…point the way toward a better future for us all.”
— Priscilla Long, author of Fire and Stone: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

"To even consider looking into the mirror of history without looking away from the face of the perpetrator takes tremendous courage. Each and every woman in this book started the painful process of looking at themselves and their family’s history. This book is a rare and necessary document.”
— Daan van Kampenhout, author of The Tears of the Ancestors: Victims and Perpetrators in the Tribal Soul 

"These are stories that need to be told...These are not histories told at a distance. They are not told by innocents. They are thoughtful, often vulnerable, painful and layered stories that, in dialogue, locate us on the ground in our own lives...Thank you to each for the courage to model moving out of denial."
— Sandra Semchuck, author of The Stories Were Not Told: Canada's First World War Internment Camps, and recipient of the Governor General Award for Visual & Media Arts