The Myth of Equality: Uncovering the Roots of Injustice and Privilege

As a child growing up in the 80’s in a small town in Oregon, the Huxtables were the only black family that I ever knew. Not until I attended an Ivy League school for my undergraduate, did I begin to understand the dangerous myth that I had grown up believing: “All Americans have access to equitable public educational opportunities and with hard work we can achieve our goals.” Ken Wytsma’s book unpacks the myth of equality and begins to fill in the vast gaps in our public understanding between the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement to today. I repeatedly said, “We were never taught this,” when discussing the book with others. If you, or someone you know, are beginning the learning journey to better understand racial injustice in the United States, I’d highly recommend starting with this book. It’s an excellent primer and intentionally accessible to those of majority culture with a Christian understanding. My only critique would be that the book doesn’t include a discussion guide. With that said, I read the book with the nonprofit team that I lead and it generated weeks of fruitful discussion.