Carolyn L. Baker, M.Ed.
Award-winning author of
An Unintentional Accomplice:
A Personal Perspective on White Responsibility
and the upcoming
DISPATCHES, From Racial Divide to a Road of Repair,
A Collection of Essays
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What people are saying...
This book will affect you, and challenge old ideas about race, and race relations, as it should. ... get a copy of a book that can, and might just change your life.
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~Nick Lawrence, radio host WEEU Straight Talk, Philadelphia, PA
In this intimate memoir, An Unintentional Accomplice, Carolyn Baker leans into vulnerability to share her journey to explore whiteness as a white woman. She grapples with both the discomforts of dismantling whiteness and the desire to tolerate the discomfort in confronting injustices of racism. Her reflections are raw and vulnerable, as a white woman in process excavating the trails of her journey and uncovering decades of subtle and overt messages of racism.
~Aisha Dixon-Peters, Psy.D, University of La Verne, CA
In An Unintentional Accomplice Carolyn Baker lulls us through her “cookie cutter” Southern California childhood and Girl Scout “white bred” mantras—that mirror of Disneylandish life—as we bask on the beach in our own smug skins. Then, like a stiletto, she slips in Emmett Till’s American tragedy making Klan enablers of us all without any need to dress-up in a great white sheet. Baker has clearly called out racism as the time- less tragedy in our time.
~Richard L. Mitchell, PhD, Cornell University, author of The Education of Adult Offenders
This is a very good book. Written by a white, middle-class American woman primarily for other white, middle-class American women, the author’s story is shared with a depth of both clarity and compassion that is rare when discussing long standing issues of systemic racism. The author shares her experience of a childhood that might seem idyllic while, at the same time, pointing out how in hindsight she now sees how many of the opportunities and assumptions that she took for granted were the direct result of government policies and cultural beliefs that explicitly excluded people of color. What I found most refreshing about An Unintentional Accomplice was the lack of guilt or posturing. The author’s presentation is sorrowful for the unconscious harm she has inadvertently contributed to causing, yet very matter of fact: these are things that have been (and still are) a problem, this is how they affected me, this is how I changed when I learned about them, and — most importantly — here are things that each of us can do to make things better for everyone. It brings to mind Maya Angelou’s famous directive: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." An Unintentional Accomplice starts as education and ends as an excellent inspiration to do better.
~Rachel Heslin
The true story of one woman’s personal journey towards life-changing discoveries about white privilege and race. In An Unintentional Accomplice, Carolyn Baker’s realizations are told with gentle eloquence and deliver enlightening perspectives and compelling insights with power and conviction. Her conclusions ring true, and the importance of Baker’s message is all the more real and urgent as she offers a new holistic and collaborative approach to understanding and overcoming racism.
~The Honorable John Ladner, Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner, retired
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A deep an insightful exploration of personal awakening from the heart of white privilege. An Unintentional Accomplice leads the reader to their own historical truths that have designed and shaped the hidden societal norms of racism . An honest discovery that shines light on the shadow of division in America to support a needed shift in consciousness and a greater healing of humanity.
~Lauren Monroe, Healing artist, speaker, and co-founder of Project Resiliency and Mind Body Drum