About this Event
RALPH REMINGTON at Books Inc. Opera Plaza
Join local author, multidisciplinary artistic leader and community builder Ralph Remington at Books Inc. Opera Plaza for a thoughtful discussion about his book Penetrating Whiteness: How White Supremacy Built America.
About the book: At a time when America faces escalating racial tensions, the re-emergence of white nationalist movements, and growing threats to democracy, Ralph Remington's Penetrating Whiteness is an urgently needed clarion call.
This powerful and timely collection of essays offers piercing insights into the realities of racism, sexism, homophobia, and the damaging legacy of Donald Trump's divisive presidency. With Trump mounting another run for the White House in 2024 amid the fallout of the January 6th insurrection, the national atmosphere is tinged with volatility and civil war rhetoric. Into this powder keg moment steps Remington, one of America's leading Black multi-sector voices on identity, social justice, and the path toward racial healing. His essays boldly confront the uncomfortable truths about the persisting toxicity of white supremacy and systemic discrimination.
"Remington's work is evocative and illuminating. Part poetry, part diary, part philosophy-on-fire, Penetrating Whiteness is a novelistic playground for readers who care about how this American moment demands reform, reimagining, and rebirth."—Lauren Gunderson, three-time recipient of American Theatre Magazine's list of most produced playwrights
"Provocative, stimulating, expressive, and inciteful characterize Ralph Remington's book, Penetrating Whiteness. It is an explosive journal of thoughts that share his anger, frustration and intellectual curiosity for the African American plight in this country. His thesis is presented in a contemporary style, a stream of consciousness, that is reminiscent of the social protest movement of the Sixties. Intriguing and graphic, he takes the reader on a journey filled with challenging thoughts, critiques of political history, race, race relations and the overwhelming impact of racial disparity in the United States. In these times of chaos, DEI destruction, and the numerous attacks on Democracy, it is indeed a must-read."–Geoffrey Newman, Dean and Professor Emeritus, Nonfiction Authors Association's 2024 Book Award winner, author of Better To Cry Now
"Anyone wanting introspection on the current times, this book is a must-read. Ralph breaks down how America ended up in this current climate." — Edward Andrés Dennis, author of The Boy from Mexico series
"Ralph Remington writes with the fire of lived truth and the precision of a poet. In Penetrating Whiteness, he doesn’t just dissect the American condition—he exposes its pulse.
This is a book for anyone willing to confront the uncomfortable, stay in the room, and come out changed." — Kim Makoi, D.C., Ph.D., author of Booze to Balance
"At long last, a book that tells the truth as it is. Penetrating Whiteness doesn’t just analyze—it exposes. Ralph Remington writes with the precision of a historian and the rawness of lived experience. His words are unflinching, searing, and profoundly human. I’m grateful for his audacity—to write with such unleashing ferocity and fearless clarity. This isn’t merely a 'woke' book; it’s a necessary insomnia—one that refuses to let America sleep through its own reckoning."—Debbie Chinn, CEO, Producer, Filmmaker, Arts Activist, and Author of Dancing in Their Light, Year of the Dragon, and Polynesian Nights
"When we read uncomfortable words, we may just be reading a truth. Ralph's bold essays confront white supremacy and systemic discrimination for future generations to learn from the grievances of Black Americans. This book disrupts the status quo." — Emily Thiroux Threatt, author of Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief and host of Grief and Happiness podcast
"Provocative, stimulating, expressive and inciteful characterize Ralph Remington's book, Penetrating Whiteness. It is an explosive journal of thoughts that share his anger, frustration and intellectual curiosity for the African American plight in this country. His thesis is presented in a contemporary style, a stream of consciousness, that is reminiscent of the social protest movement of the Sixties. Intriguing and graphic, he takes the reader on a journey filled with challenging thoughts, critiques of political history, race, race relations and the overwhelming impact of racial disparity in the United States. In these times of chaos, DEI destruction, and the numerous attacks on Democracy, it is indeed a must read." —Geoffrey Newman, award-winning author of Better to Cry Now, a memoir
“At a time when white supremacy, divisiveness, racism, sexism, and homophobia are again on the rise, Ralph Remington sheds light on a disturbingly fundamental aspect of our societal psyche. Penetrating Whiteness will change the way you think about America today."—Nina Amir, bestselling author of The Author Training Manual and Change the World One Book at a Time
"Ralph Remington's Penetrating Whiteness is an arrow shot through the damaged. on-life-support heart of America. This is a book that makes readers think deeply about our conventional wisdom, incomplete history, and the undiagnosed as such, mental illness of racism. Gritty, provocative, part memoir, part manifesto, Penetrating Whiteness is one Black American man's warning to the country he loves enough to demand that it enact its proposed ideals. This is the book for this moment. " — Marita Golden, author of How to Become a Black Writer and What Every Black Parent Needs to Know to Save Our Sons
"The Trump Era has caused many Americans to question their place in a United States in which its leaders embrace and exploit bigotry and advance authoritarianism. Ralph Remington, artist, actor, writer, and activist, has delivered an eloquent and challenging guide for contending with this crisis and confronting the dark forces that threaten the nation’s future." —David Corn, author of American Psychosis
Ralph Remington is a theater director, essayist, actor, writer, and former American politician. Ralph was appointed by Mayor London Breed as Director of Cultural Affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission and the City and County of San Francisco in January 2021. Ralph is the former Deputy Director for Arts and Culture for the City of Tempe, Arizona. He also had artistic responsibility for the Tempe Center for the Arts as artistic director. Remington is the former Western Regional Director/Assistant Executive Director of Actors' Equity Association.] In 2010 he became the Director of Theater and Musical Theater for the National Endowment for the Arts. He currently resides in San Francisco, California. Remington has written seven feature screenplays and two plays.
He is founding producing artistic director of Pillsbury House Theatre, in Minneapolis Minnesota where he was also an elected member of the Minneapolis City Council. He served one term from 2006 through 2010. Ralph Remington is a US Army Veteran, certified AIDS/HIV educator, union member and former International Brotherhood of Teamsters organizer. He is currently a member of Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Actors' Equity Association (AEA).
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Books Inc. Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, United States
USD 0.00
