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Our Nation’s Dysfunction
Twelve Steps for White America is a call to those who seek to understand the roots of systemic inequality and their personal connection to it, as well as those wishing to make meaningful changes to improve society. Why was this an important book for you to write at this time?
In January of 2020, I made the career decision to leave a job making $200k because my soul screamed “What are you going to do with the rest of your life?” By February 2020, Covid’s rampage brought the world to its knees. With people beginning to die and me not knowing if I were next, I spent that last chance for soul work diving into a brilliant presentation of the sanatana dharma in a book called The Jewel of Abundance by Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian. In that deep soul stillness, I studied artha – the spiritual abundance that you can experience in pursuing your life’s soul purpose. In that fertile soul-soil, I and the world witnessed the extrajudicial killing of Mr. George Floyd. Millions were sickened by what sickened Black America for over 400 years. I was one of those millions whose pandemic hush perceived this horror with undivided attention and resolve. It yoked me into my responsibility. I finally had to “write that book.” Since so many others more brilliant than me have already weighed in, anything meaningful would have to be so personal from my lived experience, expertise, and education, that no other person could write it.
What were some ideas that were important for you to share in this book?
White America includes white Americans, but we are all complicit.
Like an alcoholic in recovery, white Americans need to make amends/repairs for the sake of our own personal repentance, atonement, and redemption.
Answering the call of James Baldwin for new standards, I’ve repurposed the underlying problem-solving principles of recovery movements and applied them to our nation’s dysfunction as a twelve-step treatment plan.
My Rigged Advantage Theory posits that elites coopted a mass of others who, in Colonial America came to be defined as white with elites to comprise a voting block of power to reproduce elite advantage.
We have never uprooted slavery. Legacies live on in cultural artefacts and behavioral norms such as minority rule in the Senate, SCOTUS, and the Electoral College; the white entitlement I call the “Presumption of Whereabouts Authority” which results in fugitive slave patrols persisting as disproportionate carceral state policing; and the presumption of incompetence, which is especially deadly for Black women.
Where did the idea to use the 12-step approach for addiction treatment come from, and how did you develop this into your plan of action to help change people’s thought processes?
My own recovery, now practiced for 37 years, requires me to “practice these principles in all my affairs.” In fact, my spiritual condition is the wall between me and relapse. My spiritual condition cannot afford for me to live deluded colluding in the rigged advantage of whiteness, which relies on white supremacy and anti-Blackness. I practice this spirituality in order for me to be well. With this practice en masse, a United States of America can be well.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Twelve Steps for White America?
In THE United States of America, the American experiment with democracy has not failed as much as we have yet to try it.
In A United States of America, where race no longer predicts outcomes because we did the work, we align who we say are with what we do.
In that integrity, we can actualize the sustainable order of democracy: justice THEN liberty THEN peace THEN prosperity.
There are no shortcuts.
But glory awaits our best days ahead, if we do the work.
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Educator and former psychotherapist William Watson presents a treatment plan for democracy, an innovative framework of steps white Americans can take (and all individuals and organizations can incorporate) to right our nation’s course to peace and prosperity through justice then liberty for all.
The problem: Watson’s Rigged Advantage Theory presents U.S. democracy as compromised by advantage rigged to favor some, exploit others, and marginalize many. Rigged advantage operates a whiteness inclusion-collusion that relies on two codependent strategies-white supremacy and anti-Blackness.
The solution: Address elements of dysfunction common to both rigged advantage and alcoholism. Apply 12 steps of known recovery principles to unshackle the past, promote U.S. security and global competitiveness, and eliminate race as a predictor of democracy’s outcomes.
Twelve Steps for White America maps a pathway to truth, reconciliation, and renewal forged in a crucible of national repentance, atonement, and redemption.
Twelve Steps for White America: for a United States of America
Twelve Steps for White America stands as a transformative invitation, beckoning Americans to confront and dismantle the systemic advantages that distort true democratic equity. Mirroring the familiar structure of Alcoholics Anonymous, Watson repurposes these twelve steps to address a national disorder he terms “rigged advantage.” This adaptation is not merely a call to acknowledge historical injustices but an active, methodical approach toward reconciliation and renewal.
Watson’s writing is as courageous as it is interesting, characterized by its directness and unapologetic tone. His ability to translate the therapeutic recovery process into a societal context is innovative and bold. The book’s approach to addressing societal issues through a lens typically reserved for personal recovery highlights an intricate connection between individual actions and systemic structures.
Incorporating personal narratives and lived experiences enriches the text, providing a human touch to the theoretical framework Watson constructs. His style is empathetic yet demanding, pushing the reader to not only understand their implicit role within systemic disparities but to actively engage in rectifying them. Each step challenges the reader to move from introspection to action, emphasizing the importance of accountability and continuous self-assessment.
Twelve Steps for White America is a call to those who seek to understand the roots of systemic inequality and their personal connection to it. It is particularly impactful for readers involved in educational, psychological, or social justice fields, offering a unique toolkit for deconstructing privilege and fostering an equitable society.
Pages: 310 | ISBN : 1793544980
LITERARY TITAN 