The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias

The publication of The Person You Mean to Be in 2018 coincided with the development of several social justice movements, notably, Black Lives Matter (BLM) and MeToo, testifying to the growing call for racial and gender equity in the US. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter first appeared on social media in July 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old Black student from Florida. This marked the beginning of BLM, a decentralized socio-political movement highlighting racial discrimination and inequity, with an emphasis on police brutality and racial violence against Black people. BLM gained national attention after two other high-profile deaths: the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri (2014), and the police choking of 43-year-old Eric Garner in New York City (2014). Protests erupted nationwide, gaining the support of politicians, celebrities, and sports icons. In 2016, for example, Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers began kneeling on one knee to protest racial discrimination during the playing of the national anthem before games. He stated: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color” (xvi). He later added: “This is because I’m seeing things happen to people that don’t have a