08/20/2015
In the weeks and months following my initial Facebook post about Ferguson that received national attention, I’ve been humbled by the number of people who have asked me if I would consider writing a book. I felt inadequate and didn’t give it too much thought until I started to hear from even more people about how my thoughts and feelings about certain events are, in many ways, representative of what they are thinking and feeling. Writing a book is not a small undertaking, but God placed it on my heart to trust Him with such a project. Tyndale House Publishers —which has published many New York Times bestsellers, including books by Drew Brees and Tony Dungy—was one of several publishers interested in taking on the project. The book, which will be released on November 17, 2015 (a date that is almost a year to the day after the Ferguson decision), will be titled Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race—and Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us. I wrote it with the help of Ken Peterson.
Why a book? I think it’s important that we advance discussion of the “hot topics” of our time, particularly the topic of race. I am hopeful this book will challenge people to have serious, healthy discussions about that topic. I’m hopeful that this book will encourage people of all races to discuss these important issues without fear of saying the wrong thing or insulting someone who doesn’t agree with you. I am confident that nearly all of you will agree with some of the things that I have written in the book while being opposed to, or seeing differently, other things that I have written from my personal perspective.
If this is a book that interests you, and if you know of others who will be interested in the book as well, I encourage you to share this post and link on your social media platforms. The link to the page where you may preorder the book is here: http://www.underourskinbook.com or http://goo.gl/3r7R1M. If you plan on purchasing the book, preorders are very important because the more interest and early sales momentum that retailers see, the easier it is to get the book placed in greater volume in the most stores possible.
As you share information about the book, I encourage you to use the hashtag . You may also follow on Twitter for additional information about book signings and media appearances.
Thank you for supporting this endeavor and continuing to engage with me as we tackle the issues of our day.
BENJAMIN
