PLAY THE GAME, CHANGE THE GAME, LEAVE THE GAME

Instead of waiting for White people to change, Black people must prioritize their own prosperity, power, and self-determination by navigating, challenging, and exiting racist systemsa radical argument from a Harvard behavioral scientist.

It's time to face an inconvenient truth: our current approach to fighting racism is just not working. For a brief moment following the murder of George Floyd, it seemed as though the country had finally acknowledged the destructive legacy of slavery and White supremacy, and had committed to putting things right. Now, a horde of prominent voicesmany of whom professed to be antiracist alliesare pulling back, cutting support, and defunding programs that sought to level the playing field.

Harvard psychologist Robert Livingston contends that racism operates like an addiction for so many White people: hard to admit, and even harder to quit. Given their unwillingness to kick the habit, where does this leave Black people? In this provocative book, Livingston has flipped the script, asking: How can Black people attain prosperity and peace of mind despite the enduring presence of racism? Livingston reveals three paths:

Play the game, or find ways to work within mainstream, predominantly White systems without sacrificing your identity or dignity. Think of Kenneth Chenault, a "tempered radical" who rose through the ranks to become the first Black CEO of American Express.
Change the game, or challenge the status quo in an effort to upend White supremacylike Colin Kaepernick, whose idealism cost him his football career but made him an icon.
Leave the game, or turn away from White environments to carve out spaces where Black people can flourishfrom HBCUs to entrepreneurship to the creation of ethnic enclaves, like the all-Black, middle-class neighborhood where Livingston himself grew up.

Drawing on social science, his own experiences, and interviews with trailblazing Black leaders and luminaries, Livingston reveals the contours of these oft overlapping paths for effectively navigating, mitigating, and circumventing White supremacy. Play the Game. Change the Game. Leave the Game. is a bold, groundbreaking proposition that empowers readers to make the leap from being played to creating their own game plan.

Dr. Robert Livingston is a social psychologist and one of the nation's leading experts on the science underlying bias and racism. His research has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. For two decades, he has served as a diversity consultant to scores of Fortune 500 companies, public-sector agencies, and non-profit organizations. He has held professorships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and the University of Sussex. He currently serves on the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School.