One Soul at a Time by Douglas C. MacLeod Jr.

Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity
in an American Church
By Hahrie Han
Knopf, 2024
$29   304 pp.

There is no doubt that, in contemporary American discourse, vitriol reigns supreme, especially as it pertains to political ideologies. Based on what the American people read on social media platforms, or see on overly manipulative “news” stations, or hear from their respective presidential candidates and local legislators, polarization and incivility rule over tolerance and respect, and apathy and indifference overshadow kindness and caring.

Generally, these feelings and behaviors, this sad state of affairs, are easily and simply blamed on “the other side.” However, to better understand how the American people got to this point, and how they can fix these complex issues, writers like Hahrie Han are authoring books like Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church to promote and support grassroots efforts that will hopefully change the negative dynamics surrounding political, cultural, racial, and spiritual relationships.

Han’s title stems from an initiative that started in Cincinnati, Ohio, called Undivided, Inc., which, according to its website, offers workshops and programs that are “rooted in a God-honoring vision for racial healing and reconciliation” and “foster belonging, hope, and deep community engagement, inspiring participants to be active change agents within their communities.” These workshops and programs are interactive experiences that explore the detrimental impacts of exclusion, recognize the power of storytelling, and lead participants to a better understanding of empathy. Also, these talking sessions, which can be conducted online or in person, are meant to be fruitful forums for hard discussions about racial bias and discrimination in the United States.

What Han does in Undivided is provide more background information on this admirable enterprise while also offering profiles of participants. The men and women she features have all experienced hardships and achievements while on their winding journeys. They left jobs and walked away from personal relationships because of the biases they encountered. They fought against those who thought their work was too commercialized or too cursory. They formed new friendships and lost old ones along the way. In essence, all of them are risk-takers who have a firm understanding of the world around them. Han provides readers with their powerful stories of sacrifice and struggle, agitation and backlash, through what is a bigoted landscape, systemically geared toward pulling individuals apart rather than pushing them to become loving citizens and neighbors.

Context is important to Han’s work. She begins with America’s 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and specifically places a great deal of blame at Trump’s feet, in that his overt use of racially charged terminology and wording no longer disguised what was once camouflaged or communicated in “dog whistles” prior to the 2016 campaign. According to Han, by consistently stating or implying that Mexicans are rapists and criminals, Muslims are terrorists, and Black people are poverty stricken, violent citizens, Trump emboldened primarily white men who at one time hid in the shadows to become full-fledged subscribers to his MAGA agenda.

Han’s argument is certainly persuasive. Her claim provides a firm foundation for the rest of the book, which on occasion presents left-of-center political commentary devoted to her thoughts about how Trump’s hate speech lingered on the minds and tongues of his constituents, while those in Undivided, Inc., attempted to stymie vile uses of prejudiced language. With that said, however, do Han’s political leanings potentially push out Trump supporters who may feel that his beliefs are too divisive? Or does she assume MAGA loyalists will not pick up a book about the need to be more tolerant? To be persuasive, writers should consider all audiences; however, should one set aside their own moral and ethical compass to reach a wider audience? These questions cannot be answered easily and with only one reading of Undivided, but there is no doubt that Han, a professor of political science at John Hopkins University and the inaugural director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute, is principled, focused, perceptive, and aware of her dangerous surroundings.

Admittedly, along with these issues of audience, Undivided can at times become repetitive and difficult to follow. There are multiple stories with a variety of people involved, and as many of the stories have similar themes and happen at disparate times, there is not one anecdote out of the many that ends up standing out. Developing the book’s central thesis—that empathic, everyday citizens can attempt to make profound changes in a country where Native American populations were decimated and chattel slavery was normalized—in a more direct way may have been more effective in holding the reader’s attention.

Han recognizes the messiness of being part of a grassroots effort to change hearts and minds. With great achievement comes great failure. With happy times come crippling moments of sadness and doubt. Oftentimes, peace can only come out of conflict and sacrifice, blood, sweat, and tears. What makes Han’s work ultimately so compelling is this overarching understanding that the United States has much work to do, and its citizens cannot depend on those in power to help or to stop the venom of racism (or any form of divisiveness) from poisoning them. It is up to its citizens to save other citizens by draining the poison out, one soul at a time. ♦

Dr. Douglas C. MacLeod Jr. is an associate professor of composition and communication at SUNY Cobleskill. He has written multiple book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles, and book reviews throughout his almost 20-year career as an academic and teacher. Recently, he has had essays published in Childhood and Innocence in American Culture: Heartaches and Nightmares (Lexington Books); Holocaust vs. Popular Culture: Interrogating Incompatibility and Universalization (Routledge); and Film as an Expression of Spirituality: The Arts and Faith Top 100 Films (Cambridge Scholars Publishing). He lives in Upstate New York with his wife, Patty, and his dog, Cocoa Love.