Join us for a virtual discussion of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. This discussion will be facilitated by Rorri Geller-Mohamed, LCSW. We ask participants to read the book in advance of the 7th and come prepared to discuss. We encourage you to purchase your copy of the book from a BIPOC-owned bookstore. See ideas here.

About the Book:

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect? Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person's decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.  

About the Discussant: 

Rorri Geller-Mohamed, LCSW, is founder of U Power Change an organization committed to building and supporting anti-racist and inclusive leadership, organizations, and communities. Rorri is the host of the Racially Responsible Podcast. Her work focuses on helping white women navigate racial dynamics, build anti-racism leadership skills, and navigate issues of race and anti-racism in their personal and professional lives. She is also passionate about supporting multiracial, multicultural, and multi-faith families which comes from her own experience being raised in a multi-identity family and now raising her children in one. Rorri received the Palm Beach County NASW Social Worker of the Year award in 2021. She has been a social worker for over 15 years. She has worked in a variety of roles and settings including as a therapist in private practice, outpatient mental health, high school social worker, transitional housing, and family counseling in a non-profit organization. She received her Masters degree in Social Work from Columbia University. She also has additional training in family therapy from the Ackerman Institute for the Family in NYC. Rorri and her husband are raising their 2 young children in a Jewish-Muslim multi-faith and multiracial family in South Florida.

2 CEUs

$15 for Members / $30 for Non-members