The Lessons of Ubuntu

A roadmap to healing America’s wounds, bridging the racial divide, and diminishing our anger.

Mathabane touched the hearts of millions of people around the world with his powerful memoir, Kaffir Boy, about growing up under apartheid in South Africa and was praised by Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton. In his new book, The Lessons of Ubuntu: How an African Philosophy Can Inspire Racial Healing in America, Mathabane draws on his experiences with racism and racial healing in both Africa and America, where he has lived for the past thirty-seven years, to provide a timely and provocative approach to the search for solutions to America’s biggest and most intractable social problem: the divide between the races.

In his new book, Mathabane tells what each of us can do to become agents for racial healing and justice by learning how to practice the ten principles of Ubuntu, an African philosophy based on the concept of our shared humanity. The book’s chapters on obstacles correlate to chapters on Ubuntu principles:

The Teaching of Hatred vs. Empathy

Racial Classification vs. Compromise

Profiling vs. Learning

Mutual Distrust vs. Nonviolence

Black Bigotry vs. Change

Dehumanization vs. Fogiveness

The Church and White Supremacy vs. Restorative Justice

Lack of Empathy vs. Love

The Myth That Blacks and Whites Are Monolithic vs. Spirituality

Self-Segregation: American Apartheid vs. Hope

By practicing Ubuntu in our daily lives, we can learn that hatred is not innate, that even racists can change, and that diversity is America’s greatest strength and the key to ensuring our future.

Concerned by the violent protests on university campuses and city streets, and the killing of black men by the police, Mathabane challenges both blacks and whites to use the lessons of Ubuntu to overcome the stereotypes and mistaken beliefs that we have about each other so that we can connect as allies in the quest for racial justice.

Mark Mathabane is the New York Times bestselling author of Kaffir Boy, and his articles on race and education have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, People, and other major publications. He has also been featured on numerous radio and TV shows, including Oprah, NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN, NBC’s Today, and Charlie Rose. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his family.

*** Praise for Mark Mathabane ***

“Mathabane is a remarkable human being: responsible, committed, reasonable, level-headed, humane, understanding, and empathetic.”
–Publishers Weekly

“At times [Mathabane] seems a combination of Martin Luther King Jr., whom he paraphrases often, and Gandhi, whose countenance he resembles.”
–Itabari Njeri, Los Angeles Times



*** On Ubuntu ***

“There is a word in South Africa: Ubuntu, a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift—his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye, that there is a oneness to humanity that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others and caring for those around us.”
–President Barack Obama

“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu—the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality—Ubuntu—you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”
–Archbishop Desmond Tutu



*** Praise for Skyhorse Publishing ***

“In the era of corporate dominated mainstream media and feckless herd reporting, Skyhorse's willingness to tackle tough issues that other publishers won't touch has made it a critical cog in our democracy.”
–Robert F. Kennedy Jr., New York Times bestselling author

“It has been a pleasure watching Skyhorse Publishing develop into one of the largest and fastest-growing independent publishers over the last decade. Trident does a good deal of business with Skyhorse. Skyhorse has become a cornerstone of independent publishing and has taken its rightful seat in the world of major trade publishing.”
–Robert Gottlieb, chairman of Trident Media Group, LLC