Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights

Always fun to read a book written by a NYU faculty member, in this case NYU Law faculty member Kenji Yoshino.  The book is called Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights.  Yoshino is an Asian American who shared his personal journey of “covering” his identities throughout his life, first as a gay male and then as an Asian man.  He shares a poignant quote in the forward of the book: “It is a fact that persons who are ready to admit possession of a stigma (in many cases because it is known about or immediately apparent) may nonetheless make a great effort to keep the stigma from looming large” … this process will be referred to as covering. Yoshino shares stories from current culture to illustrate his points, using the stories of celebrities and other well-known pop-culture icons who have “covered” their identities to be seen as “main stream” (normal, if that is a good word choice), that hide their inner self so that they can be accepted by others.  Much of the first half of the book is Yoshino’s story on how he chose to “cover” his gay male identity from college through his teaching role at NYU.  He also shared the various relationships with his parents, friends, teachers, and law colleagues throughout his decision to “come out of the closet.”  The second half of the book focuses on his racial identity and concludes with the connections of the identity issues with the civil rights movement.  Yoshino is a brilliant man who decides to share his wisdom with those who may need his voice to assist with the ability to be yourself, even when our society has so many expectations of who one should be.  Yoshino draws many stories from legal cases that are landmark cases in our society and how far our country has moved – though much further to go.  This was not an easy book to write, as the author notes, based on what he believes may happen to him as a result.  Yoshino shares the various stages one goes through in the “uncovering” of self and connects to other developmental models of discovery of self.  This is a very good read for anyone who would like to understand the insecurities and difficulties inherent in not being “the majority,” whether it be sexual identify, ethnicity, religious background, or any other under-represented group.  Thank you for your courage in sharing this very personal story Dr. Yoshino.