Black Like Me

I am currently reading the book, Black Like Me, written by John Howard Griffin. Having a daughter who has been interested in racial and social biases for several years now has made for wonderful discussions around the family table and in the car. Now that she is in college and has declared her major in Sociology I am certain we have many, many more discussions on our horizon. The book I am currently reading is a book that my daughter stumbled upon during one of our many trips to Half Price Books. I recall that when I finally found her after searching the entire store it was not in the least surprising to find that she had an armful of books and her problem was choosing which ones she could possibly put back on the shelf.

After reading this book Laurie was planning to pass it along to a friend of ours at church. She wrote a note and asked me to give it to him when I saw him next. Upon seeing the title and remembering what she told me about it I couldn't help giving it a whirl. The style of writing is exactly what appeals to me. It is a firsthand account the author wrote about his personal journey through the south during the 1950's. In case you are unaware, as I was ignorantly so, at that time there was still a great amount of segregation and discrimination going on in spite of the claims of how great all citizens no matter their race were 'getting along'. I sat down with the book and began to read. Only 3 pages in I could barely put it down. Our friend, expecting the book, would have to wait.

I am not quite half way through the book. Already I am dumbfounded by what I am reading. I know we studied a small portion of black history when I was in school. Rather than throw my school under the bus, I will say that it is entirely possible that I did not pay all that much attention when I was in high school in addition to the fact that I believe they taught the bare minimum on this topic. We learned about Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. to name a few. We did not however learn what it was like to be black or African American in a society that believed to be black was to be less than your counter part, a white person. And that, quite frankly, is putting it far too simply. I am astonished at how people were able to degrade, mock, withhold simple rights of existence and normal daily activities (ie. the use of a public restroom, the right to stand in a waiting room at a train station or to eat in a restaurant, etc), abuse and even kill another human being simply because they were different than them. It makes me sad, angry and embarrassed. I can't wait to read the rest of the book.

My world is expanding and I am learning. It's not always comfortable to learn new things. With knowledge comes great  responsibility. The responsibility to respond, to create or stimulate change, to help those being pushed down, to acknowledge things that are not just, and to do something about it. I am excited to see where this leads as I grow and learn more.