Racism is alive and well. It might be subtler in the 21st century, cloaked behind well-meaning smiles, political correctness and the absence of hurtful racial slurs. But racism that hides in the cracks instead of the surface only means that it slides in deeper and is harder to root out. Instead of a child learning it from the early days, it can take years to realize that white boys dressing “gangsta” and belting out rap lyrics aren’t necessarily shows of respect.
Gibran is an adolescent and thus struggles between rebellion and obedience. He knows that his mother and maternal grandparents want him to graduate and to do so with honors. They want a bright wonderful future for him. But then he’s subject to an awful display that stops just short of people cavorting onstage in blackface and he sees red.
Gibran has ideas to extend his reach into the community and to help his fellow black students. Getting accepted by whites isn’t necessarily on his agenda and you understand his feelings on the matter. He’s dismissive of white people’s feeble attempts at inclusion (getting a white family to host a black student is derided as being like pet adoption). He doesn’t want to assimilate and instinctively shrinks
There’s little street colloquialism or swear words in these early chapters but there doesn’t need to be. The barriers between blacks and whites aren’t necessarily language but comprehension and inclusion. Just as stories about white adolescents would be much better without tedious repetitions of the words “weird” and “cool”, black narratives needn’t include awkward slang to differentiate between them and their white colleagues.
Kevin’s problems are harder to see at first. He’s easy in his interactions with his black friends and comrades. But he chafes at the limitations of his scholastics. Going to Black colleges isn’t enough. He wants to change the white man’s world not be subsumed into it. He faces opposition not just from whites but from blacks who are struggling to get by and grateful for what they’ve managed to get. Then something shocking occurs and everyone is thrown into disarray by it.
The author has done a great job at delineating these disparate decades. There’s so much packed into these few pages. You’re immediately drawn into the lives of these people; it’s as if you’re sitting by their sides, listening to them mingling with their compatriots, arguing with their parents. The urge for violent revolt along with the spur to buck authority thrums just beneath the surface of polite conversation. It’s heady and frightening. Even if these events are already history, they will resonate with anybody who’s ever been stopped by a cop when everyone else with lighter skin sail by unmolested.
Gibran is an adolescent and thus struggles between rebellion and obedience. He knows that his mother and maternal grandparents want him to graduate and to do so with honors. They want a bright wonderful future for him. But then he’s subject to an awful display that stops just short of people cavorting onstage in blackface and he sees red.
Gibran has ideas to extend his reach into the community and to help his fellow black students. Getting accepted by whites isn’t necessarily on his agenda and you understand his feelings on the matter. He’s dismissive of white people’s feeble attempts at inclusion (getting a white family to host a black student is derided as being like pet adoption). He doesn’t want to assimilate and instinctively shrinks
There’s little street colloquialism or swear words in these early chapters but there doesn’t need to be. The barriers between blacks and whites aren’t necessarily language but comprehension and inclusion. Just as stories about white adolescents would be much better without tedious repetitions of the words “weird” and “cool”, black narratives needn’t include awkward slang to differentiate between them and their white colleagues.
Kevin’s problems are harder to see at first. He’s easy in his interactions with his black friends and comrades. But he chafes at the limitations of his scholastics. Going to Black colleges isn’t enough. He wants to change the white man’s world not be subsumed into it. He faces opposition not just from whites but from blacks who are struggling to get by and grateful for what they’ve managed to get. Then something shocking occurs and everyone is thrown into disarray by it.
The author has done a great job at delineating these disparate decades. There’s so much packed into these few pages. You’re immediately drawn into the lives of these people; it’s as if you’re sitting by their sides, listening to them mingling with their compatriots, arguing with their parents. The urge for violent revolt along with the spur to buck authority thrums just beneath the surface of polite conversation. It’s heady and frightening. Even if these events are already history, they will resonate with anybody who’s ever been stopped by a cop when everyone else with lighter skin sail by unmolested.